What would you do to upgrade?

[budl]

I read some of the recommendations on the boards, but when taking about homebuilds, it seems to start from the ground up. My apologies if this answer is out there and I missed it....

I am currently running the following for mostly home office, surfing, watching DVDs/videos, an occasional game and some basic photo stuff for family:

ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor HDZ550WFGIBOX

CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5

Video ATI Radeon HD 3200 (i think 1GB?)

I upgraded to a 650W PS not long ago.

and some hard drives and DVD, etc....

My question is - I want to upgrade for processing power - do I go with a Phenom II x4 9something and drop it into the current mobo, or do I bite it and get a mobo/CPU combo with the new llano processor?

Not wanting to spend alot (under $200 would be nice)... Is the price difference to go llano vs keeping everything else the same and dropping quad core in it worth it? I'm sure my perphiperals will work with a new mobo, but might need some DDR3....

Thanks for your suggestions in advance.

Bud

 

[mjmjpfaff]

keep the processor
this motherboard- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767 108$ bulldozer ready when you have the money
ram- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231253 30$
gpu- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150535 50$
Total=188$

 

[Onus]

If at all possible, stretch the budget just enough (another $20-$30) to get a HD6670 rather than the HD5670; whichever one you get should be the DDR5 version rather than DDR3.

 

[budl]

Thanks for both your input so far.

mjmjpfaff - the mobo is actually $99 and change before shipping, so good call.

jtt283 - you think the 6670 over the 5670 is worth twice the price? I get that DDR5 over DDR3 is probably a big improvement, but there is a rebate on newegg that mjmjpfaff sent, so the card is $49.99 after mail in rebate.

I'm not in a huge rush, so anyone else with suggestions, I'm open to them!

Thanks again guys for the help!

Bud