[sammytheman]

Hey fellas I was wondering when to upgrade my PC. I want a fast gaming machine that would last. I currently have:

DFI NF4 SLI-DR
2 gig RAM
AMD 64 3500
BFG 7800 GT

I guess my mobo and RAM are OK but the video card and CPU needs an upgrade. I got my CPU in NOV. 2004, and got me pretty far. Now that GeForce 8800 is out, the previous generation cards look primitive
:amazed:

 

[pharoah]

personally i never upgrade until it becomes a necessity.when your rig can no longer handle the games you play at an acceptable frame rate.then its time for new hardware.now if you just want to upgrade thats another story.first off with your machine i would consider something dual core.some games already support multi threads,and newer ones not out yet most definetly will.i agree the 8 series nvidia cards are awesome.

since you seem to be looking for some upgrades i would start with a dual core cpu of some sort.with that dfi board which is good at overclocking.a dual core opteron would be great.opterons are famous for being good overclocking chips.

the 8800gts would be an excellent card its the cheaper of the two.price no object then go for the gtx.

here are some good cpu choices http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCompare.asp?Category=34&Brand=1028&N=2010340343+50001028+1051707439+1302820275&Submit=ENE&Nty=1&SubCategory=343&CompareItemList=N82E16819103588%2CN82E16819103584%2CN82E16819103586%2CN82E16819103582

 

[Tiber Septim]

Hi.
I'm looking to upgrade soon myself so i know what your thinking "to upgrade or not to upgrade".
As for the Geforce 8 series cards. They are powerful, yes, but in quite a few DirectX 9 games they are actually slower than a 7900GT, and that isn't even the best DX 9 card!!! This is due mainly to the drivers though, so if you are planning on getting the new PC for DirectX10 gaming then go right ahead. In time the drivers will (hopefully) be improved for better performance with DX 9 games.
If you are in no rush, i would wait and see what the next range of cards Nvidia reveals are like. Normally the X9XX (eg. 7900) cards are more efficient than the X8XX (eg. 7800) cards. Considering that the 8800 cards have massive power requirements and put out quite a lot of heat, it would be wise to wait and see what is fixed in the next series of cards.

 

[Kalim]

^ Ditto. A PSU like THIS or THIS with the AMD Quad FX platform (as they support AM2) like the "ASUS L1N64-SLI WS" and that Fx-74 3.0GHz CPU waiting for a DX10 card in from ATI such as "RD790" (i think), will be the way to go IMHO. It'll last longer than others I'm seeing out there for gaming.

 

[Fr4665]

id say what until ur rig becomes obsolete and really need to upgrade to play a newer game.

i semi agree with tiber as i have seen the 8800gtx outperform everycard in every benchmark out there and the 8800gts is right behind it sometimes outperformed but not alot.

if u decide to build a new computer wait till spring and wait till ati's directx10 cards are out !

cheers