Upgrade Dell XPS410/DXP061, or Harakiri?

[jrdegaetano]

I am trying to weigh my options and figure out what the most cost effective route to go would be. I have found nothing but contradicting information that has only made this decision more agonizing...and I just need someone to give it to me straight. I use my PC for music production. It is far from adequate for this kind of use in it's current state IMO. I run several large VSTs, Cubase 5, Reason 5, and FL Studio all at once, and things just drag. Here are the specs:

-Dell Dimension DXP061 (Purchased under the name "Dell XPS 410")
-Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz 2.39 GHz (Number of processer cores: 4)
-4 GB Ram (PC2-5300 4X1GB Sticks with 2 dual-channel slots)
-288 GB Internal Hard Drive
-NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS (Stock GFX Card died, and I replaced it with this less than a year ago)
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit (64-bit capable/compatible)
-Windows Vista 32-bit

I am going to make this very simple, because I am so tired of obsessing over this.

Is there any point in spending the money on Windows 7 full install (upgrade to 64-bit ofcourse), getting a larger/faster hard drive, and ATTEMPTING to upgrade RAM (I say attempt because there is conflicting information as to whether it is possible or not)?

Should I just spend a bit more, buy a new MOBO, and CPU practically using my current system for parts?

Or should I buy THIS for roughly $500: Gateway - Desktop - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive - DX4860-UB33P

I am literally losing sleep over this. Please help.

 

[Roark]

I don't think it is worth upgrading what you have, I doubt you'll see much performance increase, and you'll have no other upgrade options in 6 months.

That Gateway isn't a bad deal if you're just looking for an easy solution.

Personally would go with option C, build new, but I'm not so sure about cannibalizing your current system.
The only things you could re-use would be the optical drive (~$20), the hard drive (which it sounds like you need more space anyway), and the video card.
I would leave your current system whole, build new, then once you have everything up and running, sell your old system to off-set the cost.

Here is a quick and dirty build suggestion (link).
It still needs a graphics card, not sure if you can use your current 8400GS and have your old computer run off integrated graphics?

 

[MindoverMaster]

You need to do a full install of Windows 32bit to 64bit. You can't just upgrade to 64bit. Being that you have 4GB RAM, you are using only using ~3.5GB with 32-bit.

The limit is 4GB. So upgrading the RAM will not help. You might want to get new RAM of the same quantity. You currently have 533 speed RAM. You might want 800. Faster timing.

As you are limited to what you can do, I'd get a new system.

I'd recommend this: ASUS P8H61-M LE CSM Corsair Barebones Kit - ASUS P8H61-M LE CSM REV3 Board, Intel Core i3-2100 CPU, Corsair 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 RAM, Patriot 64GB SSD, 24x DVDRW, DiabloTek Mid Tower, 450W Power Supply at TigerDirect.com

It has a SSD, which will be a lot faster. A larger HDD will not make it faster.

You will have to buy Windows 7 64-bit. But that is only ~$100.