[advice] My next upgrade - "Where's my bottleneck?"

I'm planning on upgrading my PC with my stimulus check.
I really don't feel my whole system needs an upgrade but it seems like I'm hitting
a bottleneck somewhere with these newer games.

I've been told get a new CPU, I've been told get a new graphics card, and now
I'd like your opinions.

Quick Stats:

Athlon 64 X2 3800+
2gig dual-channel
Geforce 7800 GTX OC
SATA 2.0 HD
Win XP

Advanced Specs:

AMD Athlon 64-bit dual core 3800+ @ 2050.05 MHz (1MB L2, ave 36c temp)
2GB Corsair DDR-SDRAM PC3200 (200 MHz) DDR400
GeForce 7800 GTX OC (current WHQL drivers, 256MB GDDR3)
nForce4 Mobo
Audigy sound, NIC installed (not using onboard)
Windows XP SP2
(all drivers up to date, minimal background processes running at all times,
HD always defragged, using pagefile)

EDIT (in response to first reply):
Another thing I've been curious about..
If I am to upgrade the GPU should I go with say an 8800 or a 9600?
They're both around 150$ give or take

Well it depends on what you plan on playing. Right now you can play most games on high no problem besides a select few games like Crysis.

Now A system like mine can play any game out there just fine the only game it cant play maxed is Crysis which no Pc can max it out anyways. But I can play Crysis at 1280x1024 on very high settings Dx 9 hack (no AA) with an average of 45 fps.

So any Dual core AMD X2 5600+ or greater, Intel C2D at 2.4 Ghz or better. And or a Quad core.

2-4 Gb of DDR2 800

ATI 3850 or greater, Nvidia 8800GS,9600GT,8800GT,8800GTS

That should give you some choices.

"EDIT (in response to first reply):
Another thing I've been curious about..
If I am to upgrade the GPU should I go with say an 8800 or a 9600?
They're both around 150$ give or take"

Well a 9600GT would give a good boost in performance and a 8800GT/GTS would be a bigger boost.

Why wait for the new cards? They are going to be $500+ unless you are willing to pay that much which you would have to buy a new psu most likely which run you another $100+

Also prices on current cards arent going to drop that much maybe if you are lucky $10 because most people wont pay that amount for those new cards.

Why wait for the new cards? They are going to be $500+ unless you are willing to pay that much which you would have to buy a new psu most likely which run you another $100+

Also prices on current cards arent going to drop that much maybe if you are lucky $10 because most people wont pay that amount for those new cards.

04dcarraher

Nvidia isnt the only one releasing cards. ATI is releasing a new mid end segment of graphics.

If the HD4850 benchmarks are true, expect the 9800GTX to drop $100 to stay competitive. Other 9 series should also lower the prices.

I really doubt its going to be $100 drop. If thats the case then they should drop every other graphics card $50-100 that are still being produced I really doubt it.04dcarraher

Lets hope so for the best.

First HD4850 test?

HD???? gaming benchies?

id shoot for an amd x2 5000+ black edition, mx-2 thermal paste, and an AC F64P cooler, and u can get the 5k to 3 ghz with no sweat, and the performance boost will be quite noticeable (just make sure its the 65 nm version)

as for gfx card, shoot for an evga 9600 gt superclocked