Upgrading, feedback wanted.

[asher]

I am planning to upgrade my desktop PC (which I am currently not using) and I am going to use it to try out Windows 7.

I use it for nothing too resource consuming, mainly applications, image manipulation sometimes, although I am a big multitasker and often have a whole lot of stuff running.

I am looking for a fairly cheap upgrade, so I am not looking for top-end parts at all, rather I am looking for value parts that will give me decent performance. I like fast. I am in Australia and will be getting my parts locally, so I may have less range than in the US.

My current system is a Q6600 on an ASUS P5K-SE motherboard. Those are the parts I plan to keep as they are still pretty current. What I am looking for guidance on are two things mainly, RAM and video card. I currently have 2x 1GB cheap generic RAM, but since its pretty cheap I plan to get some more.

I am wondering if I should get 2x 2GB of RAM and add it to my existing 2GB to give me 6, or if I should get 4x 2GB for a total of 8. I am guessing the jump from 6 to 8 wont really be needed for me, but I am not sure as I still run XP and have no experience with Vista/7.

The other main problem I have is my video card. It is a rather old 128MB ATI Card. I don't do anything graphics intensive so I don't want to invest much in a new one, but I can see that I can get something like a ASUS 9400GT 1GB card for pretty cheap, and I would like something better than what I have to cope with the Aero interface and stuff.

Any feedback from you guys on these decisions? They are pretty small compared to what you usually deal with but any help would be appreciated

Also, if you know where I might be experiencing bottlenecks, and if its worth upgrading other stuff, advice about that would be great too.

Thanks!

 

[Hacp]

Go with 6gb for the ram. For the video card, you can get a HD 4670 for around 50 dollars AR, which blows the 9400gt out of the water. The ATI card will give you ~2.5x the performance of the 9400gt(based on 3dmark).