Upgrade dilemma (re-use older stuff, or..)

zoog85

Distinguished
Apr 25, 2009
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18,510
Hello all,

I've had some fantastic help so far over here. I've had a new system build topic before, and I'm still keeping that system in mind. But I have a dilemma right now, I can either choose to upgrade my MOBO, CPU, GPU & PSU (and reuse some ram) or I can upgrade my CPU and GPU and reuse my PSU, MOBO and RAM.

In short these are my two options here in Europe:

a) Reusing a lot and pushing my mobo to the fastest CPU supported

1. AMD Athlon X2 6000+ @ 3.1Ghz
2. Sapphire HD4850 1GB

Total: 210,- euro


b) Reusing less and going for quad and a better videocard

1. AMD Phenom II X4 940 BE @ 3.0Ghz
2. Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 AM2+
3. Sapphire HD4870 1GB
4. 600W PSU

Total: 500,- euro

Aim: Playing GTA IV, ARMA II and other sandbox games with reasonable/playable frame rates on 1440x900 or 1280x1024 resolutions with med/high settings.

It it still worth pushing my MOBO with the fastest (and older) Athlon X2 for the price difference? Or is it wasted money looking at the current specs needed to run current-gen games?
 

zoog85

Distinguished
Apr 25, 2009
19
0
18,510


Current setup:

AMD Athlon X2 4200+ 2.2Ghz
MSI K9N Neo-V2 motherboard
NVidia 8600GT 512mb
2GB DDRII 800mhz RAM
450W PSU