Best course of action?

[Akiya]

Alright, nerds, I need your brain power.

For the most part, I can hold my own when it comes to tech, but I'm not above asking for second (and third) opinions. With computer building, there are usually a dozen different roads to the same place. So here I am.

I built this bad boy (his name is Seamus) over 4 years ago, and until this year, was able to run anything I wanted on highest graphics without breaking a sweat. But Seamus is starting to feel his age, and with some of the new(ish) games (SWTOR for one, the new Final Fantasy for another), he's starting to burn pretty hot (you can hear the video card's fan working overtime).

I would really love to throw together a shiny new rig, but what I want is not in the budget right now. I'm definitely saving for it, but at the moment, I want to make what I have work for at least the rest of the year.

Below is my current set up. What I'm asking: What's the best course of action to get Seamus at least back in the game with the least input cost?

**GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+ Motherboard (Link)
**AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Processor (Link)
**GE Force 9800 GT Video Card (Link)
**Power Supply is built into the case (Link)
**160 GB Hard Drive (Will be getting a 500GB from a friend)
**2GB DDR2 240pin RAM (Have 2 sticks of 4GB that won't take, I get one long beep for a video card error, but mobo has no onboard video so I can't bypass)
**Windows XP (Will be getting Windows 7 shortly)

[Sared]

Keep weekly tabs on Newegg+retailers for CPU+Mobo+Misc combos like these.

Budget for a GPU in a separate purchase. Until then, what you've got should hold together fine and will work with most any modern mobo.

PSU is going to be a bottleneck. After checking CPU consumption, settle on a GPU. THEN AND ONLY THEN start looking at PSU's. The GPU you decide on could have up to two or three times the power need as most of your other components.

RAM is cheap. If you can get it in a combo deal then cool, but combo packages that include a more important piece of hardware like a PSU/GPU are going to save you more than a package that may have memory bundled with it.

Otherwise you know the rest. Read reviews, ask friends, yadda yadda. GL;HF!

[Akiya]

Okay, so I got the new HDD with Windows 7 installed, but it keeps locking up, and I'm pretty sure memory is the culprit. The 4GB sticks I bought will not take (I get one long beep), and to get more of the same 2GB sticks (that I know work) are $43 a stick...that seems a bit steep to me, and I would likely need at least two. So, is it really worth it to get the additional sticks of RAM? Or should I put that hundred bucks towards the new rig? (Link to NewEgg Wishlist)

[Sared]

Towards the new rig. Check the RAM socketing on your motherboard, make sure they're in the right channels. Might even have some kind of memory tester built into it.