Howdy, y'all. I'm looking to upgrade my current rig and, as the title suggests, I have a couple questions.

First, a little background on my system: my current computer was a prebuilt Maingear X-Cube I received as a graduation gift at the end of high school in 2012. The specs are as follows:

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68MX-UD2H

Processor: i5 2500K

Memory: 8 gigs

GPU: GTX 750ti 2 GB (this is the only part that I have upgraded, from an AMD 7770)

Power Supply: 620 watt Seasonic 212II

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm 1 TB drive

OS: Windows 7

Starting from scratch with a new build entirely is not completely out of the question, but my wallet would be happier if I just do some upgrades instead of burning it all to the ground and starting over. At the very least, I want to upgrade my hard drive.

Background on myself, in regards to PC stuff: I am a complete novice at rooting around computer innards, with the small exception of replacing my video card earlier this year. I know all but nothing about BIOS settings, system building and all the other nitty gritty annoyances that come with operating on PCs, but I'm good at following directions and picking things up quickly if it is to the benefit of my gaming hobby. If it's any help, the upcoming games I'm interested in are all in the "AAA" realm with relatively beefy requirements (Dragon Age Inquisition, Far Cry 4, Witcher 3, GTA V, etc.).

Onto the questions. I apologize if some of them are a bit muddled or contradictory.

1. If I install an SSD with Windows 8 on it, can I access the files on my old Windows 7 drive from within new OS, or would I have to boot into the old drive every time I want to access files?
2. If I end up installing a new secondary hard drive for storage and scrapping my current aging drive, what is the simplest way to clone the contents of my old drive without carrying over the old OS?
3. Should I worry about my processor or is it fine?
4. Are there any other upgrades (within reason) that I should look into?
5. My monitor is sub-1080p (1440 by 900) and I don't particularly intend to upgrade any time soon; with this set-up, everything I have thrown at my GPU have run between 55 and 60 FPS on Ultra (with the usual exceptions...Witcher 2 with Ubersampling, etc.). However, the GPU VRAM requirements on recent titles (Shadow of Mordor, AC Unity, etc.) have me worried. If I'm going to continue running my games at sub-1080 for the foreseeable future, should I still be worried about the increasing VRAM requirements or will my current card be good for the time being?
6. Would it be in my best interest to bite the monetary bullet and build something from scratch? Or, since I don't care very much about resolution or necessarily being on the "cutting edge," should I just say fuck it for the time being, let the computer limp along as is, get a console to enjoy the upcoming AAA titles and then build something completely new when I'm not a cash-strapped college kid?

I might have some more questions if I happen to think of them.

Thanks in advance, duders.

Well:

1. Sure, it'll just be another NTFS drive.
2. You don't really need to 'clone' it if you just want to copy the files. Just drag and drop to the newly formatted drive.
3. For games? I don't think so. Maybe in a year.
4. I would just get the SSD and a new monitor. If you can afford it, a new graphics card. (You can get a 970 and get Far Cry 4 for free right now.) No point in wasting a whole load of money on pixel pushing power when the pixels you're pushing to aren't so hot. Monitor/TV makes a big difference. As does quality speakers/headphones and a good receiver/DAC/amp. I would spend money on that before worrying about how high you can push the textures etc.
5. 2GB of VRAM is fine if you intend on sticking with sub-1080p. Also most of the VRAM stuff is overblown, Mordor 'Ultra' textures were just uncompressed 'High' textures.
6. I wouldn't. Honestly, if you don't have a good monitor/TV or sound setup, maybe stick with consoles and invest in that.

I would just throw in an SSD and a video card preferably a 970 and call it a day

so far most of the next gen games that came out are well over 20GB, so i think a SSD is worth investing if you don't want the load times to get ridiculous.

@banefirelord: There's not really much point in upgrading, as far as I can see. It would be sort of a waste to use anything more powerful than a 750ti for sub 1080p gaming at this point in time.

Get an SSD, definitely, and Windows 8 if you're looking for an upgrade in that department, but beyond that your current system should suit your needs.

Shadow of Mordor's system requirements were massively exaggerated. My system was able to run it at 1080p/60fps with no problems despite my meagre i5 and 2GB of VRAM. I'm fairly certain that it'll do just fine with AC Unity etc. Wait until your system genuinely starts struggling before you do a major upgrade. Don't replace a perfectly good PC that you're totally satisfied with just because you anticipate that your system will start struggling at some point in the future.

Although the 970 is a great card, as everyone is recommending, and Mordor's requirements were a bit exaggerated, does anyone think it's worth holding off just a little bit longer to invest in one of the upcoming 8GB GPU cards?

@bonorbitz: Probably not unless you have a multi-monitor gaming setup or a 4k monitor.

@franstone: So if I have a 1920x1080 monitor and am perfectly fine with it, is an 8gb card completely unnecessary though games are becoming more demanding (or at least giving the impression that they are)? Is a 4gb 970 the best way to go?

@bonorbitz: Right now a 8GB card is completely indistinguishable from a 4GB card at 1080p. There are no games that push more than 4GB to VRAM at 1080p currently.

@corevi said:

Thanks for the info. I was holding off from a 4gb 970, but this definitely helps with that decision. With this, I'd recommend the OP (like others) to upgrade their HD, GPU to the 970, and get a 1920x1080 monitor. I prefer 24-27".

Yeah i agree with most guys, get a new GPU (970 4GB seems to be a winner) and an SSD. And a monitor since going to 1080p will be no problem. Or maybe even 1440p if you can.