Which Parts Are In Desperate Need Of An Upgrade?

[*The.Doctor]

OS - Windows XP Media Centre Edition (SP3)
CPU - Intel Pentium D 820 2.8Ghz
Video Card - Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS 640mb
Ram - 2gb DDR II
Motherboard - Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
PSU - Thermaltake Toughpower 750w

That is still a good system if you upgrade your CPU. I would recommend a E8400. You can get them for $170, and getting a 4Ghz overclock is pretty much garunteed. The E8400 is also faster than most of the lower end quad cores in current games. Just getting the E8400 alone would boost your gaming performance a good bit. When i switched from my AMD X2 5400+ (which was a good bit faster than your Pentium D) to my E3110, i could still notice a big difference.

Your video card, mobo, and PSU are all fine. The only reason to consider Vista would be for DX10 as some newer games actually run faster in DX10 mode now. But with Windows 7 coming up, i would just stick with XP.

I would also just go for 4GB ram. Even though you will only get about 3.25GB of it useable with XP, its so cheap now there is really no reason not too. My 2GB OCZ Platinum set was just $40. You might also consider overclocking your 8800 a bit.

[Babeman]

Originally Posted by Huffardo

Upgrading the RAM and CPU, of which he really only needs to upgrade the CPU, is much cheaper than an Xbox 360. Additionally he probably isn't willing to downgrade to an inferior platform.

If you look on the prices on newegg and tigerdirect, even a decent CPU and RAM will be over $200 including shipping and taxes. Xbox 360 is only $199 now and is very affordable. I would say that the PC is inferior to the 360, there is almost no point to be a PC gamer anymore since many of the games are coming to PS3/360. I think the only reason to be a PC gamer is for Diablo 3, and since many developers are choosing consoles for mmo's now (ex. Final Fantasy, Age of Conan) that's a big section of the PC.

[*The.Doctor]

Originally Posted by Babeman

I would say that the PC is inferior to the 360, there is almost no point to be a PC gamer anymore since many of the games are coming to PS3/360.

Then you would be wrong.

The PC is by far superior to any consoles. I like my 360 just as much as anybody else, but it can't compare at all with my PC. Games that get ported over to the PC (not including the horribly crappy ports) usually have improved graphics, more features added, and usually have tons of mods available to download any time you want. Mods are one of the best things about PC games, games on the PC can last for years after the console versions are forgotten about with good mods.

Plus, with a good PC, your not just getting better gaming, everything you do on your PC (like music, video, picture editing, ect...) will all be much faster.