Hey, Im new to the forums and I wanted everyones thoughts on something.
I built a pretty decent gaming machine last summer, and I kinda wanted to upgrade it a little bit every summer. Here is my configuration.
eVGA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard 122-CK-NF68-A1
WD Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS - Hard drive - 500 GB
WD Raptor 150 Gb
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTX
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Performance TwinX Matched - Memory - 3 GB (3 sticks)
Belkin N Wireless Card

Im wondering what I should upgrade this summer. I was thinking maybe a blu ray drive or move up to vista (not sure if thats a safe move yet). I dont know if its really cost efficient to upgrade my cpu or video card yet. What are your guys thoughts?

CPU Q9450 you will love it

680i Doesnt support 45nm Quads . I dont think it does

Add another gig of ram so your are running in dual channel mode seems like the thing to do at this point. And yeah, if you upgrade to Vista, you can run DX10.

yea i researched it and i would have to upgrade my mobo for that cpu. It does sound tempting but the total cost would be around $500-$600. What kind of performance boost would that be? The system is only a year old but then again it wasnt built with top of the line parts at that time. I do have to upgrade the mobo before too long though so that I can use PCIe 2.0 video cards. hmm.

Remember the difference between an upgrade and a replacement. If you keep thinking of upgrading more and more by taking core components out, you'll end up with an inefficient half-assed replacement.

So, if you want to upgrade instead of replacing, I'd consider stepping up to a Q6600 for ~ $200 along with either adding a stick of the same memory in for dual channel across your RAM or replacing the RAM with 2x2GB of G. SKILL ram, which is great RAM.

So, if you replaced the RAM and CPU with those two items, you'd be looking at an upgrade under $300 including shipping. Not too bad. Don't worry about replacing mobo's and most other critical parts unless you want to just build a new computer.

Unless you plan on keeping your computer hooked up to an HDTV like a home-theater PC, don't bother with the Blu-ray drive. And Vista will eventually become a need rather than a want, but at this point you'd get much more gains from working with hardware.

Thanks for the advice. I had 4 gigs of ram earlier but one stick went bad and i never got around to getting it replaced. ill get on that right away. ive heard that vista x64 is actually pretty good, and that the 32bit version is bad because its a (poorly) reworked version of the 64 bit. Though I am a huge fan of XP.
Also, I heard a rumor that intel is releasing a next gen cpu later this year. that would require a new mobo and ram and all that. if nothing else, that should drive down their current cpu prices.
i use this pc mostly for games, and i do plan on using a 26inch hdtv for a monitor when i move into my apartment in august so a blu ray is maybe a good idea.
im not sure what kind of performance boost a quad core will give me. do you think it would be worth the price?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Vista, 32 or 64 bit, unless you still own hardware that you have been using since 1997. Vista, with the kind of hardware you are using will be fast, enjoyable, and hands down better than XP ever could be.

I thought all the negative BS and nonsense regarding Vista had been put soundly to rest long ago.