Looking for advice. Upgrade options...

[boneca]

I build my current PC about 3 years ago and it suited me pretty well for this time. I changed, added few items throughout this years but nothing major.
I’m not a gamer (almost never play games), I’m not big on overclocking ether (even though I’ve done it in the past) not looking for overclock this time.
I used my computer mostly for Graphic (Photoshop), Video editing, Watching movies, Burning DVDs,CDs, Azureus as well as all other typical stuff (email, web etc.)
I have almost always many application opened at the same time such as (MS Outlook, Excel, Word, Photoshop, Firefox, Total Commander, Nero, Few remote sessions (usually 2 Windows Remote desktop and VPN) some other apps from time to time)

My current specs are:

CPU Intel Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz Northwood 800 MHz
CPU Cooler ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Heatsink
Motherboard ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
Memory Kingston PC3200 DDR 400MHz - 3GB
Video card(s) XFX PVT43AND GeForce 6600 GT AGP 128MB DDR3 Video Card w/TV-Out & Dual DVI
XFX GeForce 5200 FX AGP 256MB DDR 8X w/TV-Out & DVI - (I ran 4 monitors at one time that’s why I used 2 video cards, I only running one right now, so this one we don’t need to count)
Sound card Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Internal Sound Card
Hard Drive 1 Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150
Hard Drive 2 Western Digital 400GB SATAII
Hard Drive 3 Western Digital My Book Premium 500 GB External Hard Drive with Dual Interface
Case Thermaltake VA3000BWA Tsunami
Power supply Ultra 400W ATX PS w/ 120mm LED Fan Blue
DVD-RW Drive Pioneer 16X DVD±R DVD Burner with 2X DVD-RAM Read Black IDE Model DVR-110DBK
CD-RW Drive TDK CD Burner CDRW5200B
TV CardHaupauge Internal TV Pro card
OS WinXP Pro SP2
misc:
Apple Cinema 20" Flat-Panel Display
Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 5-Piece Speaker System with Subwoofer

I would like to stay in about $500 budget but looks like all of the Mother boards I looked at using PCI-E slots this days and this means I will need to upgrade my Video card from AGP to PCI-E.

This is my thoughts please advise…

CPU Intel® Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz, 1066FSB, LGA775, 4MB Cache - Do I really need 6600? Or I can go a little less for what I do. I do want to upgrade to C2D for multitasking purposes as well as I’d like to go for 64-bit and 64-bit Vista Home Premium or Ultimate (we’ll see). I know it’s tough to compare Single processor to Core 2 duo but I just wondering how much performance gain I will get going from P4@3GHz to C2Duo?
Motherboard I want to get ASUS motherboard as I’ve been using ASUS for ages and love them – Please recommend me one.
Memory I’m pretty happy with the current memory, the question is will be my memory compatible with new mobo, I also would like to add another 1GB in a near future to make it 4GB
Video card What is good option here for what I do? I would like to get middle class card that will work with my 20” Apple Cinema display and possibly be able to drive another monitor (Dell 2007FPW)
Sound card will stay the same
Hard drive will stay the same
CPU Cooler will stay the same
DVD/CD - RW will stay the same until Blue-Ray drives comes down in price.
PC Case will stay the same


Sorry for the long post
Thank you all very much for suggestions…

boneca

 

[thrawn86]

do you *need* a dual core for photoshop and watching movies? probably not. that said, an e6600 is not doable on your budget assuming you need memory and a video card (unless you go with that asrock 775dual mobo, but if you're not going pcie/ddr2, whats the point?)

I suppose you could, however, upgrade to ddr2 (ddr1 isn't even capable of running a core2duo at stock speeds) and stay with an agp card for awhile. the asrock board (asrock is a division of asus) is entirely function (but not a performance board) from what I've read.

the e6300 and asus p5b combo will be about 300$. pick up 2 gigs of ddr2 533 for around 150 or so, and then find a used/clearnace 7600/x1600 or so for <= 150$. thats the best I can figure.

were it me, I'd save up and do everything right the first time. piecemeal upgrades sound good at first, but they usually end up costing more in the long run that you anticipate.

 

[tisb0b]

You will see an immediate speed increase with what you want to do and your an idiot not to to overclock these things as you'd be able to achieve around 3.4-3.6ghz with the right cooling.

With the processor go for an e6600 the 4mb cache will assist you in multitasking and its perfect if you don't want to overclock.

For the motherboard go for an Asus P5B Deluxe as it has plenty of features which you'll be able to take advantage of.

Your memory is not compatible with this new comp. Pick up either 2x(2x1gb) sticks or 2x2gb sticks of g.skill as its usually quite cheap. As long as you get vista the 4gb will be fine in windows.

For the gfx card a 7600GT should be enough and will happily power 2 monitors. You will need to get a beefier card if you plan on doing some gaming as the 7600GT is really only suited to gaming at 1280x1024 but for general it will be perfect.

You will probably need a new power supply for this build as your current one looks a bit old. For the power supply either get a 500w Seasonic or 520w Corsair as they are both quality power supplies.

Hopefully this would've answered some of your questions

 

[boneca]

Thanks allot guys for the comments, I find them very useful and I will look in to your suggestions.
I didn't realize on the beginning that this "upgrade" will involve pretty much new build such as all of the main components are needed CPU, MB, Mem, Video card.
I think I better off leave my current system alone as it will probably still be a good system for couple more years and just build a new one from scratch.
I have most of my basement stuffed with comp parts from previous builds so I will only need to get pretty much main components.

Ones again Thank you,
boneca