Need suggestions for possible upgrades to speed up photo editing

[larbaz]

I built the following system 2 years ago and recently installed Win7 64 bit and love it, but lately while working on photo editing, I get the hourglass pretty often. I did download new drivers for the Display adapter. I also tried 4 more gigs of memory, but didn't notice any improvement.
I use Photoshop Elements and also convert old VHS tapes to DVD with Honestech software.
I am open to any upgrade suggestions to improve speed and would really appreciate any help.

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P P45 775
CPU INTEL|C2D E8500 3.16G 775 45N
MEM 2Gx2|CORS TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF
CPUCOOLER|ARCTIC P4|ACFZ7-PRO
LG|GH22NS30 22X SATA
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS [Display adapter]
HP w2408 [Monitor] (24.0"vis, s/n CND8031LY9, January 2008)
Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601)
I also have another internal drive and 2 external drives for backups and storage.

[RickyTick]

Do you have a total of 8gb of ram? If so, that should be plenty.

About the only noticeable upgrade would be the cpu to a Q9650, but you're looking at more than $300.

[larbaz]

I tried 4 more gig of ram [Western Digital MEM 2Gx2|KST KHX8500D2T1K2/4G R ], but could not tell a difference. Maybe I need the same brand I already have? Can I use the Q9650 with same motherboard and cooler etc?

[RickyTick]

It's fairly odd to run different brands of ram, even though they had similar specs. I did notice that the Kingston ram requires 2.2 volts and the Corsair requires 2.1. Not sure if that makes much of a difference, but I would suggest having all 4 sticks of ram being the same.

Yes, the Q9650 will work fine with that motherboard and cooler.

[larbaz]

Thank you, I will try same brand.
Would the Q9650 give nearly as fast performance as a new MB and Cpu?

[RickyTick]

Would the Q9650 give nearly as fast performance as a new MB and Cpu?

No. The new i7 would be much faster. That's why I pointed out that the Q9650 was over $300. You could buy an i7 2600 and a new motherboard for less than $500 and have much faster set up. The only problem is that you'll also have to buy new ram, so that's another $100 or so.

[larbaz]

Thanks, I might opt for that route, because i need to add ram anyway.