I have $500- for my Computer what should I upgrade?

I Have nice speakers and headset, and an annoyingly bright LED 1080p screen.

Here are my general computer specs:

Ugly but serviceable coolermaster case

320 GB HDD 7200RPM

1.5 TB External HDD

AMD Phenom II X4 @ 3.40 Ghz

4 GB DDR3 RAM

HD 4870 1GB DDR5

Is it worth it to spent $500 on anything in my computer? For example, would it be worth it to upgrade my graphics card, or would I not see the performance for the money? What part would you recommend?

EDIT: Got more money, changed it to $500.

Maybe an SSD for a boot drive. Other than that save your money until you can afford a GPU upgrade to something in the $250 to $350 range.

Well.

You can buy an EVGA GTX 580 3GB for 500$ and after selling your current VGA you maybe can buy another 4 GB ram(If your mainboard still have slots for extra memory) so next year you have to think about upgrading your CPU as it's not very good.

But you have to be sure if your power(PSU) is enough for GTX 580.

If it's not enough you have to buy a PSU instead of buying extra ram.

And if you don't need high resolution you can buy old 1.5 GB of GTX 580 because it's cheaper and it's really good for resolutions smaller than Full HD.

Save the cash for a future upgrade in another year or two. I have a similar setup except with 2x OC'd 4870's and the only game to really cause me any problems at 1080p is the Witcher 2.

If you want, you can buy a nice case since you don't sound too happy with your CM. A good case will last you quite awhile.

If his PSU is good enough for 4870 then it's most probably good enough for most single cards.

I say go for GTX 570, your PSU should have no problems.

Well.

You can buy an EVGA GTX 580 3GB for 500$ and after selling your current VGA you maybe can buy another 4 GB ram(If your mainboard still have slots for extra memory) so next year you have to think about upgrading your CPU as it's not very good.

But you have to be sure if your power(PSU) is enough for GTX 580.

If it's not enough you have to buy a PSU instead of buying extra ram.

And if you don't need high resolution you can buy old 1.5 GB of GTX 580 because it's cheaper and it's really good for resolutions smaller than Full HD.

Hotsun-payam

No there are no AMD CPU's that justify an upgrade from what you have. If you want better CPU the only way to go is the i5-2500k. Whether it's worth it or not depends entirely on you, your current CPU will max 99% of games with a better card that's for sure.

Your CPU is enough for about 1 or 2 years if you buy a better VGA like GTX 580 or even 570 and your ram is enough too and you can save some money if you just sell your current VGA and buy a GTX 580.

But if you want to play every game with no lag you need more memory,For example if you wanna play Crysis 2 DX11 with High res textures you need GTX 580 and 8 GB of ram but if you can still play at high quality(not ultra high) so your right CPU and ram is enough for now.

Lets buy a GTX 580 or even Super clocked one.

If I was you then I would buy standard GTX 580.

Your CPU is enough for about 1 or 2 years if you buy a better VGA like GTX 580 or even 570 and your ram is enough too and you can save some money if you just sell your current VGA and buy a GTX 580.

But if you want to play every game with no lag you need more memory,For example if you wanna play Crysis 2 DX11 with High res textures you need GTX 580 and 8 GB of ram but if you can still play at high quality(not ultra high) so your right CPU and ram is enough for now.

Lets buy a GTX 580 or even Super clocked one.

If I was you then I would buy standard GTX 580.

Hotsun-payam

Then you have to think about GTX 570 or even GTX 560 Ti.

But if the case is not too much necessary then don't buy it and go for higher VGA.

It's your choice and I just wanted to help.

[QUOTE="Hotsun-payam"]

Your CPU is enough for about 1 or 2 years if you buy a better VGA like GTX 580 or even 570 and your ram is enough too and you can save some money if you just sell your current VGA and buy a GTX 580.

But if you want to play every game with no lag you need more memory,For example if you wanna play Crysis 2 DX11 with High res textures you need GTX 580 and 8 GB of ram but if you can still play at high quality(not ultra high) so your right CPU and ram is enough for now.

Lets buy a GTX 580 or even Super clocked one.

If I was you then I would buy standard GTX 580.

brandontwb

New case is good if you have a cheap one. I recommend a larger HDD if you're putting games on the external, since it loads slower on externals and can perform worse. On Amazon right now you can get a Western Digital Black 1.5TB for $80.Also you can get a GTX 570 for $250 but it's a refurb, off Newegg right now. I still say wait until SSDs become cheaper.

[QUOTE="brandontwb"][QUOTE="Hotsun-payam"]

Your CPU is enough for about 1 or 2 years if you buy a better VGA like GTX 580 or even 570 and your ram is enough too and you can save some money if you just sell your current VGA and buy a GTX 580.

But if you want to play every game with no lag you need more memory,For example if you wanna play Crysis 2 DX11 with High res textures you need GTX 580 and 8 GB of ram but if you can still play at high quality(not ultra high) so your right CPU and ram is enough for now.

Lets buy a GTX 580 or even Super clocked one.

If I was you then I would buy standard GTX 580.

ChubbyGuy40

New case is good if you have a cheap one. I recommend a larger HDD if you're putting games on the external, since it loads slower on externals and can perform worse. On Amazon right now you can get a Western Digital Black 1.5TB for $80.Also you can get a GTX 570 for $250 but it's a refurb, off Newegg right now. I still say wait until SSDs become cheaper.

[QUOTE="brandontwb"][QUOTE="grf7291"]I'd say use that 500 bucks to upgrade to GTX 570, an amazing card that will last you a while and it competes with the Radeon's 6970 (which is their best single GPU card at the moment) and if I'm not mistaken the GTX 570 beats that Radeon 6970 usually (especially if you game at single monitor 1080p) also, INVEST in a good PSU...i have Corsair AX1200 after i returned my HX850 cuz you may want that extra wattage for a Xfire/SLI setup in the future!grf7291

Yep it's definitely good to go. Best to get one powerful card than 2 cheaper/less powerful.

For Windows 7...hmm I don't know. You might have to install an older OS before installing that. As long as you have a CD key for vista/XP, then go find an iso for them.