After playing a couple of recent games I've come to the decision that my rig is starting to show it's age, so over the next few months I plan to upgrade.

Current System:

AMD 64 X2 3800+ @ 2.7 (skt 939), ASUS A8R32-MVP, 2GB G.Skill F1 PC3200, 5 x WD HDD, Powercolor HD4850 PCS+, 2 x DVD DL RW, Cooler Master Aquagate Max, OCZ GameXtreme 700W, X-Fi Elite Pro.

I plan to reuse the HDD's, Graphics Card, X-Fi, Water Cooling & PSU plus possibly one of the DVD RW (LG with lightscribe).

The trouble is I'm torn between going with an AM3 Phenom II or a C2Q setup, I can get hold of a cheap 775 board (ASUS Maximus Extreme) but was wondering if it's worth going with a C2Q and this board or getting a PII 955 & ASUS M4A79.

Would going AM3 be a better bet than 775?, or should I wait a couple of months to see what i5 prices are like.

Any thoughts appreciated.

What's your budget?

I'll probably be looking to spend about £400-£500 over a couple of months.

A C2Q will hammer the AM3 setup. Although for £500 you could get a cheap i7 setup

Got worry about i5 as it's been more designed for cut down/interagrate graphic builds.

for around £440 from scan.co.uk you can have -

Intel Core i7 920, D0 (SLBEJ), S1366 (B), Nehalem, 2.66GHz, 8MB Cache, 20x Multiplier, 130W, Retail £215.25

Asus P6T SE, Intel X58, Sok 1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 2000/1866/1800, SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX £150.85

6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3, PC3-12800 £73.99

£440.09

thats wat i was going to say

Me too.

Gigabyte do a good X58 mobo as well. I've no idea if it's cheaper than that Asus P6T though - that seems like a great price for a great board.

I have to disagree on Ci7. Not worth it and it will be replaced by Ci5 very soon. Just wait for Ci5 or go for 775 socket.
AMD is out of question, just as it has been for last three years

But i5 is the low end one.

If there's any reason for waiting for i5, it' be to see if it knocks i7's price down any more,

It's all relative. Ci7 was a temporary solution to extract huge margins from the market. Ci5 is going to be mainstream. Cheaper Ci7 cpu will be discontinued and replaced with ultra expensive models, Ci5 will be have its own mainstream class.

I can't see Ci7 sticking around for long in its current form, it is more of a server cpu than desktop one. To have an open upgrade path I would recommend Ci5. Unless you need tripple channel memory and tripple SLI (who does?) and have money to burn...

And Ci5 apparently clocks to 5ghz. Good enough for me to have "low end" chip like that...

5Ghz

Wow...........I wouldn't put it past Intel though, the Pentium Dual core (C2D in disguise) processors were insanely clockable too.

Get a C2D or Q setup with 4gig of ram then spend the remainder of your budget on a new graphics card?

Probably better overall improvement for £500....