Need advise what to do with my pc

[shalom]

After going through some of new PC specs, I'm lost again. . .

Anyway current PC is getting slow maybe due to the config or accumulating data. I use it mainly for word processing, RAW files post processing in ACR/Photoshop, listen music, watch movies/youtube, sync my iPod & Facebook flash games. No hardcore gaming, don't need overclocking. Using the PC about 8-12hrs daily.

Current setup
AMD X2 5200+ 2.7Ghz stock cooling
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
Corsair DDR800 dual channel 1Gb x2
Hitachi 7K250 80Gb - OS drive
WD 6400AAKS 640Gb - data drive
Antec NSK2480 with 380W PSU (m-ATX form factor case)
TDK 0404N DVDRW
Windows XP SP3

Hope to reuse back casing, 32-bit OS and hdds. Can recommend some system spec, upgrading or what should I do with it?
Thank you in advance.

[HFat]

What problem are you trying to solve? If you're only trying to solve the "getting slow" part, the proper way to go about it would be to determine what exactly is causing this slowdown.
But perhaps the first quick and dirty fix to try would be to buy a cheap SSD and to reinstall your OS and stuff on it (no cloning). This way you'll solve your "data accumulation" problem (along with any malware/junkware problem) and get rid of what looks like the crappiest part in your system. The simplest decent SSD (there are crappy SSDs out there) would be a lot more responsive than any hard drive. Maybe you can reuse your obsolete system drive for backups or something.
Next step would be to make sure you've got enough RAM for this "ACR/Photoshop" thing. You probably do.
If that's not enough then it might be time to start from scratch. But your computer is still fairly new so it might be worthwhile to wait for the next generation of gear to be released before you do. If you just bought an SSD, you'll be able to use in the new system as well. It will likely lose value fairly quickly but, if you get a cheap one, it would be no big deal compared to the speed you'd get from it in the meantime.

[shalom]

What problem are you trying to solve? If you're only trying to solve the "getting slow" part, the proper way to go about it would be to determine what exactly is causing this slowdown.
But perhaps the first quick and dirty fix to try would be to buy a cheap SSD and to reinstall your OS and stuff on it (no cloning). This way you'll solve your "data accumulation" problem (along with any malware/junkware problem) and get rid of what looks like the crappiest part in your system. The simplest decent SSD (there are crappy SSDs out there) would be a lot more responsive than any hard drive. Maybe you can reuse your obsolete system drive for backups or something.
Next step would be to make sure you've got enough RAM for this "ACR/Photoshop" thing. You probably do.
If that's not enough then it might be time to start from scratch. But your computer is still fairly new so it might be worthwhile to wait for the next generation of gear to be released before you do. If you just bought an SSD, you'll be able to use in the new system as well. It will likely lose value fairly quickly but, if you get a cheap one, it would be no big deal compared to the speed you'd get from it in the meantime.

I think the SSD idea is cool, I need to check reviews on it too.
If you have a decent recommendation, let me know please. I've already lost touched building PC and can't keep in the pace of it.

A friend told me to upgrade my CPU to AMD X4 640 3Ghz. I thought it's also a good idea... I like to hear more responses from you all.

Thanks.

[CA_Steve]

Going from low cost to high cost:

+1 on trying to determine where the speed bump is. Photoshop may be grinding your hard drive with just 2GB of RAM. You can also speed up Photoshop screen refresh (if using CS4 or CS5) by getting a low end video card that supports it. Not sure if the onboard 780G helps or not.

I think your mobo may support Socket AM3. If so, take a look at the 95W TDP quad core Phenom II and Athlon II. $90 for an Athlon X4 630 here in the US. AnandBench results (with no other system limitations).

An OS/App/scratch disk SSD would help.

[Haych]

I'm going to second HFat's advice that you get a SSD. My setup is similar to your own, and it's still running great for me. She's not the most up to date machine but she handles the games I play (L4D, L4D2, Borderlands, Dead Space) with no problems and she runs pretty much 24/7. Maybe an SSD would give your rig a new lease on life. And at a fraction of the cost of buying a new rig.

