My current system:
ASUS M2N Deluxe SLI
AMD 4400+ AM2 at 2.3GHz
Wintec 2GB via 4x512mb AMPO ddr2 800 (pc6400)
XFX GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
Western Digital Caviar 250GB HDD split into 2 partitions (C: 100GB for Vista and 150GB general storage/backups/games/anime/etc)
Thinking of upgrading:
ram to 2x2GB G.Skill ddr2 800 $150
or
AMD 6000+ 3.0GHz $160
or
Second 250 GB HDD to run with current HDD in RAID 0 and New Sata 3.0gbps DVD burner w/ LightScribe $140 (my old burner is starting to die on me)
or
Dedicated Sound Card (currently using SoundMAX integrated digital audio)
or
Agiea physx card
Vista rates my lowest score as my CPU at a 5.0 and then my HDD at 5.4.
Ram and Video are 5.9.
I've just been noticing general slowdowns and lagginess on my system and can't tell whether it's my HDD or my CPU is slow. windows takes longer to load, applications take a long time to load/install. I don't run very many processes: Avast, Steam, Ralink wireless utility, windows sidebar, fraps.
those r all on at all times (boot with windows and stay on) Steam and Sidebar take the longest time to load.
I dump windows once every 3 months or so and run regular spy\ad\virus checks and they always come up clean.
My only conclusion can be that my system needs an upgrade and I cant decide between the HDD and the CPU. I don't really need new ram do i?
DiRT, Call of Duty 4 Demo, OrangeBox all run at about 50FPS at max settings with max AA and AF and load fairly quick with a few sputters here and there, but im sure thats the video card
I'm also using an integrated sound card. so would it help to get a dedicated sound or physx card to help take some load off the CPU?