Help me with an upgrade

I have the following system:

AMD Athlon XP 64 3200+ 2.2Ghz
Albatron K8X800 Pro
512 DDR-RAM (2X256)
ATI Radeon 9600 XT 256 Mb

It's ok for now, but was always a bit less than what I wanted, so now that the years passed I decided to upgrade it a bit, not to the newest components, but to just give it a little cheap push.

Anyway, I was thinking about additional 512 RAM and a new GPU. I asked about the Radeon X550 in a computer store, but they told me that it wouldn't give me much boost, and that the kind of card that could- won't work with my motherboard.
What I wanted to know is:
Is the X550 really not that much of an improvement? And if it's not, then what would you suggest?

 

definately get more RAM. as for gfx card, go for any ATI card above x700

 

an x5500 is pretty much a sideways jump or perhaps even backwards from a 9600xt. A 6600gt will do just fine for u, around $100. You might want to just grab a pair of 512 sticks, rather than add 512 to your 2x256. You can grab a gig for around 70-100, depending on the manufacturer. If you want to get more outta ur CPU you could always overclock.....

 

If your motherboard supports dual channel, you would be better off getting a pair of 512MB RAM modules to enable it.

Check the manual to see it it does, and what configurations you can use.