Hey guys,

Im currently running an I7 860 (lynndale) which is slightly overclocked. along with that I have a 460 GTX (also overclocked). and 4gb of relativly fast ram. Altogether, Ive had a lot of fun with this system, as its run all my games well with most settings maxed. However, its been a while and the upgrade bug is setting in.
Im thinking of doing a partial upgrade for now. I am looking at the 2600k (Sandybridge), new motherboard and 8 gb of fast ram. Then overclock it a little. I Priced stuff out on Newegg and it will run me a little over $500 bucks. For now im going to keep my 460 as I just got it a few months ago and dont want to break the bank. Im going to keep my case, Power supply and other stuff as they are all still right up their with anything being sold right now.
My question is, will I see a decent enough increase in speed, or should I wait a little while. Is there something new on the horizion that will make prices drop? There alway is, but wondering if its, so close that buying now would be stupid. I havent been following the hardware stuff latley and feel like Im out of the loop on whats going on.

Also let me add Im not totally sold on Intel, I know nothing about AMD, but im open to going that route too. Im mainly into flight sims, so performance in that area is what Im after. Im also debating between the i5 2500k and i7 2600k.

Thanks for any advice

That would be a real big waste of money. Take that 500 bucks and get a GTX580. Or shop around and get a couple of GTX 570 for SLI. That would make you happy.

Yea, thats another option. Might be a good one too. Ill have to think about it, but thanks for the input.

Rob

With your setup, I'd suggest holding off until Q1 2012 or whenever the next generation of graphics cards releases, if you can. Even if the next generation doesn't deliver, used current-gen cards like the GTX 570 should drop in price even further.

If you are gaming then you can throw as much money at it as you like and the 460 will remain your bottleneck.....the one item you don't intend to change.

You already have a good pc. Just needs a faster graphics card if you are really intent on upgrading. The rest would just be a waste of money.

Is there a Flight Sim that benefits from SLI?
Prove me wrong someone.

I've said it many times before,
Buy the best single card you
can afford and call it a day.

Running SLI (or crossfire,depending on your pleasure) is good if you run triple screens or something,otherwise +1 what he said!!

ps... A little extra ram probably would not hurt either!!!...and it is relatively cheap right now

At most upgrade the video card and monitor.
Your Processor is still top notch and you wont gain much going to the i7 2600k

With your system I would seek to analyze what games you are falling short with, where and why.
Are you having general low fps? If so with which games and when?
Are you having stutters? is your hard drive being accessed when you play?
Interpret the problem then adapt and overcome.

If you just feel the burn of xtra cash and need a Newegg fix, double up on your ram.
Ram never goes out of fashion.