Need upgrade recomendation....

[integramodder]

This is my current system built over 2 years ago:

Gigabyte - Athlon64-FX SKT939, nForce4 SLI, 4DDR 4GB - GA-K8NXP-SLI
AMD - Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 - ADA3000BIBOX
Crucial - Ballistix 184-Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail [x2] - BL6464Z402
Leadtek - GeFORCE 6600 GT 128MB PCI EXPRESS RETAIL - WinFast PX6600 GT TDH
NEC - 16x DVD±RW - ND-3520A
MSI - Internal 52x24x52/16x Combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive (3 Colors) - XA52P
Panaflo - Hydra Wave bearing, 12Vdc/.1Amp, 7 blade, 80mm fan. 3-1/8"(80mm)x 3-1/8"(80mm)x 1"(25.5mm). 24 CFM [x5] - FBA08A12L


I want to spend less than $250, less than 200 would even be better.
I was thinking of picking up some more ram with this , but I'm not sure if its worth spending that much and whether I will actually see the improvement in system performance.

Any ideas?

 

[Super6]

I'd pick up two more identical sticks of Crucial and a 939 Opteron 2GHz...either single or dual. They overclock so well, it's ridiculous...2.6-2.9 with stock cooler. Then save up some more dinero and upgrade your video card. I still have 3 939 systems with lots of upgrade potential left so I've been in no hurry to go with AM2 or Intel. I"m waiting for the next generation and then upgrade.

Super6

 

[integramodder]

http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__AMD_Opte...ssor,__13510551/search=opteron%252B939

Opterons are $200 by themselves. The ram is about 50 bucks a pop, putting me over the limit. Any other ideas...?

 

[DaveSimmons]

For games, a $250 video card would make the most difference.

For encoding, a faster CPU, for photoshop more RAM . . .

Tell us what programs you most want to run faster.

 

[happy medium]

overclock cpu.
buy new video card like a x1900 should boost performance x2

 

[integramodder]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
For games, a $250 video card would make the most difference.

For encoding, a faster CPU, for photoshop more RAM . . .

Tell us what programs you most want to run faster.

I wish I had more time for games. The last game I bought was Pandora Tomorrow.

I mainly do school work on it when I'm tired of the laptop or when it requires using MatLab or NX (Unigraphics). NX is CAD so it devours RAM and video. My use of matlab is mostly computational and not very system draining.

I do a good amount of photo editing, on both the laptop and desktop...

I'm not sure how overclock-able this system is, but I'd like to see what it can do without replacing the current CPU.

I can get more Crucial ram for about $100, or get the better OCZ for ~$160.
-Is there a point in having 2 very good sticks and 2 good sticks?
-Will the two slower sticks create a bottleneck rendering the better RAM useless?