Upgrading PC, need advice

[g803]

So I want to upgrade my computer as it can't handle newer games and I just got paid and would rather not waste it elsewhere so the budget isn't much of a problem, I'll spend more money if it's worth the performance as I want a computer that can play any games coming out this year at their higher settings smoothly.
I want to get new motherboard, CPU and RAM as it is all several years old (AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.8 ghz ) but I don't know what’s good on the market or too much about computers so I've come here for some advice. I think my graphics card is alright, I bought it a year ago Nvidia XFX 640MB 8800GTS. I'm pretty sure I want to go Intel S775 and DDR3 RAM as I want future proof and higher end system, but i'm not sure which motherboard chipset to go with X48 or nForce 790i.

I've been looking around and this is what i have in mind so far -

For motherboard either
Asus P5E3 Premium
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=1050

or
Asus Striker II nForce 790i (Found it nearly £100 cheaper at advancetec.co.uk)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=1057

or
XFX nforce 790i
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142919

RAM I'm thinking OCZ 2GB DDR3 PC3-14400C8 1800MHz Platinum
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-095-OC

As for the CPU either the Intel core 2 Duo Wolfdale E8500 or E8400
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140428 E8500
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143290 E8400

These are just what I’ve picked out so far, whether it’s someone telling me if they’ll work together or showing me something better and/or better value it would be a big help.

Also, I have a power supply I bought a year ago - 700W X-power Intel ATX12V Ver.2.2
On the box it says 'AMD Athlon 64' and 'Intel Pentium 4 prescott', does this mean it won't work with an intel 2 duo core CPU?

[Katreat]

Personally, I would forget about DDR3, it is just not ready for prime time. DDR3 is the ram of the future but it will probably never get there with the 775 socket. The main advantage of DDR3 is the speed and current CPUs are just not fast enough to take advantage of it. Since the 775 socket is already scheduled to be replaced it is doubtful that you will ever see a 775 CPU that will utilize that speed. About the only application that you will see a performance gain from DDR3 right now is through serious Over-Clocking of the processors.

That being said I would recommend sticking with a single card set up using something like an Asus P5K-E. I would pair that with the E8400 or one of the new 45nm quads if you want to be more future proof. For ram I would go with standard DDR2 at 800 speed. Even the fastest DDR2 ram, 1066, is faster than every CPU on the market so really gives little if any advantage unless you are doing a serious OC.

For an SLI set up I would recommend the 780i chipset. I personally don’t think the performance gain is worth the added cost but if you are using a very large monitor SLI can significantly help with resolution. By very big I mean something larger than 24”.

Your current video card will handle most games on medium high to high settings. I would probably recommend sticking with it for now and upgrading to something better in 6 months to a year. There are quite a few cards available which are much better right now, the video market has been racing along over this past year. The 9600 GT, 8800 GT and 8800 GTS (512) are all quite a bit faster for probably less money than you spent. And if you really want to crank the setting up there is the 7850 X2, 8800 GTX, 8800 Ultra, 9800 GTX, and 9800 GX2 which are all much faster. But for now your card will handle most games very well and by waiting the prices should drop quite a bit.

Your PSU will be fine, as long as it is ATX 2.0 or higher it should work with the C2D. For a SLI system it might be a bit small, I think the lowest paired gaming video cards would push a 700w PSU. But for a single card set up it has plenty of power. I don’t know that brand but you should not put a budget PSU in a gaming system so take a look at this post and be sure the brand is on the GOOD side of the list.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

Kat

[shadowpr]

I have to completely agree with Kat.

Not much else to say.

[Doom]

I've got an SLI setup with 2x EVGA 9600GT's. I didn't see that much of an improvement (at least not enough to justify the price of a whole second card) when I upgraded to a second card. If you'd like to keep the option open, I'm running off of a EVGA 780i SLI board w/ 4xGB of DDR2 and am running games a blazing speed at the highest settings (except for Crysis which is at High vice Highest). If I had a 3.0GHz processor there, I'd probably be at the highest level.

If you want an SLI setup you'll need to make sure your PSU can support it in two ways. First, it needs to have enough power which you can check at www.slizone.com for help. Also, make sure it has at least 2x PCI-E power connectors to it. Otherwise you won't have a power supply for the second card.