What should I upgrade next?

[wannagetalappetyto]

Okay, I am in a constant state of feeling like my computer needs to be upgraded. I want to upgrade it next time I get a chance, but I'm unsure of where to go. I wanted to go with 7.1 sound, but I want another opinion from better people who know more (you guys ) in case there's something more important that I'm missing.

Mobo - ECS nForce 570 SLIT-A Socket 775 Motherboard
CPU - Intel Pentium D 830 3.0gGHz DT 800FSB Socket 775
Speakers - Logitech X230 PC Multimedia Speaker System-32 Watt 3pc
Sound Card - none; integrated
Optical Drive - NEC ND-3550 Black 16x DVD Burner in Retail Box
Monitor - HANNS-G HN199D 19in 8ms DVI LCD Monitor w/ Spks
Hard Drives - Maxtor 160GB EIDE HD 7200/16MB/ATA-133 AND WD Caviar 250GB SATA-3G HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G
Case - Aspire X-Discovery Black Case w/o PSU
RAM - OCZ XTC 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz (2x1024MB) AND PQI 1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 PC5400 667MHz (2x512)
Video Card - EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 640MB PCIe
PSU - Ultra XVS 700w Modular PSU Black

Thanks a lot!

 

[rabidbunny]

I think your next step is to get a core 2 duo cpu instead of that hot pentium D. Otherwise, the 7.1 sound upgrade might be another great option.
Just curious, what do you use your computer for? And how much are you thinking of putting into that system?

If you have plenty of $$ to drop, then I'd say go for a second monitor and maybe a second gpu, depending on what you use the pc for.

 

[cory1234]

biggest increase in performance would definitely be upgrading cpu to Core 2 duo or quad core Q6600 depends on budget. Cheapest Core 2 will still beat a D 830..and they overclock like crazy

 

[rabidbunny]

"biggest increase in performance would definitely be upgrading cpu to Core 2 duo or quad core Q6600 depends on budget. Cheapest Core 2 will still beat a D 830..and they overclock like crazy "
Agreed. I forgot about quad core! I believe that a q6600 should work, although it has the right fsb, that doesn't mean that the board will accept the cpu.

 

[lfranklin]

C2D indeed. It would also serve you justice to get a better quality MB.

 

[rabidbunny]

A better motherboard might be good later on too.
My friend showed me this one

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813188019

as soon as I saw this I fell in love with it.

but, budget is important asap.

 

[chuckshissle]

If you want a good 7.1 sound card then you gonna have to match that with a good set of 7.1 speakers.

 

[brick88]

yeah i suggest a better motherboard and a cheapo e4400 that you can overclock the crap out of. u'll see a bigger performance boost. also maybe a different power supply because ultra isnt the most reliable. as for sound cards, cards that have x-fi should be a good jumping point.

 

[wannagetalappetyto]

Cool...thanks y'all! I saw your suggestions, and I went crazy shopping for new stuff...whaddya think? (I didn't get it yet)

MOBO - ASUS P5K LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
HEATSINK - Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler
CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz
MEMORY - OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) x2

I was going to go for the new DDR3 memory and the board to match, but I saw in another article, that after some pretty thorough tests, higher end DDR2 was still better than current DDR3 according to bandwidth and latency values...