Big upgrade, need some help.

[yawny]

Well, I bought my current rig about 2 years ago, at he time iw as up to date on everything, all the lateest models etc. Well its time for a full upgrade and i have some money to spend on a new CPU, Mobo, and ram.

I was just wondering what the best choices would be.

im looking at a 780i chipset mobo LGA 775 and a wolfdale dual core at 3.16 as my cpu, ram, im just going with 4g of ddr2 heatspread. The main things im worried about with those thing are: im lookingat an absolutely top of the line GPU to get later this year. Will i need a 790i chipset? Is ddr2 outdated? i know ddr3 is the new thing. How good is that cpu actually?

Are these smart choices? im not sure whats new and good anymore. will these parts be outdated quickly? If so what would be your reccomendations for new parts.

I dont have a ton of money but i have enough

Oh and, Current Rig: E6600 stock, P5n32-sli mobo, 2g corsair xms, x1 8800gts, 500g hdd Raidmax Smilodon Case

[Katreat]

If you are gaming, you would probably see the biggest performance boost by upgrading your video card. But if you are looking for a major over hall then I would recomend going with the new P45 intel chipset. It does not offer SLI but does not look like you are using it anyway. If you really want to go duel card it does offer crossfire support and right now the ATI cards are out performaning the Nvidia cards anyway. The Asus P5Q-pro seems to be the most popular choice. Any of the duel cores will work fine with that chipset and I think the E8500 has taken over the best bang for the buck possition with the latest price drops. you dont list your PSU but make sure it is large enough to handle the newer video cards and is a quality unit.

As for DDR3 at current processor speeds it really does not give a big advantage over DDR2 unless you are into extream OC'ing. It is also very expensive so most recomend staying DDR2 for current builds. DDR3 will not be big until the new processors come out at years end, and since that will require a MB change also it is better saved for your next build.

Kat

YOu