OK, so I need to update my three year old hardware. My hard drives and optical drives are just fine, so is my soundcard. I have an ASUS M2N32-sli deluxe motherboard and AMD 4600 cpu, with 4 gb memory.
I've got a few routes to go:
1. get just a new CPU and videocard, because I think the AMD cpu's are backwards compatible and I have pci-express
2. get a new motherboard/cpu and videocard
a. AMD 1090t and motherboard for $300
b. intel i875 and motherboard for $450
3. just get a new videocard (radeon 6850 for $200) and wait on the cpu's to come down.

I'm leaning toward getting the AMD combo and a new 6850, but is there any reason I should go with the intel i875 instead? They receive almost identical benchmarks on Passmark. Getting a new motherboard would give me USB-3, pci-e 2 and unlock the full potential of the cpu and videocard.

No, I'm not wonky enough to need the BEST hardware available, I just want to be able to run programs and games for the next three years without issues.

One thing you're not seeing...you're using DDR2 RAM...AM3 motherboards and newer Intel ones require DDR3 RAM, so that's another added expense. Since your board does support some of the AM3 Phenom II X4 chips, I say continue to make use of the board and keep using your RAM. Phenom 6-core chips are not fully utilized in games and not even quads are fully utilized in most games.

The best chip your motherboard will officially take is the Phenom II X4 945 and it's pretty decent...you'll probably have to update the BIOS your motherboard is using before installing it. Here is your motherboard support page:
http://usa.asus.com/Product.aspx?P_ID=0jMy2X8lKstYRvev

Look for the Phenom II X4 945 chip and you'll notice that it will require BIOS 5002, which you can get through them.

However, I very highly suggest you to read through this motherboard user thread:
http://www.overclock.net/amd-motherboards/366989-official-asus-m2n-sli-m2n32-sli-747.html

It's a massive thread with users reporting results using even faster Phenom II X4 chips like the 970. Some tinkering may be needed, but the board appears to be still rather useful.


The Radeon 6850 is a decent card for sure, but I hope your power supply is adequate for it. What brand/model power supply do you have?

Ah yes, I forgot about ram. I'll check the specs for the AMD chips and see if it's just a short term waste of money or something that I can use for a while. I have an 800 watt thermaltake power supply, about a year old. One of the reasons I like the 6850 is that it uses less juice, not to mention it performs as well as some cards costing $100+ more, and it has multiple connections.