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I was going to upgrade my sister's comp. Uses are media, excel/accounting software and light gaming at 1080p (I introduced her to skyrim. oops). She's got a am2 5600, 2gb ram and a gts 250 atm. Upgrade plans were as follows:

i5 2500k - $220
asus z68 - $140
8GB RAM - $40
ati hd6770 - $85
total - $485

I didnt see anything compelling in the $200 range for the upcoming IB roadmap so I didnt see much point in waiting. One thing I wasnt certain about, was how much of an upgrade the hd6770 is over the gts250. I could just wait til kepler and give her my gtx 460 I guess. Thoughts?

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the video card upgrade at this point. Take a look at TR's recent Skyrim GPU comparison test -- the GTX460 and the 68xx cards were just barely holding in the 30s and 40s at 1080P, so there's probably no point in upgrading to something in the next range below those, especially if you're going to have an extra GTX460 available soon.

I agree with ludi on the graphics card. Get something nice for yourself from the new 28nm lineups and give/sell her your old card. Its still an upgrade over her gts 250. As far as Ivy Bridge is concerned, the i5-3570/K will be replacing the 2500/K at the same price point. CPU performance should be up slightly (~10%) and TDP is 77W instead of 95W. IVB is due out end of April. I would say the wait will be worth it.

I'll agree with Ludi and DPete27. Don't spend money on any gaming graphics card slower than a Radeon HD6850.

I'm a proponent of the trickle-down theory of computer upgrades. Your GeForce GTX460 is still capable enough, so upgrading your graphics card and letting the GeForce GTX460 trickle down to your sister is a good plan. You get an upgrade and your sister gets an upgrade, too. Win-win.

Agreeing with Ludi. But I'd say the minimum worthy gaming card at this point is a 6870 or 560. But neither one of those is a worthy upgrade from a 460. If you hand your 460 down and want an upgrade to your 460 I'd say you'd need a 7870/570 level card for a worthy upgrade.