Computer upgrades!

Hey guys, my birthday is coming up! As such, I'm getting some money for a computer upgrade.. What I'd like to know from you all in the computer know is this. Which will give me the better upgrade performance. First off my current specs.

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
CPU: AMD Phenom x4 9500 at 2.2ghz stock, 2.4 OC'd
Mobo: M2N-SLI NVidia nForce Limited Edition
RAM: 8gig's DDR2 800
GPU: 8800GT 512mb

Now, my choices I've come down to are this.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127464&cm_re=gtx_260-_-14-127-464-_-Product

Or a new CPU, leaning towards-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

I'm unsure which would be the better upgrade. Mainly to help me run games faster as I'm starting to see a decrease in load times, especially with APB. So! Any idea's guys? Any help would be appreciated. My board is an AM2 socket, but the AM3's are backwards compatible. My board also lacks a PCI-E 2.0 bus, so the GPU would be limited too by the board. So taking into account that both the new CPU and GPU are going to be limited, which upgrade would be better?

I would suggest an i7 from intel if you have the funds to do it. But if not and your really wanting to stay AMD, I'd suggest the AMD BLACK quad core. It's what I have, and my lag is due to no soundcard and 4gb of ram.

Also, when using AMD; make sure that all 4 cores are truly unlocked.

My mobo's an AM2 socket. I can't do an i7. The i7 is also about 100$ more than I have available, not to mention I'd have to buy a new mobo, and RAM. I get this Phenom II x4 I can pop it in and that's it. :O And price to performance I find AMD is the way to go for the person wanting to upgrade their system and not stab themselves in the eye while doing it. My Phenom right now is quad and it was unlocked. From what I can tell the quad core I'm looking at is a good one that comes 4-core unlocked and black box, so can unlock the HT for easy OCing.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this CPU for the 2-3 years I've had it, and am just now experiencing issues I think are due to an outdated CPU.

So, are you saying the CPU upgrade would be better than a GPU upgrade?

I didn't see the GPU details earlier due to lack of sleep from work lol. I'd get the GPU.

See the reason I'm thinking the CPU might be a good idea is load times. Takes forever to load into the game, load into the customization area's like clothes/character/marketplace. And when in the marketplace it takes forever to load when I click to see what an item looks like.

Not to mention my CPU is pretty slow and out of date. Doesn't even make the rec. specs. First time I haven't exceeded the recommended. phenom 2.2 x4 next to a 3.4 OCable to a phenom 3.4 x4 OC'able to 4.0 easy should be a much better performance upgrade than the 8800 to a 260, I would think anyways?

So found out my board is -just- old enough that none of the bios updates include the 965 Phenom II x4 chip. That being said, I'm not going to bother with a CPU upgrade of anything less than that CPU and since I can't get it, the GPU wins! Now I am also looking at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102878 though.

Forum posts make excellent hardware choices! It's tough to plug 'em in though

-.- I kinda wanna leave it like that.. just because that's hilarious... There, corrected, I hope. Actually nevermind. The special on it just ended on the 16th. Was 50 off making it a 200$ card, and is now back to the 250. Argh.