Hey all, it seems I've completely dropped out of the loop but now I'm jumping back in. I was planning on upgrading this September/October for uni (read: BF3) but I was thinking I wanted to grab a 570 GTX now and stuff it into my machine to replace my ageing 4870 1GB. My budget for October is £800-1000 so I imagine it'll be pretty similar to the gaming workhorse/premium system because I can't see Sandy Bridge making a difference. Currently I've got a Phenom 9850BE (2.5GHz) and a 4870 running off a 620W coolermaster PSU (can't remember the model number but I know it should run it). This is all in a Aplus Black Pearl so cooling won't be a problem. I only really use my machine for gaming. So my question is, do I buy now or do I wait until September/October and buy it along with everything else (or buy a different card)?
Is your 4870 struggling with games you are playing now? If not, I'd wait. The last thing you want to do is drop £700ish on a new build, and then have to put in a 570 when you may be able to get a better card for the same money then. Failing that, in 2 or 3 months it might have come down in price, and you'll get a bigger bang for your buck on other parts. That being said I have a 570, I picked it up when I made my rig at the start of the year. It's awesome.
Wait because you'll save money and possibly get better hardware for what you're willing to spend. I upgraded from a 4870 to a GTX470 and the Nvidia card just eats the ATI card for breakfast, so you'd definitely notice a big improvement going to a 570. The problem is that the 570 is very expensive now and you can get a preowned 470 for about half as much. Personally I wouldn't touch the 5 series cards by Nvidia.
If you can do most of what you want to do on your current rig, you may as well wait, as you will be bound to get a better rig in October if you do!