[shalom]

Going from low cost to high cost:

+1 on trying to determine where the speed bump is. Photoshop may be grinding your hard drive with just 2GB of RAM. You can also speed up Photoshop screen refresh (if using CS4 or CS5) by getting a low end video card that supports it. Not sure if the onboard 780G helps or not.

I think your mobo may support Socket AM3. If so, take a look at the 95W TDP quad core Phenom II and Athlon II. $90 for an Athlon X4 630 here in the US. AnandBench results (with no other system limitations).

An OS/App/scratch disk SSD would help.

Even when I browse the web on Firefox/IE, scrolling down is not smooth enough, it's jerky.
Yes my motherboard supports Phenom II & Athlon II.

[shalom]

I'm going to second HFat's advice that you get a SSD. My setup is similar to your own, and it's still running great for me. She's not the most up to date machine but she handles the games I play (L4D, L4D2, Borderlands, Dead Space) with no problems and she runs pretty much 24/7. Maybe an SSD would give your rig a new lease on life. And at a fraction of the cost of buying a new rig.

probably because I'm running a year 2003 SATAI HDD as my main OS drive. It could be the main cause of slow down.

[HFat]

"Jerky" is awfully vague and subjective. And you don't say what sorts of pages are affected. Browsers usually have settings for this stuff if you care. I only care about loading times and scrolling speed.

I wouldn't spend that kind of money on a CPU which is well on its way to obsolescence without first quantifying your use case for it and putting that in balance with what you could buy next year.
IMHO, your performance problems are most likely caused by malware/junkware, misconfiguration, slow drives, suboptimal use of your drives and inadequate RAM (in that order).
Have you monitored your CPU usage? You should at least do that before thinking about upgrading the part.

Now, SSDs: the first thing to decide is capacity. I wouldn't spend much money on an SSD right now so I think it would be best to go with a small one. The decent ones start at 32G as far as I know but you need to allow for some free space of performance might be badly affected.
Do you figure you have a case for using more than 24G of your system drive? If yes then what about 32G or 48G? I'm not talking about any useless junk you might have on your system drive now but about what would actually be useful there. "Useful" would include a scratch file.

[frenchie]

Like others have said, I'd go for more RAM (to help photoshop) and an SSD for the OS.

[shalom]

"Jerky" is awfully vague and subjective. And you don't say what sorts of pages are affected. Browsers usually have settings for this stuff if you care. I only care about loading times and scrolling speed.

I wouldn't spend that kind of money on a CPU which is well on its way to obsolescence without first quantifying your use case for it and putting that in balance with what you could buy next year.
IMHO, your performance problems are most likely caused by malware/junkware, misconfiguration, slow drives, suboptimal use of your drives and inadequate RAM (in that order).
Have you monitored your CPU usage? You should at least do that before thinking about upgrading the part.

Now, SSDs: the first thing to decide is capacity. I wouldn't spend much money on an SSD right now so I think it would be best to go with a small one. The decent ones start at 32G as far as I know but you need to allow for some free space of performance might be badly affected.
Do you figure you have a case for using more than 24G of your system drive? If yes then what about 32G or 48G? I'm not talking about any useless junk you might have on your system drive now but about what would actually be useful there. "Useful" would include a scratch file.

I am here to see what advise I am getting first. If I can improve "malware/junkware, misconfiguration, slow drives, suboptimal use of your drives" - this may solve my slow problems. It's not exactly slow like bees stuck on honey. But it's sluggish in the sense.

[CA_Steve]

Even when I browse the web on Firefox/IE, scrolling down is not smooth enough, it's jerky.
Yes my motherboard supports Phenom II & Athlon II.

Hmm. Check your RAM usage. Is it maxed out when browsing? Is your HDD nearly full? Is your Pc just loaded down with useless apps running in the background? What's the CPU load when browsing? Is your HDD horribly fragmented? You should be able to web browse easily with your setup. Something else is going on.