Next upgrade path?

[InorganicMatter]

I'm debating on my next upgrade path. I have 4 possible choices, and need your advice. First, the parts that stay no matter what:

Antec TruePower II 550W - $97
AUS A8N-E - $120
1GB Corsair Value Select - $85
Thermalright XP-90 and Panaflo - $40
120GB Seagate Barracuda - $85
Total thus far - $430

Now, here are the hard ones.
Processors:
A64 3000 - $150
A64 X2 4200 - $540

Video cards:
6800GT - $350
7800GT - $400 (?)

Any combo of the 4, total 4 possible choices. Obviously the 7800GT will be more than $400 at it's release, but this is all hypothetical. The cheapest would obviously be 3000+ and 6800GT, putting the total price right at $1000. The most expensive would be the 4200+ and 7800GT, putting the total at roughly $1400. I could also do a mix of the two, but I would think that would produce a bottleneck? Anyways, should I get next-gen stuff, spend the extra bucks and be set for a year or two? Or should I just get this generation of stuff since current games hardly stess this generation of hardware as it is, and worry about Unreal 3 and the likes later? Of course, there is the option to go the cheap route, and upgrade the processor to an X2 and the video later, but that seems like a waste of money. What should I do here?

 

[dandragonrage]

If you're just gaming, don't get the X2... As for video card, depends what resolution you use and your AA settings, etc...

 

[XSNiper]

3000 and 7800GT and OC the Proc. to 3200+ or higher.

 

[InorganicMatter]

If you're just gaming, don't get the X2... As for video card, depends what resolution you use and your AA settings, etc...

I'm not an AA/AF freak, not an issue. As for the multitasking, I WILL use the feature if it's available.

3000 and 7800GT and OC the Proc. to 3200+ or higher.

I was starting to think that myself.

 

[Electric Boogaloo]

If you're prepared to spend the money, which it seems like you are, I would wait and see what the pricing is like on the next-gen GPU's and look at something like an AMD 64 4000 (~$480) or maybe even something in the AMD FX line (~$750-$1000). A setup like that would probably be optimal for gaming.

Assuming your budget is around $1400, you could get an AMD 64 4000 and still have $500 left over for the video card.

If you don't want to spend that much then I would go with a lower-end CPU (3000, 3200 OC'd) and wait to see how the new graphics cards perform.

 

[InorganicMatter]

If you're prepared to spend the money, which it seems like you are, I would wait and see what the pricing is like on the next-gen GPU's and look at something like an AMD 64 4000 (~$480) or maybe even something in the AMD FX line (~$750-$1000). A setup like that would probably be optimal for gaming.

Assuming your budget is around $1400, you could get an AMD 64 4000 and still have $500 left over for the video card.

If you don't want to spend that much then I would go with a lower-end CPU (3000, 3200 OC'd) and wait to see how the new graphics cards perform.

That's the thing, I'm NOT ready to drop this much. I would like to hold it down to $1000-$1200, but it doesn't look like I get dual core if I do that. What to do...

 

[Electric Boogaloo]

That's the thing, I'm NOT ready to drop this much.

Oh, well then I would go with your second option.
A64 3000 venice which can be easily overclocked. That would leave you with ~$600 to spend on a video card while still staying around $1200. Either way I say wait until prices are released on the new GPU's before you buy anything else.

I don't really think it's possible for you to get an X2 and still stay under your budget, at least at this point. Besides, you would have a sweet processor but would probably have to settle for a sub-par video card.

But that's just my 2 cents. Hope it helps!

 

[Epicenter]

If you do tons of multitasking or run a lot of multithreaded apps, get an X2, no questions asked. If not, go with a 3000+ and have fun overclocking it. a Thermaltake Silent Boost is all you need for a major overclock, a 7000-AlCu will just be overkill and more work to mount. Get a 6600GT or a 6800GT now and resell it for cash towards a 7600, 7800 or 7800GT once #1, you really need an upgrade .. and #2 you've seen benchmarks and see what really suits your needs when the next wave of video cards come around. It's far too early to tell what they'll perform like, we don't even have solid specs yet.