Hey guys,I could use some advice! I want to boost my FS performance, but have limited funds (what's new huh?) and want to get the most for my money.Applicable System Stats:P4 2.8 GHzP4P800-E Deluxe MB1 GB Kingston Value RAM (no idea the latency)60GB IBM Deskstar HDSo, here's my question: which of the following upgrades would provide the biggest improvement in FS performance?1) Upgrade to P4 3.2 Prescott CPU2) Upgrade to 2GB RAM3) Change to 1GB Corsair 3200XL RAM4) Upgrade to 74GB WD Raptor 10k RPM HD (re-install FS to this drive)If more info on my system is necessary, I can provide it when I get home from work later. Thanks in advance for the help everyone!

Nobody has any advice for me?

Oakey doakey, I'll give this a try despite not having enough info."1) Upgrade to P4 3.2 Prescott CPU"Would yield you perhaps a 15% increase in CPU performance."2) Upgrade to 2GB RAM"Nope. Bad bang for the buck on this idea."3) Change to 1GB Corsair 3200XL RAM"Might get you a bit more of a stable overclock, though for good overclocking RAM the 3200XL wouldn't be my first choice."4) Upgrade to 74GB WD Raptor 10k RPM HD (re-install FS to this drive)"Great drives, but don't do anything to enhance gaming performance. They do make apps load quicker though.Would be helpful to know what video card you have.Greg

Greg,Thanks for taking a shot at it at least! I have an Nvidia Geforce FX5950 Ultra 256MB DDR AGP 4X/8X (brand: Asus V9950 Ultra). Would I really yield much better performance from another non-PCI Express video card? Albeit I would love to go PCIe, but that would mean a new motherboard ... which for me is a component I use as an indicator that it's time for a completely new system (and I'm not ready for that battle with my wife yet, lol).

"Would I really yield much better performance from another non-PCI Express video card?"No, not really. In this sim the video card offers primarily eye candy (which is of course important to all of us). The rest of the system (and to a certain extent, too, the video card) is what determines "performance" in this sim. Throwing in something from the current generation of video cards would be costly and yield few benefits over your current card.My recomendation, Shaun, is to get some top quality memory (1Gb), some good cooling (especially for the CPU... the top end Zalman and Thermalright CPU coolers are a great asset). and then get to overclocking your current rig. Also, look at your case cooling. And another great cooler is the Arctic Cooling line of video card coolers. These coolers do much more than just cool the VC... they also enhance case cooling (by expelling the heat from the video card GPU/memory out the back of the case).Your system is well balanced, if just a tad slower than current technology. You should be able to easily attain 3.2Ghz (or higher) with good memory and cooling. And enhancing the cooling coupled with top quality memory (sorry I can't be of assistance in choosing a good overclocking memory for your system... I'm more of an AMD guy. Recommend you do some Googling of Intel overclocking forums to find the best choice for you) will at this time offer a good performance to cost ratio.And get your bank account (and CFO) ready for your next big build. It ain't gonna be cheap... SLI (nVidia) and ATI's new Crossfire (also dual VC technolgy) will no doubt have our wallets crying for mercy.Hope this helps,Greg

Greg,Appreciate the advice! Thanks much for tackling my questions! Time to mull over the options and get Googlin'...

Hi Shaun,To satisfy my own curiosity I did a bit of research on this memory/Intel subject. Seems that the 915 chipset motherboards can take advantage of Dual Channel memory, but I'm not sure about your motherboard.At any rate, whether your board can take advantage of DC or not, I strongly recommend you do some resaech on Intel/TCCD combos. Memory that uses the Samsung TCCD (and some say the TCC5 modules) overclock like rockets on steriods! My G.Skill is running 270FSB 2.5,3,3,6 1:1 with the FSB. And doing it at a cool 2.6V (TCCD doesn't need the heaps of power that BH-5 memory demands).The reason I mention TCCD based memory is your next build. Buying a top quality memory now should afford you a nice overclock on your current system and probably offer the same on your next system if you build in the next year or so.Good luck,GregEdit: Some TCCD options here.