How would you upgrade this system for FFXIV?

[Darwinion]

My current system was built on the advice of people from this very forum, and it has been flawless for use with FFXI for the last 18+ months. So I turn to you guys again for some help with upgrading it for FFXIV.

Current system is as follows:

Gigabyte EP45-DS3 motherboard
Core 2 duo E8500 o'clocked at 3.61 GHz
3GB Corsair XMS2 RAM
Radeon HD4850 512MB graphics card
Windows Vista 32bit Home OS
ASUS 19" monitor (VW series) running at native res of 1440 x 900

I'm thinking that this system is OK(ish) as it stands but I want to run FFXIV at the best settings I can with reasonable framerate. Of course until retail is released we don't really know how well this can be achieved, but I'm not too tech savvy anyway so wondered how you guys would upgrade that system.

I'm thinking that I cannot really upgrade the processor because that MB won't accept the i5 or i7 chips. And I've been told that the E8500 was the best dual core for o'clocking anyway. The only other option is to go Quad core but that I wouldn't see much improvement there. Your thoughts?

That system has been great for FFXI because XI was totally dependent on processor power. Would an upgrade on the graphics card be worth it? I'm considering the Radeon 5870 but not sure if that's too good a card to go with that MB/Processor. Would there be any bottlenecking?

If I don't spend much money at all upgrading I can always get a bigger/nicer monitor. This is totally not necessary though as I'm currently happy with it. Any suggestions here are very welcome.

[shidobu]

22inch monitor with 1080p support. Dunno how you play with a 1440x900 resolution outside of a laptop.
GTX 460 if your on a budget
5870 if your not

I dont remember how well the Core 2 Duos have been doing. But if you go to the FF14 benchmark thread you could prob get a good idea of where your bottle neck is. Go check it out figure how much money you have to spend and plan accordingly. Your only limit is how much money you do and do not have.

[Dmitry]

You can always upgrade your video card now, and if you're still needing more, upgrade the mobo and everything that entails later on.

[Gentaro]

If you want to play the game on maxed settings you will have to replace more or less everything - the question is how much money you want to spend

[Knyghtmayre]

VGA161327 + http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161327 = HD5830 for $155.

I really don't think you'll find something better at the moment for that price. That's just if you're budgeted. I would most certainly recommend you get a new GPU obviously. After that, a 1080p/1200p monitor. If you're not heavily crippled by budget, and get a higher resolution monitor:

EMCYWNV49 + http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.455061 = Just Cause 2, Mafia II, and an MSI GTX480 for $375.