PC upgrade - yay or nay time?

Hey all
 
I am currently in a ponder over whether or not to upgrade my PC.
 
Currently I am running on these system specifications:
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 (1.8ghz per core)
nVidia Geforce 8600GT 256mb
2 gig DDR(2) memory
Windows XP Professional
 
Now I was thinking about playing games like Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age Origins, Team Fortress 2, Crysis, GTA 4, and others.
 
However, I do own an XBox 360 and Playstation 3 (the latter gets used very rarely now if I am honest). I find when I am not in work I tend to go on the XBox quite a fair ammount but on work days I tend to feel like I cant be bothered and put the PC on to do random things (posting on forums, youtube, play some games etc).
 
So, what do you think?
 
Worth upgrading the system on a budget or should I noth bother?

I would have thought the games you mention would run on the machine you have. So why upgrade?

Yikes, I'd say if you where to upgrade, I'd say upgrade it all. That processor is old old old for gaming, upgrading that would likely mean a new motherboard, then from there you'd want a new graphics card and RAM and, well, from there that's basically the whole machine. Luckily, these days getting a PC that can do some great gaming is lighter on the wallet then most (between $500-700), especially if you're willing to buy it part-by-part and assemble it.

Yay time. Here is my advice: 

• Get 2 more Gigs of RAM (last time I bought 2GB of RAM it costed me 40€ or so).
• Get a new graphics card, you really need a new one if you're a gamer. If possible get this one, but make sure it fits in your computer, it is very large (seriously).
• If budget allows get a Core i7 processor.
• Get Windows 7 (Direct X11 dude).

Well you could get a new cpu and videocard. It would still cost a few hundred dollars since your cpu is way too slow for gaming, it would bottleneck the framerates alot, if it isn't already.

If you have the money, I say yay. The video card really needs to go, but you would be best off just upgrading everything like previously suggested.

Team Fortress 2 should run near max (or close enough to not know a difference). Not sure on the other ones, but that is what the graphics settings are for.
 
Oh yeah, and I agree with Hitman. Your CPU is what's going to bog you down. Unless of course you have a 5400rpm Hard drive, then that would be the bottleneck. 2GB of Ram should be enough unless you're playing MMORPG's then you need a lot of RAM. Your graphics card should be able to run most new games at at least medium setting, maybe higher with AA off and shadows low. I remember running Crysis kind of high on a 8800GT 1GB.

Well what would be the best parts to start off with?
 
Such as would a new video card be best to start with then look at the rest as it comes? I dont mind buying a new cpu but i dont really want to go to a new motherboard and having to get new memory for that board unless its really nessecary. I dont mind medium settings on new games, but I am concerned as system requirements lab said my CPU failed the minimum test for Dragon Age :(

Well what would be the best parts to start off with?
 
Such as would a new video card be best to start with then look at the rest as it comes? I dont mind buying a new cpu but i dont really want to go to a new motherboard and having to get new memory for that board unless its really nessecary. I dont mind medium settings on new games, but I am concerned as system requirements lab said my CPU failed the minimum test for Dragon Age :(

Well, I decided to build a brand new PC from scratch last December, just over a year ago. Personally I feel it was absolutely worth it, but I went from a machine with 512mb of RAM and a pentium 4 processor to 4 gigs and a core 2 duo E8400. 
 
I will say this, not having to worry about the requirements for games in the last year has been amazing.

Personally if I were you, I'd wait a bit and save some money. If you're going to upgrade, you need to go big or go home really, as it seems like game requirements are getting crazier and crazier by the day. If you upgrade half-heartedly, you'll soon be overtaken. Also, your current PC seems fine to me, for the time being anyway. Wait until you really cannot go on any longer with those specs, THEN upgrade. At least, that's how I feel about it.

I would hold off on the upgrades until NVidia shows off their new cards for this year and people have time to test them to see if they are all they are supposed to be.

You can probably keep the graphics card if you ditched the rest of the machine (you'd at least be wanting a new motherboard and processor; which would probably entail buying new RAM, as well). If you'd have to buy a whole system, then then the cost probably isn't worth it. In the end, it really depends on how you feel about it. If you feel it's worth it, you've got the cash, and you do a lot of work on your computer, then you should do it.
 
(note: it looks like I'm probably the only person who thinks that the 8600 is at least serviceable, but keep in mind, most games these days recommend at least an 8800).
(also note: if you're on a budget, you can generally find Core 2 Duo/Quads a lot cheaper then the latest i7/i5 line, but again, that only means you'll need to be buying a new computer again all the sooner. I suggest spending the money now, rather than buying a budgety system).

The thing is will there be much that uses the system of tommorow today?
 
What specifications should I be looking to for a reasonable price (i.e. not hundereds and hundereds of pounds/ thousand plus dollars as I just dont feel I would get good value out of that personally).

" The thing is will there be much that uses the system of tommorow today?  What specifications should I be looking to for a reasonable price (i.e. not hundereds and hundereds of pounds/ thousand plus dollars as I just dont feel I would get good value out of that personally). "

Interesing idea, I am thinking it may be worth giving the PC a bit of a reboot (i.e. move to Windows 7, get some extra power into it), as long as the parts are relativley good (i.e. I dont want to get a top line CPU for this current motherboard then in a years time have to get an i7 as fewer things run on the processor I have).
 
That said you do have another good point with the long term views as I have noticed PC gaming is not as fast moving as it was when I was a PC gamer previously (well I have allways been a PC gamer but I went off it for a bit as I got fed up of some factors like upgrades and compatability) but I have a bit more patience now. I mean I remember when I had a Herclues 3D Prophet 32mb graphics card but it would not work with Direct X 8 or 9 as it was not the correct pixel shader model. It does seem Direct X 9 is where its at currently unless Direct X11 can take off but that depends on how many cards they can shift and how many copys of Windows 7 gets out there really, I  mean I still use my 8600 on Windows XP even though I got it for Direct X10 thinking "Windows Vista will be huge, I want in".

