Looking to Upgrade my Late 2008 Nehalem System

[Xeiros]

So I've been out of the loop somewhat insofar as how the various components have developed over the years. What I'm trying to get at is I want to ensure there isn't some new tech in a particular area that's coming out between new and the remainder of 2015 that I might want to hold off for in order to implement in the build.

Current:

CPU – Intel Core i7 920

Mobo – Asus P6T Deluxe

RAM – 6 GB (3x2) DDR3

Primary Drive – SATA 7200 HDD

Optical – DVD Drive

GPU – GTX 460 (Was originally a GTX 260 Core 216 that needed replacing when it failed)

Monitor - Acer x223w 22" LCD 1680x1050

As you can tell my current system is pretty standard fare for a new system back in late 2008. The goal was to wait until both system began to truly struggle to run the software I wanted and the hardware developed far enough in every area to justify what is essentially building an entirely new system as most of my parts cannot be upgraded in the traditional sense at this point. I already have most of the parts locked down, but there are a couple I'm on the fence about.

I'm not sure what monitor to replace my current one with. It wasn't quite full HD so to speak when I bought it, but I'm unsure if I should just stick with the traditional 1920x1080 this time around or consider going into 2k at the very least with a 4k monitor a possibly another 7 years down the line. I'd also like the replace my HDD with a SSD, but I'm not sure if there's a particular form factor and interface i should be looking into. As far I understand it, The upcoming M.2 form factor PCI Express using NVMe is considered to be the most recent option in that area. Is that about right? If so, I'll hold off for that

[Vvo]

If you choose to upgrade your existing rig, then upgrade your ram, gfx card , and add a normal size ssd. As for your monitor, a 1080p monitor should be sufficient. Anything beyond 1080 is more costly down for the time being. 

[bankajac]

An SSD and a new monitor would make it feel like a whole different computer.  I have the same processor in mine and it still runs great.  Over the years I added a new monitor and SSD drive and it felt like a whole different computer.  Mind you I went from 17" to 28" and then to 32" 3K.  Still pretty happy with the performance.

[AMPSV]

upgrade your Ram & a SSD if you can

[Danielx64]

If you get a new screen, make sure that your graphic card can handle it: a 2k screen will need more power than a 1080p screen.

[Xeiros]

At first i thought i could eek by with just a bit more RAM since the 6 GB I have know is far from cutting it which in 2015 makes sense. The number of times I've seen the Windows you don't have enough RAM left please close X programs is much too high. Turns out I can also bring the i7 920 to its knees with a single high bitrate video. I have to keep Process/Task manager open to kill processes before they make my regularly slow unresponsive system melt. It's kind of funny. It's become increasingly apparent especially with the installation of Windows 10 that my current machine just isn't up to the challenge anymore.

I prefer to build new systems only after my current one has gotten a lengthy period of use (in this case 7+ years) and avoid the whole minor upgrades in certain areas every couple years or so unless a component fails and needs replacing. That is to say I prefer to get the most I can out of my parts as they were first assembled. Again I could slap 6 more GB of DDR3 RAM in there, but I'm also well aware I'd only be delaying the inevitable more so given DDR4 is the current standard anyway. It would only be a temporary solution to a problem that involves my whole system. 

Same deal with an SSD. I'm not going to add an SSD to this motherboard when i know perfectly well I'd be forcing myself to use an already outdated interface. Remember my current Mobo lacks an M.2 slot. it would be sort of like willingly installing a 5200 HDD when you could go with a 7200 one only far more extreme a difference. You obviously don't necessarily need 2015 hardware to run high quality 2015 files/software, but it does allow a system to last a long time without any upgrades all the same. 

I'm going to hold of a little longer for the parts I'm waiting on to actually be released. I'll keep everything y'all have mentioned in mind as well. Thanks a lot for your replies. I greatly appreciate them.

 

[DevTech]

At first i thought i could eek by with just a bit more RAM since the 6 GB I have know is far from cutting it which in 2015 makes sense. The number of times I've seen the Windows you don't have enough RAM left please close X programs is much too high. Turns out I can also bring the i7 920 to its knees with a single high bitrate video. I have to keep Process/Task manager open to kill processes before they make my regularly slow unresponsive system melt. It's kind of funny. It's become increasingly apparent especially with the installation of Windows 10 that my current machine just isn't up to the challenge anymore.

I prefer to build new systems only after my current one has gotten a lengthy period of use (in this case 7+ years) and avoid the whole minor upgrades in certain areas every couple years or so unless a component fails and needs replacing. That is to say I prefer to get the most I can out of my parts as they were first assembled. Again I could slap 6 more GB of DDR3 RAM in there, but I'm also well aware I'd only be delaying the inevitable more so given DDR4 is the current standard anyway. It would only be a temporary solution to a problem that involves my whole system. 

Same deal with an SSD. I'm not going to add an SSD to this motherboard when i know perfectly well I'd be forcing myself to use an already outdated interface. Remember my current Mobo lacks an M.2 slot. it would be sort of like willingly installing a 5200 HDD when you could go with a 7200 one only far more extreme a difference. You obviously don't necessarily need 2015 hardware to run high quality 2015 files/software, but it does allow a system to last a long time without any upgrades all the same. 

I'm going to hold of a little longer for the parts I'm waiting on to actually be released. I'll keep everything y'all have mentioned in mind as well. Thanks a lot for your replies. I greatly appreciate them.

 

You never once stated what you use your computer for so any suggestions by default become random noise.

The 920 is not a bad CPU even by 2015 standards. You can O/C it a bit to get an extra year or two or if you just browse the web, another decade or two...

3 8 gig DIMMs will get you 24 gis RAM.

M.2 is no big advantage unless you get the faster version showing up with Skylake mobos and then the drives for that such as the Samsung 950 are about $200 extra for the same size giving you unknown advantage yeah depending in what you do with a computer. Video editing comes to mind for super-fast transfer rates but usually even in that scenario, there needs to be multiple fast drives and most mobos only have a single M.2 slot.

Going from SSD on SATA 3 to SSD on M.2-PCI-e x4 will be more like 7200rpm to 10,000 rpm but less for most people.

Buying a large Samsung 850 today will be the largest performance improvement you can make and again depending on how you actually use a computer might make the eventual complete rebuild produce rather boring results. There is no way this would be a bad move since the SSD would be easily transferable to a new build.

Your video card is reasonably modern and depending on what it is used for may or may not have a lot of lifetime in it. A new GPU is also not dependant on a rebuild.

Your descriptions of performance issues seem software related perhaps. If you did an upgrade install of Windows 10, sometimes weird things can be leftover that don't work well with 10. In particular anything that installs an explorer add-on which is common for up to 50% of all software can be problematic. Try sorting your software installs from oldest to newest and try to guess which of the older ones installed some "right-click" handler.