Thinking about swopping out the se card for something with a bit more go.I should have grabbed the non se card but i just didnt look into it far enough when i purchased, silly me.Looking at the 560 or 560 ti in either Gigabyte or Asus ,about 19 dollars dearer for the Ti version. The 570 is just out of reach of my price range atm as it is roughly another 100 dollar jump.

Looking at various benchmarks and card comparos it seems overall about a 25-30 % jump with the 560 v the 460.

Another upgrade i was thinking of was to go i7 over my i5 @ 3.33 but i am unsure on how much benefit i will get from that.And then the next one was to get an ssd and shift windows and my current games to it.

I can only afford one so whatdaya reckon card , processor or ssd ? I think i also restricted myself by only getting the 32 bit win7 so 4gb ram is my max.

current specs

4gb ram
gtx460se
i5 3.33
gigabyte h55mud2h board
850 coolermaster psu

Your options (and upgrades) might be a little more limited with a p55 chipset then if you had a p67 (Sandybridge); but your CPU should be quite good for 90% of the games out there, and to come. You just won't be able to OC it quite as easily...if that matters to you.

Personally I would start with your GPU; I bought the 2GB version of the 560 Ti, and it's been a really great card. Quiet, cheap, and quite good for the price. I was looking real hard at an ATI 6950, but the 560Ti is just as good performance wise, was slightly cheaper, and overclocks better.

Bottom line....your CPU should last a while, as long as you don't want to do any serious overclocking. You will notice a difference in some games with a new(er) GPU (probably not console ports as my GTX260 could handle most with ease).

Then save up for a nice SSD (like I plan to do) and watch load times almost disappear!

How limited am i by the win732 bit version ? Is it worth it to splash out on the 64 so i can jam in more ram? Main game will be Clod for some time to come.Most other games are just things that catch my eye like Crysis2 , which it plays flawlessly anyway.

Originally in my OP I did suggest to get another 4GB; but then I re-read your post and saw you only had 32bit OS and removed it. IMO, you may not see a huge improvement going from 4->8GB...maybe some faster load times and Windows will be able to multi-task better, and depending on the game (some games eat up RAM like crazy). So you may not see an increase in frames-per-second; but overall your system will probably run smoother. Right now you're limited to ~3-3.5GB max, as that's all the 32bit can allocate (that also adds in your VRAM, and any PCI cards that have on-board memory like sound cards).

I myself don't own CloD, so I can't comment on what would be the best hardware to get a boost; but IMO if you don't have any issues with current games,then I'm changing my original statement and suggesting to just keep what you got and save for an SSD or higher-tier GPU (570\580, more VRAM the better). Reason being is that the price you pay to possibly gain 25-30% performance isn't really worth it (unless of course you decide to go with a higher model). Prices for higher-end cards (like the 570/580) probably won't drop until the next line is announced; but there's usually some decent sales going on here and there if you keep looking.

So, in the end if you think your GPU can hack it a little longer, then by all means go 64bit, add some RAM, then either go with the SSD or a higher-tier GPU further down the road.

Remember, I'm just throwing out options, not trying to tell you what you should do...it's your money

FWIW. A few thoughts to consider while making up your mind (some echo other comments above).

To have a realistic chance of "seeing" a difference with your "eyes" (as opposed to "measuring" a difference), one needs about a 20 percent improvement in FPS -- or more. Even then, only games with minimum FPS numbers below about 20FPS will actually look different.

A better graphics card is most likely to show an 20 percent or more improvement in FPS. As an over-simplification, one buys the best graphics card one can afford -- then, buy the CPU and rest of the system with the money left over.

A 3.3GHz i5 is fast enough for current games.

Games are 32bit. Although a couple have a 64bit version (in addition to 32b), changing to 64bit OS won't directly help games much.

4GB of DDR3 RAM is enough for virtually all games (a couple use more). However, a 32bit OS will not access it all -- whereas, 64b OS will. So, in a small number of 64b games that need extra memory, 64b OS is better. And, if one buys a graphics card with more than 1GB of memory (say 1.5GB or 2GB as some now are), 64b will make better use of the extra graphics memory. But, will making the change improve FPS by 20 percent or more? Not usually.

Bottom line, a significantly faster graphics card is the most cost effective way to go. The difference will be somewhat visible only in games that run slow to begin with. Also, in the future, buy 64b OS versions.

Of course, if money is no object, simply buy the biggest and best of everything. But, for most folks, choices have to be made to stay in a budget.

Of course, at least one or two exceptions to every rule. However, the exceptions may or may not apply to your case.

Thanks guys for taking the time, all good points.As i understood it when i brought win7 there was not much using the 64 bit which was my reason for staying with 32 , but i should have grabbed the 64 for a bit of future proof.Lesson learned.I was thinking the ssd for all the obvious benefits, plus its a bit of kit i have not tried before , and who doesn't like playing with new gadgets

It seems in Clod that folks with more vram are the ones able to run the game a lot more fluidly than others.Regardless of how monster the rest of the system is or isn't.

Now is vram simply the ram on your card? Video (card) ram?i am bit unsure on that.If that is the case then i would be looking at a 2gb card of some sort.And then i would add an ssd as the next step.

The other pc upgrade i am looking at doing is making myself a nice wooden case (possibly classed as a downgrade ) but that is a whole 'nother story.

cheers

If I were you, I would spend all the money on a video card. The best bang for the buck with Nvidia would be the 560 ti card. Don't bother with the vanilla 560 or you will be in the same boat as you are now with the se card.

I may wait for the 2gb version to drop a little bit , nearly as pricey as steppin up to the 1gb 570.