Upgrade or scrap?

[bottleofboos]

This is my current desktop for now:
Desktop - Intel E6600 :: eVGA 680i AR :: Corsair CM2X1024-6400 :: Seagate 500gb :: eVGA 8800 GTS 640 :: Antec TruePower Trio 650 :: Antec Nine Hundred :: HannsG 28"

I'm debating if I should just upgrade my RAM and video card. There is also a possibility of me thinking about installing a Corsair H50 on it.

I use this rig for gaming, photo editing with Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.2, ocassional VM with Virtual Box, and watching HD movies.

I'm considering upgrading the RAM to a full 8GB using these kits:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145217
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231195

Also I'm not sure if I should buy a Radeon 5850 or SLI 2 cheaper boards to get the same performance.

So should I scrap or upgrade? My budget is around $800.

 

[Zap]

For video cards I would always go with the single, higher performance card. The best thing about a video card upgrade is that you can always transfer it to a newer rig. The video card upgrade will give you the biggest gains in gaming, so much that you will now (after the upgrade) be CPU limited.

Are you running a 64-bit OS? Know that any RAM you buy now will likely NOT work when you upgrade your motherboard, and you will probably need to upgrade your motherboard at one point because the 680i had some issues (depending on revision of the board) supporting 45nm CPUs, so when you need something better than your E6600 you will probably be jumping platforms.

For the H50, do you need the additional cooling?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

The only reason I have found to have more memory is with one app and that's Adobe Premiere Pro. No other daily things for me require more than 4G. Do you peak out while running Adobe Photo-shop?

 

[mfenn]

I would not put any money into DDR2 at this point. Also, the $100 AMD quad (X4 635 at the moment) will smoke an E6600.

I would say to go with a new core system (CPU, mobo, RAM, GPU if you want) since all of your peripherals are still quite strong.

 

[mmntech]

For video cards I would always go with the single, higher performance card. The best thing about a video card upgrade is that you can always transfer it to a newer rig. The video card upgrade will give you the biggest gains in gaming, so much that you will now (after the upgrade) be CPU limited.

This.

Worth noting too that you can't run dual Radeon cards in an SLI rig. The motherboard needs to be CrossfireX compatible. nVidia and ATI have two separate and proprietary systems for dual GPUs.

I think building a new system would be wise. Most of the parts can be recycled. You just need a new GPU, CPU, RAM, and motherboard. A 64-bit OS too.