Need some help.
I built my system about 3 years ago. I swap parts and keep up on drivers, but know very little on where the bottle neck is between hardware. I'm not having any trouble but looking to stay ahead of the curve.

My system now is:

evga 680sli MB
E6600 intel cpu
2x   1 gig corsair domanator ddr2 800mhz
1x   8800GTS 640mb ram
W/D sata 7200rpm 250gig hard drive
Thermaltake 700 psu
All stock settings running XP home 32 bit with onboard sound.


What would be my biggest gain for the buck?  Thinking of speanding 300 to 400, but I can also do it in tiers if need be. I know I could over clock my system, I read many forums about O.Cing but my head starts to hurt. I  only have time once in awhile to play so I want a very stable machine.(Don't want tobe tinkering instead of playing)

Was looking at an E8500 or E8600 cpu, and maybe the evga killer xeno pro nic card. I seen mixed reveiws on the xeno card. Anything from lower ping and higher frame rates to no change  at all or worse incapadabilty issues when using the xeno card.

Would I benifit with a sound card instead of the onboard sound? The onboard sound sounds good to me, but didn't know if I would see any other inprovements.

I also was thinking of upgrading the ram from 2 to 4 gigs of faster ram with a clean install of win7 64 bit. Would I see any sizable inprovement going that rout also?

Any help will be greatly appreicated. Thank you Dave

4 gb ram (all same numbers), If you go with a windows 7 upgrade you have to reinstall xp first and then put on the windows 7 (atleast that's what it says) so you'll want to back up all your stuff that needs to be kept. I think something like a gtx 260 would be a smart move. Glad to see you're an intel man! Retail version can be moved to dif hardware. oem is supposed to stay with mobo. there is a 3 pak of upgrade for $149 right now. If you're happy with xp I wouldn't get in a big hurry to get win 7.

Hey

I just upgraded my pc

I had Dual core E6600 and a 9800gt512mb. My bottleneck was the prossesor. I replaced it with E8500. And a 275gtx card.
And i also have 4gb ram

So i think a new prossesor should help u out,m8. Your powesupply is more then enough.

I think the memory is the bottleneck on your system. What speed memory does that motherboard support? 800MHZ is slow as compared to 1300, 1600 and 1800. It might be as simple as upgrading your memory if possible. Adding a second 8800 in SLI mode will greatly improve the gaming.

Thoughts anyone?

I think I would go CPU/ Memory first.  Here is a link to Toms hardward video card benchmarks, it has the 8800GTS listed so you can compare to the newest cards to see what you might gain, but I dont think I would invest in a faster card without upgrading the cpu/ mem.  Plus alot of cards will be dropping in price near Christmas so you can op to pick up another 8800 cheap and SLI or just get one better card.
My 2 cents
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-cards-charts-2009-high-quality/benchmarks,64.htmltoms

Thanks guys, Thank you dogz for the chart.

I talked to a few guys also and they are trying to talk me into saving my money  and just over clocken my cpu. I've looked into that afew times before and my head starts to spin. I've downloaded manuals on how to O.C. It explains all the areas to tinker with and what they do, but I'm still nervous about it. I understand I should easliy get it to 3.0 ghz, and maybe 3.4ghz with a after market cooler.

So if I do(can ) O.C. my computer, I should most likely upgrade my video card to maybe something like the 260?

If I do get a new video card should I leave the old one for a physx card?   Will that only be used for certain game titles that calls for it? Is it worth having a physx card?


Thanks again, Dave

Get a quad core Dave (INTEL)..also you need more RAM. Your video card is OK for most games BUT Crysis and MW2 operation flashpoint and such will not maxx out on that card.