Would you upgrade this system?

[FATRAY]

First let me say HI to the OC3D community this being my first post and all.

I'm thinking about upgrading my MB CPU and Memory, but wanted some more input from others. Currently I'm running:

Asus A8NSLI-Deluxe

Opteron 180 DC 1.6ghz I can't get past 1.8, runs perfect 100% at 1.8

Cosair DDR 2 gigs Dual Channel, (cost a great deal)

EVGA 9800GTX+ Superclocked

2x 74gig Raptor HD RAID0 + over a Terabyte in other drives, 5 in all including the 2 raptor's. 2 DVD drives non sata.

XP pro sp3

ANTEC 750W SLI PS

Li-Lan BTX case (very thick aluminum) should last me FOREVER

This system runs all my games very well, I have most of the AAA games out there. Crysis and GTAIV are the only games not set on HIGH.

Would you upgrade this system, or would you wait a little longer? If I wait it will be next tax return season.

The main reason I want to upgrade is for VISTA. Currently the Asus A8NSLI-Deluxe wont let VISTA install on my RAID drives. I've searched a good bit and it seems no one can get around this. Slipstreaming drivers doesn't help at all. I'm no expert, but far from a newbie.

I was running SLI 7800GTXs, the 9800 was a huge improvement, I don't think I could fit another 9800 (It's Fn HUGE) because the SATA ports might be in the way. I would prefer an SLI motherboard, it's what I like. But SLI always has it's problems, willing to switch. Wouldn't mind doing the Hybrid SLI thingy to save some $$, but that's not important. Current system cost me $24 a month running 24/7. I want to stay away from Intel at all cost, can't see paying over a thousand dollars for top of the line intel CPU when AMD's top dog cost under $300.

I only shop @ Newegg and don't want to spend more then $400 on those 3 components.

[monkey7]

First let me say welcome to OC3D Feel free to post an introduction in the subforum meant for that.

I haven't looked at the newegg prices, but I think this will suit you just fine:

- Intel E7200

- Asus P5Q pro

- Any brand (no valueram) 2x2GB ddr2-800.

I know you don't want go to intel, but on the overclocking dualcore field they really are the best performance at this moment while price/performance isn't bad at all either.

[zak4994]

Originally Posted by name='monkey7'

first let me say welcome to oc3d feel free to post an introduction in the subforum meant for that.

I haven't looked at the newegg prices, but i think this will suit you just fine:

- intel e7200

- asus p5q pro

- any brand (no valueram) 2x2gb ddr2-800.

I know you don't want go to intel, but on the overclocking dualcore field they really are the best performance at this moment while price/performance isn't bad at all either.

[lamboman]

Erm, yeah, Intel's top dog might cost more than AMD's, but if you compare prices, Intel still comes out on top when overclocked.

monkey7 has pretty much got it, you can't really get anything better than that at that price.