Is it worth upgrading what I have ?

[jim]

I think the reason that I looked at another board was because I wanted to sell off what I had whilst I could get a bit more money out of it rather than not being able to get any money back on it later on down the line. I know you can never get all the money back you spent, but a good chunk of it would be nice

Perhaps, but if all you're going to do is move to Socket 775 then you've gone from a board with a (if slightly uncertain) future to a dead socket.

In a while I suspect socket 775 processors will be extremely expensive, because so many bought Core 2 Duo CPUs, and when they come to upgrade it won't be pretty. So if you want to upgrade the processor again in a couple of years time, you'll probably have to sell that new board as well. Might as well cut out the middle man, and just flog your AM2+ board in two years' time instead. It'll be much cheaper for you long-term.

[Behemoth]

Well when presented with the facts, as you say there is a lot of life left in the current board I have so the CPU you've sugested is what I'll order when I get my first pay from the new job and then work from there

[c.ruel]

I have a phenom II x3 720 overclocked to 3.6ghz be with a 512mb 4850 and just 2gigs of ddr2 ram . I also have a very similar motherboard ... basically just the microatx version. m3a78-em.

Have you considered getting another HD4850 ... in CF they perform slightly better than one GTX 460 1gb ... supposedly anyway. They can be had very cheaply if you look around around 70 quid for 512mb dunno about 1gb but prolly still not that much.

so basically phenom II x4 955BE plus another Hd 4850 in xfire would be an amazing upgrade imo. I really wanted to get another 4850 ... but my mobo only has 1 slot as your's has 3 might as well make use of them .

[Behemoth]

I could go xfire but I'd be limited to PCIE at 4x on each slot if I do that, much better to grab a newer faster card.

[jim]

Heat can be a bit of an issue as well. My case couldn't hack dual 4870s, and it's not a bad thermal performer.

[Pob255]

Ok I'm coming to this one a bit late, but with you current setup, I'd say a new cpu (ether athlon II or Phenom II)
And a gtx460 1gb or 5850 depending on price and if your 4850 is actually struggling shouldn't be too bad on a 1650x1280 monitor.

If you're still using a stock cooler then a decent aftermarket cooler as well.

Improving sound will mean £55+ on a sound card and you may need to look into your speakers aswell, no point getting a high end sound card if the speakers cannot reproduce the sound.
As ScaryJim said that's audiophile teritory so me and my tin ear will steer clear of making any sugestions.

What fans are you using in your 300?
If you're still uing the original tri-cools then a new set of fans and a fan controller might be a good move.

[c.ruel]

According to this website if you run the cards in the blue and white slot it is 8x 8x. Furthermore according to a test a website ran (can't remember where, but i looked into it because i have a similar setup to yours, maybe have a look just to make sure) 4850s would be fine with 8x 8x they don't need the extra bandwidth.

As for thermal performance antec 300s do have that side fan bay so that certainly couldn't hurt if they got fresh air from there and I believe that 4850s are a little bit cooler than 4870s.

EDIT: had a quick look on google see how much 1gb HD 4850s are and i found a vapor x cooled one for 93 quid plus a bog standard one for 76 quid here That is half the price of GTX 460 for roughly the same performance (with the obvious draw backs of higher power consumption heat etc etc plus no directx11 support) ... still maybe worth considering?

[Terbinator]

Surely dropping ~£100 at least on a 4850 is the worse possible move he could make, even if he was CFX'ing them.

Any GPU decisions should wait until next week IMO.

[c.ruel]

I agree a £100 would be dumb as 768mb GTX 460 cost about £125 for the cheapest one last time i checked. But £75 (cost of a 1gb HD 4850) is half £150 and that is what a new 1gb 460 costs (again last time i checked and they go up to like 175+ as well). So if he only plays non-directx 11 games and has a psu powerful enough and sufficient cooling for CF I don't see how "that would be the worse possible move" because he would be getting the same performance for roughly £100ish less. I apologise if i have missed something and my logic is flawed and if i have if you could point it out to me I would be grateful, although I do agree waiting for the new 6000s would be sensible

[Behemoth]

Surely dropping ~£100 at least on a 4850 is the worse possible move he could make, even if he was CFX'ing them.

Any GPU decisions should wait until next week IMO.

Can't argue with that there mate.

Thats why I'm not rushing out with my credit card to go and order everything.

I really do not want Crossfire because I think I'd have to buy a new PSU at the very least a 550 watt one. That and there really would be no room at all in my Antec 300 then with 2 x GFX cards with after market coolers on them. There is no way I'd run a 4850 again with a reference cooler on it, the noise they make is terrible.

[jim]

Tbh, aftermarket coolers are usually no use because they don't pump air out of the case - they just recirculate. Fine with a single card, but a nightmare when you've got more than one. If the reference coolers are that bad, then it's a pretty bad move from all angles really.

[Behemoth]

To be fair, I did have a look at the Gigabyte one that c.ruel linked to. That indeed did have a a non reference cooler on it, it was very Xalman Flower like so I suspect that card would be fine if I were to venture into crossfire.

[Pob255]

The stock cooler on the 4850 was quickly replaced by most card producers because it was so pants.

I'd sugest the Akasa Vortexx Neo http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AKASA...e-BLUE-LED-fan
A decent aftermarket cooler that also vents the hot air out of the case

[Behemoth]

Thats what I run on my current 4850.