Itch to upgrade

[JookyOne]

Well it's been about 2 years since I last built my PC and I'm getting the itch to upgrade once again. Despite my unyielding desire to replace every component in my PC with the latest gear, the wife and I are expecting our first little one and I can only imagine the hell I would catch if I spent upwards of $1,000 on new PC components! With that being said, I'm thinking about replacing one or more components that give me the most bang for my buck. I use my PC primarily for web browsing, gaming, and a little photo editing in PS CS3.

Current Configuration:
EVGA 680i SLI
e6750 @ 2.66GHz
EVGA 8800 GT SC
Raptor X 150GB
2GB Crucial Ballistix
Samsung T220 1680x1050

Based on what I currently have, I am thinking
A) SSD Boot/Apps Drve - i.e. Kingston SSDNow V-Series
B) 260 GTX Core 216
C) Upgrade to Windows 7 Home Pro. from XP
D) Overclock and call it a day (only concern here is the instability of the board from what I've read. It's been good to me for over 2 years now at stock settings!!)
E) Other?

Just curious to see what you all would do if faced with a similar situation?

 

[engiNURD]

What to upgrade depends on what performance aspect you'd like to improve. Option A would improve overall performance, but I'm not sure it will be noticeable enough to you despite coming from a Raptor (personally, a single SSD didn't do it for me, and I was coming from a VRaptor).

Option B would improve gaming, so it depends on which games aren't performing to your level of satisfaction.

Option C isn't really an upgrade for performance, but would definitely be good in conjunction with option A, simply for TRIM support.

Option D is the cheapest; 680i should OC dual cores just fine, though not as well as an Intel chipset would, IIRC. The E6750 OC's nicely as well. You'll definitely reach 3.2Ghz easily, maybe even with stock volts; 3.6Ghz should need some voltage adjustments, and 3.8Ghz is attainable with good cooling and luck of the draw (for your chip; wait, can 680i reach 475FSB?... damn, can't remember, lol).

If I were you, I'd start with option D, and if I was still unsatisfied, I'd go with option A+C. This is, of course, assuming you're happy with current gaming performance and just want an overall boost. If you're unhappy with gaming, make sure the new card will yield the performance you're looking for with the games you play.