How about the socket AM3 AMD processors, would that be a good route to go down?

I build a new comuter every 4 years geting top of the line parts id say yes time to upgrade.

I built a PC from scratch a few months ago for about £400, all inclusive. Here are some good parts to do a cheap build: 

http://www.dabs.com/products/xfx-ati-radeon-4870-hd-750mhz-1gb-pci-express-dvi-lite-63VZ.html  - GPU  
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166518 - CPU, best value out there 
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-183-OC&utm_source=froogle - RAM  
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/181968 - Mobo  
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/5100623/OCZ-OCZ500SXS-UK-StealthXStream-500W-ATX-Power-Supply-Unit-PSU-120mm-Fan/Product.html - power supply   
 
Hang onto your case, HDD and Windows. Not a bad upgrade at all - look at it like it's a new PC. £370 odd including delivery, and I bet you could find a 4890 1GB card for cheap too, like I have. Get all this, and you basically max every game in existence at 1080p with 4xAA. 

well first of fit all depends on your cash flows.
 
after that i'd kill someone if i had to use that pc, you can get waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than that.

" If you have both a PS3 and 360 there's no need to upgrade your PC, there's enough games to play out there already. But if you wanted to get into PC gaming, your PC basically needs an overhaul. "

" @Garfield360UK:   Got a great, quick deal on a EVGA Nvidia 9800 GT online for $74 CAD.  Check the generation above the one you have now and you'll fine some good stuff, graphics cards at the moment has some great deals going on.   DDR2 Ram sticks are cheap as shit too, although if you're still running with windows XP 32 bit, then you'll only be able to put in 1 more stick.   If you do a quick and dirty upgrade of your machine with a new Graphics card, while not the newest generation, the Geforce 9 series is very affordable right now, and so are DDR2 sticks of RAM, you wont have to spend a fortune.   All of the games you mentioned above will work fine. You might not be able to run Crysis at the highest settings, but I'm sure if you don't have anything heavy running in the background, the game will run fine.  Geno is blowing that shit out of proportion.  You might want to re-think GTA IV for the PC though, I heard it had crazy frame rate and performance issues. The game wasn't ported very well, but they may have resolved all that stuff. "

How difficult is it to replace a motherboard? 
 
I think my AMD Phenom 9600 Quad will last a bit but if I was wanting to replace it how difficult would it be?
 
I'd imagine my best bet would be to upgrade to a 64 bit of Windows and up the ram a bit.

" Yay time. Here is my advice: 

• Get 2 more Gigs of RAM (last time I bought 2GB of RAM it costed me 40€ or so).
• Get a new graphics card, you really need a new one if you're a gamer. If possible get this one, but make sure it fits in your computer, it is very large (seriously).
• If budget allows get a Core i7 processor.
• Get Windows 7 (Direct X11 dude).

 
This list is not sorted by order of importance, but the processor should be the least of your concerns since a Dual Core still does good enough with today's software, although not with the heaviest there is. Also, I believe the processor is the most expensive product out of all that I listed.

"

get a faster core 2 duo (maybe an e8400/e8500)  
keep in mind you might have to buy a new mobo for this 
 
it's not required that you upgrade your CPU since most games are dependent on your GPU the most, but i recommend it for faster computing in general.

 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036&cm_re=e8500-_-19-115-036-_-Product  
 
and maybe a 4890, they're a good deal for a great GPU 
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125292&cm_re=ati_4890-_-14-125-292-_-Product  
 
it really depends on how much you're willing to spend. 

@Slippy
 
The gap is there to indicate what kind of cards he can use effectively on his Core2Quad / Core2Duo machine - lowest perfroming card for the game he wants to play - 4770 highest performing card - GTX 275. A 4870 ( or a GTX 285/295) would never reach its potential on a basic Core2Quad/Core2Duo machine.  There is little point recommending hardware that he wont to be able to any major benefit from.

PC forum?

" @SeriouslyNow:   Then why even recommend a GTX 275 which is even more powerful? Oh, that's right, because we're all going on the assumption that he's upgrading his CPU as well.. "

" Yikes, I'd say if you where to upgrade, I'd say upgrade it all. That processor is old old old for gaming, upgrading that would likely mean a new motherboard, then from there you'd want a new graphics card and RAM and, well, from there that's basically the whole machine. Luckily, these days getting a PC that can do some great gaming is lighter on the wallet then most (between $500-700), especially if you're willing to buy it part-by-part and assemble it. "

you need to change the processor and get a better card (SLI) maybe for hardcore gaming. But you already got two gaming systems so why bother.
Basically its just the processor that need to be changed. Other than that my PC config is the same!

well my opinion is pc is only good for work and porn and all other. gaming? console is best.
 
since you have ps3/360 you no need to be bother wasting time and money on pc. i got phenom 955 / 8gb ram and 3 gtx285 yet i dont spin much time on pc gaming cause theres nothing to play on pc. modern warfare 2 suck on pc... i play that on ps3 instead. i also play alot of tekken 6 and midnight club la. plus ff13 and white knight chronicles is coming out soon and ill be a handful of console time.... and im planning to get bayonetta very soon. after that god of war 3 mothaaaa!~!!!!!
 
so yeah if i were you i wouldnt upgrade pc hardware. just no games to play on pc. rts and mmo is still damn slow for me.
 
my words of speak might help you decide weathe ror not to upgrade. good luck my friend.