Looks about time for an upgrade.

My old system is an Athalon 64 system (3500). I have 2 gigs of ddr2 in it ath the moment, and an Nvidia 7950 graphics card. I have run WoW fine with this setup until the expansion came out. I'm looking now to upgrade with my refund check. Looking somewhere in the neighborhood of $300-$600.

Now, I'm not partial to AMD or Intel, however I hear intel is the hot ticket right now. (correct me if that's wrong). I know at the most basic level, I might be able to buy 1 or 2 DirectX 10 cards, and SLI them in my current system, but I have noticed that when running WoW and other Programs that my processor use seems to be maxed out at between 90 and 100%. Don't know if that is normal or not. At the outside, i'd say i need to upgrade everything, but most importantly I think it is time for a MoBo, Processor w/cooler(Fan most likely), and RAM. That should be all it would take to get me up and running again. If I can keep the cost of that down then I may be able to look into getting a new video Card as well.

What I need:

- Would a couple of SLI video cards suffice?
- I need multiple options of MoBo/CPU/RAM options.
- Suggestions of Good, but moderately priced Video card options.

For the Motherboard, Integrated Ethernet is ok, Lots of USB slots would be nice, i use 8 right now. SATA port, I have my hard drive as a SATA setup right now so it would need to be integrated. I have a soundcard i can use, so sound isn't important, and I'd rather not have onboard video, but can disable it if needed. I prefer Nvidia, but if I go ATI, make sure that the motherboard will support the card (My current board is SLI capable). I currently have an Antec TruepowerTrio 650W power supply in my case. I hope that will be enough power.

I know this is a lot to ask for help with, but I have done pretty bad in the past researching good combos and would like more input on them.

www.computerlx.com has become my favorite new site for cheap quality rigs and parts

I have found that all things being equal, increasing memory is a huge deal with this expansion. If you're upgrading, go for 4gig+

problem with 4 gig though. It requires windows vista or Windows XP 64

Hrm. Or maybe Windows 7?

I have a 2.5 year-old computer (it was high-end when it was new), and it was really beginning to show its age. Playing Fallout 3 at maximum graphical settings was a slideshow, and Crysis was pretty much out of the question. So, I bought an EVGA GTX 260 Core-216 (great bang for the buck) to replace my old 7800 GTX. This made all the difference. Despite the age of all of the other components, I can play Fallout 3 (at 1680x1050) with all the bells and whistles maxed out, and it's as smooth as silk. I can also play Crysis with all settings at "very high." I knew that the graphics card is really the heart of a gaming PC, but I was still very surprised at just how big a difference a new GPU made. My gaming rig will now last another year or two.

What i'm having a hard time is, I don't understand the new nomenclature for Processors and Motherboards. i know that Intel has the Core Duos and the Quad Core. i don't understand their numbering system anymore (i.e. how Fast is the dang thing, GHz). Also how does the number on an intel chip relate to an AMD chip. How do I know which is better at a quick look. I don't have the patience for reading reviews and in depth reports on everything, which tends to be skewed anyways based on the writers preferences.

That is the help I'm looking for. I like that website Brorlis pointed me to, however, without knowing what processors, and video cards are good vs bad or low end, i can't make an informed decision on what to get. Let me know what you want to know from me, i.e. use of the computer, quality i'm looking for, even brands I prefer. Let me know so you all can help me better figure out what i should be looking at. i am really at a loss these days when it comes to components.

One other thing, Windows XP vs Windows Vista. I have never owned a legal version of either of these. i am looking to get one or the other, I'd prefer it to be Vista as it is newer, what sort of experience/ horror stories would you have. Is there a difference really or is vista just a showier, more secure OS. If i want to run more than 3 Gigs of ram, do i need to get Vista/XP 64 bit version.

I know I have a lot of open ended questions throughout this post, but I'm really looking for help.

This looks to be the gear I'm going to go with. I opted to go with an I7 Processor and motherboard because it looks like i'll have longer upgrade life. It appears Intel is phasing out their Socket 775 boards and going with the new 1366 chips and boards. I only got 4 GB of memory which I can upgrade later when I can afford it. I had to cut costs in order to be able to Get WIndows Vista as well. Not sure about the Video card as my board supports Crossfire, but I don't know a whole lot about ATI. If you all see a better card for a similar or lesser cost, let me know. As far as I can tell, the power supply I picked should also do the job. I tried to find the specs for the Motherboard and Video card and pick a good Power supply to support both. Let me know what you all think of this setup.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...px?ID=12234588

Let me know if the Link doesn't work for you. I'll find another way to post it so everyone can see it.