Upgrading this rig. Wise investment?

[tuxborg]

Operating System(s): Windows 7 Home, Ubuntu 12.10
Motherboard: MSI MS-7522
Processor: Intel i7 920 @ 2.67GHz Bloomfield
Memory: DDR3 [PC3-10600] 1333mhz 6gig 3x2gig sticks
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 500gig 7200rpm
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
Power Supply: Corsair 550watt
Case: Cooler Master something ATX Mid-tower

To make a long story short, this is my build from a few years back and it's ripe for an upgrade or replacement. I play a bit of starcraft 2, EVE Online, and a few other semi-modern RTS/RPG/MMO titles so that's the most demanding work of the build. I also jump between operating systems quite a bit, as I much much prefer working with ubuntu for anything not related to gaming.

I assume some RAM and an SSD would probably make a world of difference; however, if there's some limitation I am not seeing please let me know. Thanks!

Any opinions?

 

[AMD Radeon]

3x4GB will be a nice upgrade

and for ssd, samsung 830 is the good, but today the price is high. get crucial m4 instead

 

[Outlander_04]

More RAM is not going to help with gaming . Not even a little bit .

A SSD as a boot drive will make your system feel a lot snappier
But the biggest upgrade you can do to get better game performance will be to change the graphics card .

A Radeon 7870 for around $220 - 240 will change your world

 

[tuxborg]

A Radeon 7870 for around $220 - 240 will change your world

Don't have a pci express 3.0 slot to put one of those in.

 

[Solf]

Don't have a pci express 3.0 slot to put one of those in.

2.0 is the best I can do with this board.

Which is absolutely fine.

EDIT: 3.0 is backward compatible.

 

[tuxborg]

Which is absolutely fine.
EDIT: 3.0 is backward compatible.

Good to know. Thank you!

 

[Outlander_04]

Plug in a recent graphics card , and a mild overclock and you are good to go

 

[tuxborg]

Any particular reason you mentioned an ATI card?

I see much better feedback on the Nvidia cards of a similar vintage.

 

[Outlander_04]

If you are checking a card on Newegg it should give you dimensions

Mostly the newer cards are more power efficient and have smaller coolers . Often they are shorter

 

[tuxborg]

Well that's a pleasant surprise.

Thank you for your help everyone and especially to you Outlander, cheers!

 

[tuxborg]

Best answer selected by tuxborg.