How to find your bottleneck?

[Episode666]

Is there software or a website available that might be able to tell a person what part of their system is the official bottleneck? (which part could be upgraded for the biggest performance boost)

For example, if I had a 2.4Ghz processor, a 256MB video card, and 512MB of RAM -- we all know the RAM is most likely the bottleneck, but is there some way of knowing for sure?

The main reason being I'm a gamer with a semi-dated system. I want to start upgrading but can't afford to do it all at once. I know there are others out there with this same problem, and need to know what order to upgrade their parts in.

 

[defakto]

It's a pretty exhasutive test to find out what your bottleneck is. Generally the slowest portion of you system is the harddrive so that's ALWAYS a bottle neck.

What are you using the system for? That affects what the bottleneck can be as well.