upgrading comp...kinda

Hey guys. I want to upgrade my computer a bit but don't want to go all out. I dont want to have to switch out my mother board, and I have room for a slightly better CPU. I always want to upgrade my Vid card. I may purchase an SSD, but then again I don't think an SSD would make PS2 run any faster, it's mostly applications if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, right now my CPU, mother board, and Vid is:

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core
EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0

I'm trying to find an Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz LGA 1366 (not sure if it'll make much of a difference), since it matched up with my mother board. The Vid card is a different story. Not sure what a 3.2 will be able to keep up with, let alone if there's any video cards still around that is even 2.0 x 16
....starting to think I should just gut the damn thing, or new process and try to SLI with another EVGA model if I can find it.

 

Don't bother with SLI, it's useless in Planetside (and most other games, useful for other software mainly). I doubt you will ever find an upgrade for that 950 at this point, both you and I are 2/3 generations behind, so I would recommend total new motherboard and processor.
The difference between 2.0 and 3.0 is only in the newest and best cards, the bandwidth used in 2.0 is plenty (Pro tip, if running in SLI everything will revert to 2.0 bandwidth or less unless it's a 2011 chipset, but don't get a 2011, they're silly).
So, upgrade time!

Get an ssd, even if only for the operating system, the difference it makes is amazing, personally I run planetside off of mine also and the load time is crazy fast, hardly notice those triple load screens anymore.

For processor I want other people to weigh in. My opinions; the 3570k is amazeballs (I plan on upgrading in a month), but the 4xxx processors are out so it may be worth going with the newest ones, the price difference between the two is minimal.

Graphics card, I'm using a HD7950 but to be quite honest I've never really cared about the whole Nvidia vs AMD, I'm more "Which has the most numbers for the least monies". Buying a single powerful card is a hell of a lot better than having two average ones, another against sli there.

 

Is edit this with a list of parts on a decent budget. Do you have a price range? I can make a badass one in it

 

Thanks guys! I did some shopping around, my problem is I'm extremely power hungry lol. My Ram ( CORSAIR Vengeance DDR3 1600...16 gigs of it ) and PSU (850W) are fine at the moment.
I may need a new case though. Might look into water cooling. I'm not sure if I should spend the money for an i7 Fourth Gen, or go for a cheaper, yet still powerful third Gen like a 3770. The fourth gens are really expensive and may be overkill...but it's odd, I go to newegg and check these prices. The Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502 it's only like 20 bucks cheaper than a 4th gen Intel Core i7-4770 Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116900 I wonder if it's because that particular 3770 is turbo boosted. I don't want to risk anything like that though. Right now I'm looking to spend about 1,200 Kowlefe. I already have RAM (dont think I'd have to upgrade it) and a PSU. I think all I need is a new Mother Board, CPU, vid card, and I would like a SSD. And perhaps a new case if I want to do some water cooling, not to sure yet. I'll have to check my towers specs. I have this one at the moment http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129100

I was thinking about these parts though.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7983433&CatId=6976
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502 (does the turbo boost mean it comes overclocked? That would probably require liquid cooling perhaps)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5247113&CatId=5300 (dont need that much space. I'd use the SSD for boot and applications and my HDD for storage)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130801 ( would love this, but it's really expensive. Not sure if it's overkill. Might be...I mean 4GB, wow)

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... Cases - ATX Form)-_-Cooler Master-_-11119160

This looks like an awesome case

 

i7s aren't really needed for gaming. They are like paying $150 for a new pair of tennis shoes that do the same thing as a $50 pair.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129179&Tpk=antech p280

This is the case a bought when I built my new PC this year. I highly recommend it, It's built like a tank, silent, and was a breeze to install everything in.

the only drawback some will see is it's not flashy, it's a big black box. but I think I've grown out of wanting a spaceship perched on my desk at night when i try to sleep.

 

For processor get an i5, either the 3570k or 4570k, and turbo boost means if the pc thinks it needs more speed it will overclock itself a small bit, it is highly recommended to disable this stupid ass feature and to just straight up overclock it. A 3570k should run stable a 4ghz with air cooling and will easily do 4.5 ghz with water cooling, for water grab a corsair h60, sexy piece of kit.
With 1200 dollars you'll have a shmexy pc no problem. Might make ye olde list later.

 

Here you go. I made a badass rig going roughly off the parts you posted.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1mFLd

This site finds the cheapest pricing and shows that. Also, as you can see I like Corsair

 

Oh wow I never knew about this webpage thanks! Yeah I love Corsair and EVGA a lot.