Time to get a new processor?

I have a 1600+ and can get 156fsb out of it(dont usualy leave it oc'd). Its on a Gigabyte GA-7vrx mobo(333fsb support). So far i have seen much slowdown in games of mine and it may be my processor. UT2003 with 16 bots starts to slow down.(800/600)with less bots in a bigger level its fine.also, my 40x cd drive cant max out in speed copying to my hard drive(5400rpm maxtor). Is that cpu related? i can only move things at about 6 megs a sec. Should i get a new cpu? Or get more ram? I have only 256megs
(333fsb ram). I realy do need advice.(P.S., im on a very tight budget)(20-35$ a week dedicated)

save you $$ and just clean up you system remove all old programs, dump the quick launch toolbar, remove any auto start programs off the startup (office, kazaa, ect) then defrag and speed disk and see if it runs better PS what OS are you running (look for speed tweaks)

I have xp pro, no start up icons, defrag daily, and go sparingly on ram-using visual crap. I just use xp for the support.

Ohhhh... and how bad is norton?

You should turn Norton off (start it when you need it) and any other thing that may be using you ram and cpu that is not needed also turn off, also try turning off virtual memory and adjust XP to the performance setting (dropping the XP look). After you do all this restart your system and make sure everything you turned off is still off and didn’t reload it self, then try your game out if you still need more go for more ram same dimm cas cl. Then your cpu