Thinking of upgrading, need advice

Hello my fellow forumites, every now and then my computer needs a bit of an upgrade and I think now is the time to do it.

Specifically my processor, it's currently an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz, I think it could do with a little power upgrade given that a lot of new games are coming out, so I was wondering what your suggestions might be.

As for graphics cards, I have a GeForce 9600 GT, I don't think this needs upgrading just yet but if you lot think it does then suggestions on that would be nice. Again, only if needed.

Cheers

Realy more details of your current system are needed to give you much advice

Upgrading memory is generally a cheap upgrade and will usually give the best return for the money.

How much memory do you have?
What operating system are you using and is it 32 or 64 bit?
How much memory and what clock speed is your graphics card running at? (Some versions are factory overclocked) - Overclocking it if it isn't already is also a straightforward option - a lot easier than overclocking the rest of the system.

What games are you looking to play - apart from CoH that is?
What resolution do you intend playing at? - This will affect whether the graphics card will be adequate.

We'll need to know the model of the motherboard you've got - some intel processors may not be compatible with it.

OK, with a P35 you can easily use any current Core 2 Duo or Quad CPU currently available (after flashing to whatever current BIOS is for your motherboard, just so it can auto identify the CPU).

2.4 GHz means you have either a E4600 or E6600 Core 2 Duo. You should be able to easily go to the E8400 with is a 3GHz dual core for $168 at NewEgg. You would actually get better than a 25% improvement in CPU performance due to more L2 cache, the faster FSB and a reworked architecture. I'll SWAG it's more like 35% faster. That may or may not translate into better gaming performance, it depends if a game is currently limited by the CPU or GPU (graphics card).

As for your video card, the 9600GT is a nice card. If you were to upgrade, I would skip the 9800GT (not that much of a performance gain over the 9600GT) and jump to the GTS 250, 512MB of memory if are running a 32-bit OS, otherwise the 1GB would be better (it's like a $20-30 difference in price). Price range lists in the $110-165 at NewEgg ($105-$160 after discounts and rebates) depending on manufacturer, factory overclocking, cooling tech and amount of memory. Actual PC gaming performance gain between a 512MB 9600GT and a 1GB GTS 250 at 1680x1050 is about 40%. Feel free to page back to one of the 19 games this site uses to test to see how they compare. Remember video card benchmarking is usually done with extremely fast CPUs with the quality settings maxed out in each game to accentuate the performance differences.

You can never have to much system memory. However 3 GB is fine for a 32-bit OS with a 512MB video card. A 1GB video card on a 32-bit OS may eat into the 3 GB of memory your system "sees" today. Given a choice between more video memory but less system memory or more system memory and less video memory, I would always choose more system memory.

Thanks for the advice

Oh yeah, that was my other question.

I have two HDDs, one for Windows and general programs and one for games.

If I were to get Windows 7 and install it on my first HDD in place of Vista, would I have to re-install all my games, even though they are on a different HDD?

For about 95% of all software, games included, the answer is yes.