Hey all, iv got some money to splash on my PC. 
Im going into a game development school next year, and i want this machine to be able to create and play games at a nice pace. 
 
Right now im running the following. 
 
Intel e7300 2x 2.7ghz 
Geforce 9800GT 1GB 
4GB RAM 
  
Im getting alot of slowdown when playing games in 1920x1080 with heavy action on screen. Im wondering would it be the CPU, or should i shell out on a new graphics card. Iv got enough saved to get myself a GTX, if its worth going for. Suggestions? 
 
:)

bump? :)

whats your budget?

Are you upgrading to game and for personal use or for the development work?  That will make a difference in what you should get.   Also as Hamlaser said budget is important info too.

I hope you're not going to one of those schools as advertised on TV.
"Hey man could you pass me the graphics wrench? I need to tighten up these graphics!" The young tech in a large comfortable chair says to his co worker in yet another large comfortable chair.
"sure dude, just as I figure out what sound effect I want to use" said the coworker, who reaches for a console of 6 buttons.
"PEW PEW PEW"

Nah nah, this school is solid. Most people who graduate go on to work at Sidhe, who made shatter for the PS3.  
I have $900 NZD, to shell out on whatever. Im spending this to play and create games.

That's about 600 USD. You could get a gtx 275. The 275 is a lot faster than your 9800gt and make sure to get the one with 1792MB since your current one has 1GB and the other gtx275 cards have 896MB. Getting the gtx275 rather than going full out on a 285 or 295 will leave you enough cash to get a better cpu without having to change your motherboard. I see that the E8600 is a large enough improvement with the left over cash. Just in case, make sure your motherboard still supports it.

Upgrade to Quad Core, Upgrade to atleast a GTX275. Q9550 if your motherboard supports 45nm and 1333FSB and a Q6600 if it only handles 1066 FSB. 
 
Also your school should have labs open to use, you'll actually get work done if you spend it at a LAB rather then your Dorm or Apartment.

Realistically upgrading now isn't worth it.  You'll get more performance, but you're really just throwing your money away if you just step up a single CPU and GPU generation now.  Wait at least another year, wait at least for DX11 cards.  There are plenty of games that will still slow down at 1080p.

" Upgrade to Quad Core, Upgrade to atleast a GTX275. Q9550 if your motherboard supports 45nm and 1333FSB and a Q6600 if it only handles 1066 FSB.   Also your school should have labs open to use, you'll actually get work done if you spend it at a LAB rather then your Dorm or Apartment. "

Projects on your own can be done in a public lab; bring an external drive to move it. This will get you out of your place and actually focused. I went to a tech school for Digital Art & Design, also had Film, Animation, Recording Arts, etc programs (Full Sail in Orlando FL) and know from personal experience that working from home has too many distractions; TV, video games, etc. Just regret personally wasting a lot of my time not utilizing the resources I had and didn't fully utilize. However you should be able to game easily on a Dual Core and a new graphic card, the Quad would be for more professional apps.

" Projects on your own can be done in a public lab; bring an external drive to move it. This will get you out of your place and actually focused. I went to a tech school for Digital Art & Design, also had Film, Animation, Recording Arts, etc programs (Full Sail in Orlando FL) and know from personal experience that working from home has too many distractions; TV, video games, etc. Just regret personally wasting a lot of my time not utilizing the resources I had and didn't fully utilize. However you should be able to game easily on a Dual Core and a new graphic card, the Quad would be for more professional apps. "

" @AaronAlex: I see your from NZ, same as me bro :D "

Oh awesome man, thank you. Ill get them both.

actually its only $483 for the q9550, even better :)