upgrade, overclock or leave it alone?

Ok, my pc is starting to fall to minimum spec for the latest games(battlefield 3) I will be building a new gaming rig in about 12-18 months once cash flow is a little better, so looking for opinions on anything i can do to my current setup.

What i have the now is...
AMD Phenom X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz
Sapphire 790GX Socket AM3 DDR3
OCZ 4GB Kit
Corsair 650W PSU
Western Digital 500GB SATA II
Sapphire HD 4850 512MB (crossfire)
ASUS HD 4850 512MB (crossfire)

My thought are all over the place on what to do.
1, buy an aftermarket cooler and overclock (i cant unlock the extra cores as the mobo wont let me, but it does see 4 cores)
2, buy a new cpu. phenom ii x4 955 or 965 again im limited to an am3 cpu as mobo doesnt support am3+
3, leave it alone as its fine for most games and then spend the cash on the new rig.
4, F**k this, just get an xbox 360 (haha)
5, For overclocking gpu do i need extra fans for cooling?

So what would you do?

Personallly i would choose 3, at least wait until the end of the month and see how the new GPUs turn, and if you are waiting so long, Ivy Bridge will be out by the time you'll build a rig...

Personallly i would choose 3, at least wait until the end of the month and see how the new GPUs turn, and if you are waiting so long, Ivy Bridge will be out by the time you'll build a rig...

ArchDemon123

have u tried unlocking the cpu to a quad core? Not sure if the 550be unlocks but my 555BE unlocked to a triple core pretty easily. If you can unlock it then do so and upgrade ur graphics card to something higher end. After that save up money for a new rig.

Buy a cheap cooler like the 212+. Chances are if you do get round to upgrading/new pc it can go in there anyway.

Cooler cpu, quieter than stock and overclocking for ~$20

have u tried unlocking the cpu to a quad core? Not sure if the 550be unlocks but my 555BE unlocked to a triple core pretty easily. If you can unlock it then do so and upgrade ur graphics card to something higher end. After that save up money for a new rig.

blaznwiipspman1

Buy a cheap cooler like the 212+. Chances are if you do get round to upgrading/new pc it can go in there anyway.

Cooler cpu, quieter than stock and overclocking for ~$20

kraken2109

... I think its is the route i`m goning to take, buy an after market cooler and over clock, and make sure it cooler is compatable with 1155 socket as next pc will probably go with an i5 build.thebigyin

Got it to 3.5ghz but after 10 mins with prime 95 temp was 69 far too hot! Brought it down to 3.3ghz @ 61, i`m happy with that on a stock cooler. Looks like i`ll get an after market fan to get the cpu speed up a little. Also i didnt touch voltage or bus speed only the multiplier.

id wait until you can upgrade cpu, mobo and ram at the same time. then if you get something like a 2500k (and a £15 cooler to clock it to around 4.5ghz) the performance boost in games from that will satisfy you until you can afford new graphics.