Worthwhile Upgrade? Advice Needed

[pele12]

I have an Hp a1250n computer with the following specs:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ / 2 GHz
Mother Board: ASUS Socket 939
Memory: 1 GB installed(4 GB max) DDR SDRAM
Memory speed: 400 MHz Memory PC3200 RAM form factor DIMM 184-pin
Video: PCI-E BFG 6600 GT (upgraded at time of purchase)
Power: 400W (upgraded at time of purchase because of video card)
OS: Windows XP Media Edition


My main uses of the computer are Video Editing (I use Pinnacle Studio 11), Photoshop CS and gaming(I want to get World of Conflict and I play Battlefield 2).

I wanted to do the following:
Upgrade CPU to AMD 64 X2 4800+: $180 (I believe this is the fastest I can put on my board)
Upgrade Memory to 2 gigs: $70
Upgrade to Vista: $80
Upgrade video to BFG 8600GT: $130

Total: $460

Is this is a smart upgrade to do? Will I see a big difference in speed? Or is this a bad investment and I should save my money and buy a new system in 9-12 months?

Thanks for your advice
John

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

save it up then BAN upgrade it all

 

[tamalero]

I think the FX60 s the best you can put into your mobo.
(dual core 90nm at 3.0 Ghz )

 

[yomamafor1]

Vista is unnecessary. With its buggyness at the moment, you're better off staying with XP.

Then use the money for a 8800GT. It'll give you a lot more power than 8600GT.

World in Conflict is a very very demanding game. Even the 8800GTS on my computer can only do 10~20FPS at 1024 x 768 with everything at medium.

 

[jimmysmitty]

I say save up and get a new syetem in 9-12 months. By that time Nehalem will be out and will probably speed up video encoding and the such quite a bit compared to what you will do now.

 

[yomamafor1]

Agreed. Sorry I didn't see that you're also looking at a new system in the next year or so.

Yes, then you should save up for Nehalem. It should be a significant jump from your current system .

 

[jimmysmitty]

Basically imagine going from a P3 to a Core 2. Thats what going from a CPU like yours to Nehalem will be like.

 

[pele12]

Thanks everyone! I'm very excited about this Nehalem, I am going to research it right now. Faster render times sound great!

Thanks again!