What makes best difference

Ok for the moment i'm sitting on a pretty crappy computer and i have plans to upgrade it. I just wonder what will the biggest difference in games when i upgrade? will it be the graphic card the processor or the ram?

I got:
XfX Nvidia Geforce 8600 256mb
Intel core 2 duo @ 2.66ghz
2gb of ram Corsair 667mhz
a P35 Neo motherboard with DDR2 sockets
750W Power supply

a limit on about 500€ for all together because i plan to upgrade it all, just wonder what i should lay the most money on

I will also upgrade my case to a HAF32 from a cooler master centurion black something, it's not on sale anymore and it's not too good.

so i'll have to find a guide on how to max the *** out of my processor? ^^ well i have the stock cooler on. I think it's good i've never seen it overheat atleast

ergh, cant edit my comments today. im thinking about it, and you might be able to get away with your overclocks with a stock cooler. core2duos run pretty cool. give it a shot, monitor your temps.

itll be in your system info.

ok thanks (this is like chatting lol)

i've singed up last week and i've been stunned since o.o best forum i've ever found

eeeerhm i was wrong about my cpu =/ it was only 2.33 Ghz (i was at work so i assumed it was 2.66). Should i buy a new one or can i overclock this to about 3?

and i usually play at 1280x1024 and i've found cheap 2x2gig rams that would upgrade my ram to 6gig. Is it worth it?

You wouldn't want to just add ram either, it will all run at the slowest speed ram. And you won't use more than 4 gigs gaming anyway.

On DDR2-800, you can OC the CPU to 2.8 ghz without having to OC the ram. 3.0 should be fine to hit on the E6550 and I've read it can be done on stock HSF. With a 7x multiplier though, you have to run the FSB high to get higher speeds and that is where higher clocked ram will help.

The GTS250 or HD 4850 will be more than enough for you. I have the 4850 on that res and can play crysis on high with 35+ FPS. But if you think you might want to do a full upgrade, the 4870 is a great buy right now (in the states anyway) and it gives more options down the line. So I'd still start with the GPU, OC the CPU, and see where you are at. If you need more power to satisfy your needs, then do a mobo/cpu upgrade as noted above.

i havent looked into that specific core2 that you have. but they all overclock well, frankly.

what skora is telling you is correct, you wont want to use your old ram, its slow.

when i said a 4 GB upgrade, it was to REPLACE your current ram. 667 is just slow.

Yes, 6 gigs of 667 will perform slower than 4 gigs of 800.

okay thanks again neophyte for your covering answers =D and i've been looking at 4890's but the problem is that they aint so much better then the 4870's, according to my PC magazine PC GAMER SWEDEN it only have about 10% increased speed and it's about 50€ expensiver... think i will stick with the single 4870 1gb. Should i take Sapphire or XFX or HIS? They appear to have the best stock coolers. Asus one sucked i heard from my magazine.

230€*

not that strange, crank your ram up to 800.

Before buying any ram, OC the CPU. No point in buying ram that you can't use if you have to replace the CPU and mobo.

I'd get the 4870 unless you see a monitor upgrade in the next year or two. You won't be able to use all of the 4870 and definately will be wasting money on the 4890 if you are only going to play at 1280x1024. As for brands, any will work at 1280x1024. No need to spend extra on the BEST 4870 when you are only going to use 80% of the lowest performer anyway.

If the OC CPU and GPU get you close to the performance you want your system to be at, then buy more ram. Depending on the OC you can get will determine if 1066 would provide any benefit or if 800 is more than enough.

Also, what operating system do you run?

so, are you matching your cpu fsb to your rams fsb?

are you now overclocking that cpu?

if not, do it. ^^

800 is probably as far as itll go. just guessing tho.

FSB = Front Side Bus

your overall mhz is calculated off 2 stats. 1) FSB 2)multiplier.

FSB x Multiplier = mhz (megahertz) of your processor.

ie. you have a 2.33 ghz machine, which is 2330 mhz. you achieve this with a FSB of 333 and a multiplier of 7. your multiplier is locked. (well, u can turn it down, but not up.)

what you have done now is turned your FSB from 333 to 400. so now, your MHZ on your processor is now (400x7) which is 2800 mhz. or 2.8 ghz.

however! you may not have fixed your CPUS FSB to be the same as the FSB on your ram. you CAN clock them seperately. (although you shouldnt.) so, right now, your ram might be running at 800mhz (400 FSB, it gets multiplied by 2) but the frontside bus for your cpu could still be 333. you should check to make sure that the frontside bus for your cpu is now 400... just like your ram. that way your cpu is running at 2.8 ghz.

i hope thats clear. i can understand if its not.

yes, this is all done in the bios.

explain to your brother that you want the frontside bus of your cpu, to match the frontside bus of your ram. 400 (x2 = 800).

then, when you are booting, your cpu speed should be displayed at 2.8 and not 2.33

i raised my FSB so my cpu goes at 2.667ghz but now CPU-Z says DRAM Frequency 380.1 mhz :S

what?

That is what you should see. Being it is DDR2 (Double Data Rate) is what the chips will run at. 400mhz bus speed X DDR = 800mhz ram speed. The 2 on the DDR2 isn't a multiplier, just the revision of the standard for ram.

What are your temps and what program are you using to check them?

atm cpu is at 37 degrees and my fan speed is 1991 RPM

my speed fan says this:

Fan 1: 1951 RPM Temp 1: 37C
Fan 2: 1114 RPM Temp 2: 33C
Fan 3: 1305 RPM Temp 3 -128C (?)
Fan 4: 0 rpm (?) HD0: 39C
Core 0: 17C
Core 1: 17C

I think Core 0 and 1 is my gpu and temp 1 is my cpu. Because at my last graphic card my fan broke and core 1 said 137C

Does these temperatures mean i can OC more?

Core 0 and Core 1 are both CPU. If the idle temps are 17, that is good news. But idle temps really don't mean anything, its under load that you want to check.

Like I said, i'd have to try speedfan to find out what the Fan3 is looking at and where that temp is coming from. But not at home on my comp so can't do it today.

should i use orthos to stress them?