Upgrading my PC, Core i7 or Phenom II?

[Mordecaii]

I'm primarily upgrading my computer to play games with. I have a ATI Radeon 4870 512MB video card, and my monitor only supports 1680x1050 resolution so obviously I don't need as much graphics muscle as some people would. I currently have a Core 2 E6600 running on a low-end Gigabyte 965P Intel chipset with fairly low-end OCZ 800 DDR2 memory. Unfortunately I can't overclock this system very high due to the low-end motherboard and memory.

I have two upgrade paths I can take:

Intel i7 920
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R
G.Skill 6GB 1600 DDR3 8-8-8-21

-or-

AMD Phenom II X4 940
GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB 1066 DDR2 5-5-5-15
Another ATI Radeon 4870 512MB

So my question is, for 1680x1050 gaming, would I be better off going with the Phenom II and having less CPU power but having greater graphics power, or should I get the Core i7 and have higher CPU power but lower graphics power (at least for a while, I could still add a second 4870 but it would take at least 4-6 months)?

Edit: I forgot to mention, the Q9550 is also an option, but I didn't think it would provide a big enough boost over the Phenom 940, especially for an extra $50 or so, to warrant purchasing it since both would have the extra 4870 if I went that route.

 

[suryad]

Being a fan of Intel I would say go with the i7 you are going to be futureproofing yourself a bit more IMHO.

 

[homerdog]

That's a tough one. How often do you upgrade?

 

[pjbliverpool]

if your going to get the other 4870 anyway, just 6 months later, then I would say go with the i7. But if your not, your probably better off with the Phenom plus a second 4870. Its not like there is any game out there today that the Phenom couldn't handle with ease, even GTA4.

 

[Davros]

I'd say dont upgrade unless your stinking rich
2much buck not enough bang

 

[homerdog]

Davros might be onto something there. Unless you want to enable super high AA modes or play extremely CPU bound games (only GTA4 comes to mind) you might be better off saving up for something down the road.

Come to think of it, the cheapest and most effective upgrade option is probably to buy a new 775 mobo that can overclock your current processor.

 

[FrameBuffer]

I myself just made the jump from S939 Dual Core (opteron 165) to a PII 720 X3 AM3 with DDR3.. this just after my old 11280x1024 monitor died and repalced it with a nifty nice Asus 24" (1920x1080 w/hdmi). I couldnt be happier though the 3870 is struggling, that is getting repalced with a 4890. I think the PII AM3 is just as "future=proof" (is there REALLY such a thing after all ?) as an i7, DDR3 is here to stay, and hoping that 4Gb sticks become more common.

 

[Mordecaii]

I do a decent bit of video encoding, and I was unhappy with the speed of my E6600, so I knew that I was going to get a quad core processor no matter what. I'm leaning heavily towards an i7 because I don't want to upgrade my processor for 3 years at least, and the i7 seems to be the best choice if that's my goal.

 

[I.S.T.]

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/16382/8

The i7s are quite a bit better at video encoding than the Phenom IIs.

 

[pjbliverpool]

If you do a lot of encoding then its the i7 all the way. Those things are pure monsters!!

 

[homerdog]

I do a decent bit of video encoding, and I was unhappy with the speed of my E6600, so I knew that I was going to get a quad core processor no matter what. I'm leaning heavily towards an i7 because I don't want to upgrade my processor for 3 years at least, and the i7 seems to be the best choice if that's my goal.

If you aren't going to upgrade the CPU for 3 years and do a lot of encoding this is the easiest choice you'll ever make. i7.

 

[Davros]

expensive though, the x58 mboards are about 3 times the price of a socket 775 board. why is that ?

 

[BRiT]

Target Market Sector. It's high-end gear with triple-channel memory and the market will tolerate the high prices. The x58 and i7 boards are not aimed at the mainstream market. I imagine the i5 and supporting boards will be significantly cheaper.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

What might help is a max budget amount to work with.

 

[I.S.T.]

That was almost exactly a one month bump, dude.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

Opps. must of miss that the last post was April 4 and not May 4.