EggXpert

I'm looking to spend about 400 bucks upgrading my PC, as I can feel starting to fall behind performance-wise. The problem is that I'm also a few years behind on hardware, and not too sure what I should be looking for. My priorities are my video card and cpu. I know I'll need a new mobo as well, and likely new RAM (though it would be great to be able to use what I have for a month or two before upgrading, if possible). I don't have a particular allegiance to Intel or nVidia, but I am more familiar with them and would choose them if all other factors are the same. 

tl;dr advice on a new cpu and video card for heavy multitasking/moderate audio editing/light gaming

XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDZ550WFGIBOX

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

$412. (The Ud board is popular too for unlocking the cores of the 550 (a beastie boy) but not guaranteed.

Don't let that old DDR2 667 hold back your buying decision, gp for the speed bro,

Penewah!

1. My only question is how many years should I be able to get out of this build?
2. Maybe I'm just confused, but is that RAM compatible with that motherboard?
3. Would I do better with a triple or quad-core cpu in the same price range, if I'm not planning on OCing that 550? And I'm not familiar with unlocking cores, though I did see mention of it when I was browsing around. I'm just not very familiar with OCing in general, really. Always been too lazy.

I'm not as concerned about the first answer, but I'm only reasonably sure about the other two, and I'd like confirmation (no and possibly) if it's possible.

POKETNRJSH:

....for heavy multitasking/moderate audio editing/light gaming

Moderate audio editing ... your current setup is fine.

Light gaming ... your current setup is fine.

Heavy multitasking...  generally more RAM (4Gb is plenty) and an i7 which you can't afford...multitasking generally can't benefit from multicores YET.  But i7 do handle multitasking better.  Eventually software will benefit from 4 cores.

The problem with your current motherboard is a PenD is as good as it gets, so yup time to chuck the board.  Penewab is giving you a very nice upgrade path down the line.   That dual core rips so multitasking should be a breeze.  You can add an additional 4 or 8G of RAM down the line.  With a AM3 socket, and DDR3 RAM you will be ready for a great AMD quad core when it makes sense to go that route.  And a very fast video card.  This current proposed setup will run Win7 HP 64 fast with a lot of programs open.  The motherboard would probably keep you happy for 4 - 5 years with a video card, additional RAM and CPU upgrade along the way as (if) needed. 

The only new tech I foresee you wanting is USB3 which you can add a card when it becomes available.

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An alternative would be to spend $125 on upgrading your RAM to 4Gb and video card.  Now is a terrible time to buy a video card because the middle part of the market has inexplicably disappeared.  That would probably make you happy for 18 months or 24.

Thanks. I guess it was a little later than I thought when I originally came up with this thread. I should have articulated that my problem is that I can't do everything at once on my computer, not that it currently can't handle any one task well enough. I'm impatient, I like lots of stuff open. So sue me. Thanks though. I'm going to do some looking around in the video card market, as I agree, it does seem to be a weird market right now. Worst case, I keep this card running for another few months.