General PC question... Upgrade?

[penguine]

Here is what I am gaming on these days:
WIN 7 Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GhZ (Stock clocked)
4GB Ram
EVGA 680i Motherboard
2 EVGA GTX 275 FTW (SLI)
80GB Intel SSD (boot)
1TB HDD (Data)
350GB HDD (Data) - thinking about pulling out since it is empty and slows boot times
MS Sidewinder Mouse
Razer Lycosa Keyboard
SB Extreme Gamer Soundcard

I am thinking about upgrading my video card to a 560ti or a 570, and dropping in some more ram. Any thoughts? Im looking for a better (Prettier) gaming experience without a full mobo/cpu/ram swap. Think if I threw in new video cards and doubled the ram it would be worth it? I know my system is aging, but I dont want to give her up just yet!

Thanks!

[Silense]

Absolutely. I went from a 9800gt to a 560ti completely blows the 98 out of the water. Also upgraded my cpu went from core 2 quad Q8600 to a i5-2500k. I can play any game on high including skyrim no hitches. Good investment and well worth the money imo.

**also a good idea to drop another 4gb of ram in there 64 bit can use up to 8gb of ram

[Chinua]

My first question, because I ran into this too (see Upgrading my PC on the Cheap (tips welcome)) is does your Mobo have PCI Express 2.0.

If so, yeah, just upgrading your video card and tossing in 4gb of memory will be a good band-aid solution until you want to do a full system rebuild.

If not, you'll want a Mobo that does, and once you're putting in a new mobo that gives you the opportunity to use faster RAM along with that new video card, and by then, you end up doing that full swap that you're dreading.

Note: Also, moved to Hardware/Software forum.

[Silense]

Didnt mention this in my other post but yes if you do any type of processor upgrade you will have to upgrade the MOBO as well which is what i did. The older mobos cant handle the new chipsets....got mine in a bundle from newegg around $450

[penguine]

It's not that I can't do a complete upgrade, I'm playing the lazy card and don't want to! I suppose if the case wil be open why not? wonder what the fiance would say if a new pc popped up in the house.

[Chinua]

It's not that I can't do a complete upgrade, I'm playing the lazy card and don't want to! I suppose if the case wil be open why not? wonder what the fiance would say if a new pc popped up in the house.

Set a huge bouquet of flowers on top of it, along with some chocolates. Boom, done.

[boravr6]

Here is what I am gaming on these days:
WIN 7 Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GhZ (Stock clocked)
4GB Ram
EVGA 680i Motherboard
2 EVGA GTX 275 FTW (SLI)
80GB Intel SSD (boot)
1TB HDD (Data)
350GB HDD (Data) - thinking about pulling out since it is empty and slows boot times
MS Sidewinder Mouse
Razer Lycosa Keyboard
SB Extreme Gamer Soundcard

I have a VERY similar setup,

Same CPU, only i have 8 gigs ram and i had a ait HD5700 video card.

I recently changed to a HD 6900 card. Performance was BARELY noticable. Thie biggest improvemnt is in Ilum where i used to get 0.5-2.0 FPS now i get 5.0-15.0 FPS'ish

I wanted to upgrade CPU but with our chipset there is nothing on the market, so i would have to swap the mobo, + cpu now i need new RAM (which is cheap these days)

Keeping my system as is for now until i determin wether im staying in TOR or not.. If i do end up staying ill make the upgrade.