Looking to improve things?

[mayonnaise]

I'm passing the two year mark on my system and have been feeling a little under the weather when playing the latest and greatest. So here's my system as it sits:

Asus p5b deluxe
C2D E6600 @ 3.0ghz
4GB of RAM
8800GTX
x2 WD 7200rpm drives in Raid0
24" Dell @ 1920x1200

The monitor was a recent purchase and is probably responsible for the performance hit I've been seeing in games. I'm not really sure which way to go...

I've looked at video cards and not sure if the jump is substantial enough or if the CPU would bottleneck anything new.

The CPU might be a good candidate but the i7 combo is way overpriced at the moment, I'm looking to stay under $500 (hopefully). Maybe a quad core upgrade?

Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You're running at 3 GHz so the CPU isn't going to be much of a bottleneck, especially at 19x12.

Your graphics card is weak for 19x12. A gtx 275 or better would help.

 

[somethingsketchy]

The card is a little old for the 1920x1200 resolution so anything in the 9800 series to GTX 200 series will definitely help (with a big emphasis towards the GTX 200 series). A nice processor upgrade could also help a bit, anything in the quadcore 45nm series. On another topic altogether, how long has it been since your computer had a fresh clean install? Maybe the current OS install is showing its age, and may need a fresh start.

Any other changes you have made to your system lately besides the monitor upgrade?

 

[mayonnaise]

Originally posted by: somethingsketchy
The card is a little old for the 1920x1200 resolution so anything in the 9800 series to GTX 200 series will definitely help (with a big emphasis towards the GTX 200 series). A nice processor upgrade could also help a bit, anything in the quadcore 45nm series. On another topic altogether, how long has it been since your computer had a fresh clean install? Maybe the current OS install is showing its age, and may need a fresh start.

Any other changes you have made to your system lately besides the monitor upgrade?

The OS was reinstalled about 6 months ago, it's Vista Ultimate x64. I keep a clean house with no adware no viruses nothing present. The PC still does great as it should with the titles from the hardware time period.

I just feel like it's time to bump something up but not quite sure whats the best bang for the buck.

 

[Sureshot324]

Wait another 6 months for DX11 cards to come out. There's nothing out now for a reasonable price that would be a substantial upgrade to an 8800gtx. If you must upgrade now, get an ATI 4890.

 

[somethingsketchy]

If that will be the case, then a CPU upgrade may help ya till the DirectX-11 cards are out and are competitively priced (i.e. not going for $300+ for a mid-range card).

 

[Ausm]

I would ditch your video card for one like mine.