If you're thinking of going AMD for your next system upgrade, you can buy a Phenom II X3 or X4 CPU for cheap right now, throw it in your existing rig (since they will support DDR2 as well as DDR3) and get a nice bump in CPU-dependent performance (you'll probably get more FPS in many games, and definitely better performance for things like transcoding video, etc.) Then, when you want to upgrade your mobo and graphics, you'll still be able to keep and use that CPU. I'd go with any Phenom II X4 you can afford. If you're really on a budget, the Phenom II X2 550BE will give you two cores at 3.1GHz without overclocking, which will VERY noticeably boost your gaming frame rates right away, and it's only $115. When you are going to upgrade the mobo, try to find one that will allow you to unlock the other two cores on the X2 chip, and you'll have what I've got in my sig - a 4 core Phenom II, with plenty of overclocking room for almost half the price of the comparable X4 CPU.




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