Upgrade Time or just reformat?

[Empier]

So heres the deal despite lovingly taking care of my computer (To the point my girlfriend declares i cheat on her with it) XP as usual has managed to let crapware on. So 1 choice obviously is reformat. At the same time though maybe an upgrade?

My computer though not custom built by me was built via ABS as i was on time constraints. It wasn't a bad rig though.

AMD 64 X2 4400+
Asus A8N32-SLI-Deluxe
Stock NVidia GeForce 7800GT
SoundBlaster X-Fi Audio (Fatal1ty FPS Soundcard)
2GB RAM (4x 512MB RAM DDR PC3200) CMX512-3200C2
2 x 200GB 7200RPM SATA Drives.

So anyhow considering usually i have 2 Browsers with about 5-10 Tabs each open + Photoshop + Dreamweaver + GAIM and a Music player going and also occassionally play games such as Fear, PlanetSide and other CPU/Memory intense games what suggestions do you have for a first Upgrade? Or is it not worth it at all to upgrade at current do you think?


I don't feel like going all out and spending that much cash just a few hundred at most. I was thinking dumping one of the hard drives for a larger 320GB one or adding a third 200GB HD and/or something to beef up the performance. Ideas/suggestions welcome.

 

[MAK-Daddy32]

I agree with prozac on this one - unless you need more hard drive space, why add it...

What about over-clocking? Spend a little on a good heat-sink fan and just crank up what you already have...

 

[Empier]

I was debating over clocking i'm just ab it hesitant that i'll fry my mobo or graphics card but maybe it is time to look into it .

 

[MAK-Daddy32]

Seems like the perfect time to start OCing. Save the money you were going to spend on an upgrade - overclock for better performace - if something craps out on you, replace it with something better using the money you didn't spend on an upgrade.

 

[qwertycopter]

That's not a bad rig, so unless you are experiencing a slow-down with all that multitasking, no need to upgrade. A re-install will improve performance significantly. From then on, I would look to keep your computer well maintained. Don't skimp on defrags. Do some tweeking. You can see some performance gain in windows by disabling running services you don't need.