Once you get to a certain point, you start getting less bang for your buck.

Thanks for the input. Other thing I'm considering is the video card. Currently have the original non-modular 425W power supply with the following card (dxdiag info):

Card name: ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x9501)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9501&SUBSYS_25421028&REV_00
Display Memory: 2264 MB
Dedicated Memory: 506 MB
Shared Memory: 1758 MB

The MB has a PCI Express Gen 2 x16 slot. In short I'm debating the most economical way to upgrade the system between RAM, video card, power supply (if needed) or if building a new rig is the way to go. Thoughts? Thanks again in advance.

[Edit] Also - here's the processor info:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad  CPU   Q9450  @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4030MB RAM

8gb is definitely the way to go. Not sure if you can swing it ($150-$200) but the newer nVidia GTX 560Ti & 570 Cards are well worth it. The 1gb versions seem to do very well, though there are more expensive 2gb versions available.

as jafo and boshimi336 said, put as much as you CAN.

the more you multitask, the MORE you NEED the max ram.

of my many comps. most have the maximum ram the motherboard supports ranging from  athlon2400+ with 1.5gb of sdram, my main use machines with 4gb (and all machines with 4gb or LESS are using 32bit windows and my best gaming machines which have 8gb,12gb and 32 gb (core2q9550, i7930 & i7 2600k cpu's)

harpo

More RAM is always good, no doubt about that.

Still, the question is, what do you usually do with your comp?

Unless you are running several extreme memory consuming applications at the same time, you system will rarely make use of even 4 GB. You should ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I have more than one game running at the same time? (or multiple instances of a game)
  
  
• Do I have Virtual Machines, a highly loaded home server or do I work with professional 3D rendering or photo editing software?

if you dont.... having 8 GB instead of 4 is nice for showing off, but performance gains are going to be little to nonexistant.

I would recommend that you put your current system under stress and watch the RAM usage with Task Manager: Unless you have less than 1 GB free then, I would not consider upgrading RAM. If you currently have 1 GB of free RAM, upgrading to 8 GB just means that you will have 5 GB of free RAM... which doesnt do anything, unless you actually need it.

In any case, upgrade the video card!

The 3800 is quite old.... performance gained by a new video card will easily outclass any RAM upgrade by a factor of 10 upwards.

I recommend ATI/AMD - better value for money.

At least 8 for sure over 4, you'll notice the difference for sure.  Just sitting idle on a clean machine I approach 2 gig.  Run a big game like Skyrim and I'm over 4 pretty easy.

When I upgraded my computer to Win 64 I went from 2 to 16, just because it was so cheap.  Which is something I want to bring up...$100 for 8 GB?  Should be able to get it for half that.  Although I guess if you're stuck with getting memory from Dell that could explain why it's so expensive.  Another reason to look at a custom build for your next computer.  Much better parts, specs and cheaper then a "brand" name.  16 GB is around $75 right now.

With win7, I wouldn't go less than 8gig, but I'd definately recommend 16gig.

Your welcome.

One final hint - dont buy too cheap a PSU - there is no reason to buy a premium product with a hefty price tag  but I would not save to much money on it.

Not only a better PSU actually consumes less power but a poor PSU can create the oddest of bugs, which make your replace anything else, unless you happen to know that.

I am running Corsair PSU - for well over 4 years now under 8 hours a day load. Its works perfectly.

No matter what, upgrade your PSU even if you're not upgrading the graphics card.  425w is not enough to run a modern machine with mid to higher end components... and definitely not enough if you're going to upgrade the graphics card.

Anyway, with regard to the RAM, definitely upgrade to the 8gb now you're running 64 bit Windows 7, your OS and apps will appreciate the extra, as will you.

Yeah, go for the 8.

Yes, wise words, hence his nick...

I find that Wizard is a very helpful guy and has a great sense of humor. I usually seek his advice when I can.

He said this in Yahoo messenger upon reading Jafo's reply:

"Jafo called me wise, without the -assed after it, lol."   I sent him my cleaning bill. MtDew is hard to get off a monitor.  

Yes, very well said, and quite pertinent.  For one, going with a mobo that supports DDR3 SATA3 and USB3 will markedly improve performance in many areas, particularly with file copy/transfer tasks.  Also, DDR3 RAM is half the price of DDR2 these days, so a mobo upgrade to support DDR3 would save money there alone. 

Furthermore, most modern motherboards have headers to support front USB3 and eSATA ports, which is real handy and saves a lot of messing around getting at the ports on the rear of your case.  I have these built into my case, but they can be added to any spare drive bays via add-ins.

The other thing to consider if you're going to do a rebuild, is whether you're going with Intel or AMD.  Now there are some fan boys who will tell you to go one way or the other, but at the end of the day it's what you're comfortable and happy with... what's in your price range.  I am not a fan boy, but price-wise I have gone with AMD for a few years now and have been more than happy with my choices.  I currently have an AMD x8 8170 Black Edition and it is not only quick but very reliable/stable.  Yes, some fans of the Intel i7, i5 series CPU's will tell you that Intel has faster CPU's than the 8170, and that's true, there are faster some Intel models, but at the same time there's a lot of slower ones as well. 

So yeah, think of your needs and what you can afford, then research what's available to meet those needs within budget and go with those components you're happiest with... be it AMD or Intel, ATI or Nvidia.

Oh, and before I go, with regard to the PSU, while Corsair are a good reliable brand, Gigabyte, Silverstone and Thermaltake do some pretty decent PSU's at affordable prices as well.  I have a Silverstone 1200w and it hasn't missed a beat since installation 6 or so months ago