Best upgrade choices?

[kyzen]

So I'm looking at upgrading my system a bit this week. However, I only have about $600 for the task.

Currently I have:
C2D 6300
2 gigs RAM
Nvidia 7900 GS
Vista 64

I was looking at getting either a C2Q 6600, 4 more gigs of RAM (2x2048) for a total of 6 gigs in my system, or an 8800 GTS (though on that I can't decide if I would be best off with the 320 or 640 meg card). Unfortunately, my budget really seems to only allow for me to get 2 of these items.

I did just pick up a Tuniq Tower this week that will allow me to overclock my 6300 beyond the stock speeds it's currently at.

Any suggestions on what upgrades might benefit me the most? I primarily use my computer for gaming - Battlefield 2142, various Source games, Civilization IV, WoW, NWN2.

 

[cmbehan]

most games don't take much advantage of having over 2gb RAM (even if you manually change your page file size) and will simply not see any RAM over 4GB total.

It's probably a waste to add another 4, when you'll really only get usefulness out of 2.

I'd recommend the processor and the video card.....and if you went with the 320MB card and could sell your current 2GB of RAM, you might be able to afford all three.

 

[CrimsonChaos]

Agreed. Get the video card and the CPU.

 

[JustaGeek]

Leave the CPU alone - you can overclock it to any frequency that E6600 is overclockable, too (like 3GHz).

Add 2 GB of the same RAM to avoid problems, and wait till November for the new Video Cards.

An upgrade that eliminates a perfectly fine CPU is just a waste of money, IMHO. And every 8800 series card will be kinda obsolete when the new GPU's come out.

 

[xitshsif]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
Leave the CPU alone - you can overclock it to any frequency that E6600 is overclockable, too (like 3GHz).

Add 2 GB of the same RAM to avoid problems, and wait till November for the new Video Cards.

An upgrade that eliminates a perfectly fine CPU is just a waste of money, IMHO. And every 8800 series card will be kinda obsolete when the new GPU's come out.

Just wanted to point out he wasn't looking at getting the E6600. The Q6600 is a similarly clocked quad core.

 

[JustaGeek]

You're right - sorry.

If you could tell me for which applications you can use the quad today, I would say - go for it.

The today's quad will also be kinda obsolete in a few months. He must have built his machine less than a year ago.

Unless you really have too much money, or you will use 4 core CPU for some specific apps, it will be just a refresh, not an upgrade.

 

[AMCRambler]

Vid card and ram since you're running Vista. You've got a pretty nice rig there already though. Why are you upgrading so soon?