Buying a New Comp. Suggestions and Reco's?

[Reciprocity]

My current comp:

ATI Radeon 4850 - 1GB on board Ram
AMD Athalon Quad Core Phenom 3.0 GHZ
Killer M1 Nic
Creative Fatality Soundboard
4gb Ram
Windows XP 32bit.
Razer Naga mouse.
Razer Tarantula gaming KB.
Standard sound system (5.1 dell sound system).
Comcast broadband.
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My system acts like a slug now. I use Avast anti virus. I had used macafee but heard Avast was better for gaming. My 'gut' says the reason it does not work up to the capability of the individual parts one would expect is because I originally BOUGHT this as a standard Dell machine and threw in:

- motherboard
- ram
- sound card
- the killer m1 nic
- the video card (had an nvidia before it)

I was guessing I should have just bought the system ready built, so that the parts work together optimally. Yes, no? At this point what are my options?

* Wipe it and get Windows 7 64 bit?
* Take it to a techie to clean?
* Buy a new system from one of the reputable sellers? (Alienware, Cyberpowerpc, etc?)

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It just seems for what the card is, what the processor is, etc that i should get more without having to tinker on minor things. Even when ONLY running WOW, fps is a big problem in raids and has been since the days of TBC. I realize it might be hard to maintain perfect FPS through intense battles, but when I hear people with stock systems or people who have bought gamer pcs ready made, I began to cringe at my folly for piece-mealing this thing, despite ADDING $1200 in upgrades through the card, motherboard, cpu and ram.

I'm a comp gamer and would like to upgrade the computer for Starcraft 2, WoW Clysm, Diablo III, and other games. My days of XBOX/PS3 are numbered until they drastically cut the priceing on them and their games OR some REALLY compelling games come out. Needless to say, I'd like some input on Best options relative to COST and BENEFIT gained.

I would like to use my computer in a DUAL monitor capacity or greater as I do trading and investing, or will often watch a movie, tv on the other monitor. I have not done that, since my computer performance feels sluggish. I'll admit I have gone to porn websites whilst using FIREFOX, but stopped that practice long ago. Any chance they are viruses nuking me?

Thanks,

Rec.

[chaud]

Not sure why you bought a dell or wasted money on that NIC, but you should reformat with W7 64, if you want to spend money, invest in a 5850 and Intel 80gb SSD. Check your drivers. I have a better CPU but everything else is somewhat similar, and I raid at 45-60 FPS with 2x AA, everything but shadowed maxed at 1680x1050.

[Reciprocity]

I wasn't a gamer when I get the Dell and "thought" it was a good deal.

But then, thanks to C&C, Diablo 2, and Southpark, I got into Comp gaming over console gaming and realized I felt quite underpowered. I thought at the time upgrading my existing comp was the right route, but over time have seen that to be completely fail on my part.

I've debated on just going totally new, OR going piecemeal once more.

My question would be: I have always heard wow doesn't take a dramatic Video card to perform well, but I thought the 4800 series was good enough or better than necessary. It just seems all the other parts are really holding it back or don't work well enough together to optimize what I have.

So it's either:

W7 + 5850 + Intel 80GB SSD (I take it this is external?) Or...just buy a new gamer pc, perhaps through NewEgg or TigerDirect or CYBERPOWERPC or Alienware?

Thanks for your time and replies.

[chaud]

Pretty much, at the least reformat with W7, you can use it for 90 or 120 days without a key. The SSD is internal, buying it to use as an external would be silly. 4850 is fine for ~1680x1050 and lower, you have some software problem most likely.

[Cilraaz]

Your setup really isn't that bad. If it's feeling sluggish, it's likely more due to clutter in your Windows installation. So, basically, I'd back what chaud said and reformat with Win7 x64 to start.

[Deleted]

I'll admit I have gone to porn websites whilst using FIREFOX, but stopped that practice long ago. Any chance they are viruses nuking me?

It'd be a crime if you didn't use Firefox for that

Anyhow I guess I have to agree with the others, nothing wrong with your setup. What you can try is to follow my anti-keylogger guide, it makes sure you get rid of possible virusses/etc, just to be sure.