Best way to spend $200

[Babylonius]

As I'm graduating with my masters in a few weeks I thought I'd buy myself something nice as a present. Unfortunately the only thing I could think of is parts for my computer, but alas I'm not as computer saavy as I'd like to be. I can put it together but there are too many numbers and letters in the names of things to make sense anymore. SOOOO, what I'm asking is what is the best way(s) for me to maximize my computer for WoW by only putting about $200 into it? I may be willing to spend more money if the parts will last for a long time.

Here's my current setup:
Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 335 Upgraded RC-335U-KKN1 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
CPU: Intel® Core™2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD322HJ 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
PSU: COOLER MASTER GX 450W RS450-ACAAD3-US 450W ATX12V v2.31 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
RAM: Elpida 2GB DDR2 800 PC2-6400 Desktop RAM (x3)
MoBo: Intel® Desktop Board D975XBX || Intel® 975X Express Chipset
Monitor: Samsung "32 LCD TV
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
OS: Windows 7 Pro

Let me know what you think.

[noteworthynerd]

There's really nothing you can do short of replacing the entire computer to improve performance. If you got a new video card your CPU would still hold you back.

[Lumineus]

Add a solid state drive as your boot drive with Windows, your internet browser of choice, and your most-played game(s). Retain old HDD as storage drive for media and other programs.

[noteworthynerd]

Add a solid state drive as your boot drive with Windows, your internet browser of choice, and your most-played game(s). Retain old HDD as storage drive for media and other programs.

I suppose you could add a SSD, and maybe two more gigs of RAM (if you can find some DDR2 cheap), but both of those won't do a whole heck of a lot to improve performance. To see a significant FPS increase you'll need a new CPU (which means a new motherboard and RAM) and a new video card.

[chazus]

I would say GPU. Noteworthy is right. The system needs an overhaul in general, however on the budget, upgrading the CPU/MB would either cost more than 200, or be a wasteful expenditure by spending 200.

That said, while your CPU would hold you back some, a GPU upgrade WOULD provide a performance boost in most games, and even moreso when you have a bigger budget to deal with the CPU situation.

I'd recommend either a Geforce 660, or if you can stretch a bit, 7870 XT

The 660 is a very solid card, and I can run WoW effectively at 60fps on ultra with it. I expect this card to last me into 2015.

[Kegler]

I agree, your CPU is your bottleneck at this point, and that would require a new build.

A solid state drive with some extra RAM is a decent idea though, if you're just going to upgrade 1 or 2 items.

[Lumineus]

I suppose you could add a SSD, and maybe two more gigs of RAM (if you can find some DDR2 cheap), but both of those won't do a whole heck of a lot to improve performance. To see a significant FPS increase you'll need a new CPU (which means a new motherboard and RAM) and a new video card.

Way I see it you can always turn down the settings if you want better FPS. The most irritating thing in World of Warcraft is the obnoxious load times, especially in Pandaria. SSD would cut those dramatically.

[vesseblah]

Looks like OP has enough RAM (notice the x3 at the end of the line) so that doesn't help either. SSD is the only upgrade that falls below $200 pricepoint.

As others have said scrapping whole thing and buying five years newer computer is only worthwhile upgrade to do.

[Lumineus]

If you really wanted to toe the line on the budget, you could try a smaller SSD, like a 120 gig you could probably pick up for about a hundred bucks. That would leave another hundred to possibly upgrade the graphics card to a 7770 or equivalent. You might end up going over budget by $20-30 though.

[lockblock]

Looks like OP has enough RAM (notice the x3 at the end of the line)

Which means he is running it in single channel and probably losing a bunch of performance considering how much slower ddr2 is than 3

That would leave another hundred to possibly upgrade the graphics card to a 7770 or equivalent.

I suspect the 7770 would be a very minor upgrade from the 5770 as budget cards tend to not get all the upgraded performance and glory as the high end models when new series come out.

I had a system similar to the op back when wrath came out and even then I couldn't play @ 1080p without playing at lower end presets or simply playing at 720p instead. I wouldn't waste any money on a ssd or any other parts for the current system as it will just delay you from getting something better that isn't already severely dated.

[vesseblah]

Which means he is running it in single channel and probably losing a bunch of performance considering how much slower ddr2 is than 3

Losing around 5% from single channel.

[Killora]

I would say GPU. Noteworthy is right. The system needs an overhaul in general, however on the budget, upgrading the CPU/MB would either cost more than 200, or be a wasteful expenditure by spending 200.

That said, while your CPU would hold you back some, a GPU upgrade WOULD provide a performance boost in most games, and even moreso when you have a bigger budget to deal with the CPU situation.

I'd recommend either a Geforce 660, or if you can stretch a bit, 7870 XT

The 660 is a very solid card, and I can run WoW effectively at 60fps on ultra with it. I expect this card to last me into 2015.

Honestly, both of those cards are going to see some hardcore bottlenecking with that CPU on virtually any game. With that CPU i'd stick with that GPU for now and upgrade the CPU first. Overclocking the GPU should help till you're able to replace it.

My 6770 (virtually the same card) at 980/1340 clocks runs games fairly well with customized settings. Nothing fantastic of course, but Dirt 3, for example, runs a solid 60 FPS with all high settings (not ultra mind you), 1080P, and 4x MSAA, as well as F1 2012. BF3 runs alright with ultra mesh, textures, Ambient occlusion off, and shadows at low (can run at high but it gets choppy in some areas) with ~40 FPS (multiplayer.) GW2 runs 40-60 FPS with everything maxed sans shadows at high vs ultra and reflections off, and obviously render sampling at native.

Just to illustrate what it can do. It's not a fantstic card but it's not abyssmal either. Upgrading the GPU with that CPU would likely provide minimal benefit.

I know someone who has a GTX 560 with a Core 2 Duo at the same clock speeds, who gets much worse performance than i do, and can't even play BF3 (won't let you install it with anything less than a quad core.)