Computer upgrade time, what's good?

[some call me...tim?]

Actually it's not too far out of my scope. My current mobo can handle up to 8 gigs of RAM, and from what I gather, anything of the Core 2 Duo generation and up handles 64 bit fine. And yeah, when I get around to getting Win 7, I'll be getting the 64 bit version.

[Parks]

As long as you have a 64-bit OS, then you'll be fine. It seems like most PC processors support 64-bit now due to the memory limitations of 32-bit memory addressing.

[jubuttib]

Skip the 32-bit mess and go all 64-bit, from hardware to OS.

Given the situation of the OP, I'd grab a 64-bit CPU (I like AMD, but it doesn't matter), a decent mobo for the CPU that definitely supports 4 or more gigs of RAM max, a GPU a touch higher performance than you think you need now, and 4 gigs of RAM (3 for now, one more to grow on and for dual channel, not that dual channel makes much difference at all). I'd seriously consider getting a new power supply (don't skimp on getting clean power) and maybe even a new case, too.

BAM! Done upgrading for a while.

QFT, this is how I go about it.