Processor upgrade or video card upgrade for gaming performance?

i currently hav:

pentium [r] dual core E5200 @ 2.51 GHZ,

3gb ddr2 ram,

1gb ati 4350 core clock:600mhz, memory clock:400mhz



i think ram is ok for me.

should i upgrade to a core2duo or corei3 OR i should replace video card with a 9500gt to get better gaming performance?|||what are you looking to spend? if you have a home build then go for the cpu....if you have a OEM (dell, gateway, HP etc) then *more then likely* the bios is locked to only accept cpus that were originally offered with that pc which rules out core 2...(cause they are from a different generation) and definitely i3 (because i3's use a different socket and an i3 socket 1136 physically wont fit in a socket 775) so go for the GPU because any GPU will work as long as you have a pci-e x16 and a sufficient PSU|||Your Processor is fine, graphic card is not,

technically the Ati 4350 is not considered a gaming card at all, 4650 & 5650 onwards are for gaming.



Buying a new processor will gain you very less FPS.



So, 9500gt is a good upgrade, but it would be smart buying a Nvidia 9600gt or 240gt or ATI 5650, 4670 as they the mid-range gaming cards.



(Note: Don't go for 1gb cards if it cost more, they will have no performance gain over 512mb cards at low resolutions, for resolutions above 1600x1200 1gb is useful but these cards are not powerful enough to play games at that resolution smoothly.)



Hope this Helps.|||You should definitely trade up your graphics card. Go read up on the better cards. I would recommend getting a nvidia that you suggested or an ati if your on a big budget but be weary about ati graphics card because they are built cheaper because they are made cheaper.|||videocard is usually the thing to upgrade for graphics and gamming, but I'm unfamiliar with those recent models so I can't tell for sure.