I need to upgrade my video card

[b1gapl]

Motherboard - Biostar TF7025
CPU - AMD Athlon X2 3600+
Memory - 1GB G. Skill DDR2-800
Graphics - EVGA 7600GT 256MB

This is under $300, and can play most games on med to possibly high settings.

Don't let the 1.9GHz speed of the X2 3600+ fool you, because that is a dual core processor.

 

[Trotter]

True, b1g. Very good build for the price.

Your current mobo is AGP, and the ope you posted as a possibility is AGP. I hate to be the one to tell you, but AGP is dead. PCI-E is the current standard.

 

[maroon1]

Newegg.com - Intel Dual-Core E2140 Allendale 1.6GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
Newegg.com - ASUS P5VD2-MX SE LGA 775 VIA P4M890 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Desktop Memory - Retail
Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P2-N554-AX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

This build is cheaper than the build that b1gapl suggested

And E2140 is as good as 3600+ (if not better)

And as b1gapl said don't let the GHz fool you, because the new intel processors can do more instruction per clock than AMD

 

[joeodd2]

Newegg.com - Intel Dual-Core E2140 Allendale 1.6GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
Newegg.com - ASUS P5VD2-MX SE LGA 775 VIA P4M890 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Desktop Memory - Retail
Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P2-N554-AX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

This build is cheaper than the build that b1gapl suggested

And E2140 is as good as 3600+ (if not better)

And as b1gapl said don't let the GHz fool you, because the new intel processors can do more instruction per clock than AMD

Hey thanks, I think getting a MB with a intel dual processor is the way to go. Now let me ask you this? Should I think about getting a MB that would allow me to overclock the 1.6 ghz processor? I have never overclocked my processor before, could you tell me what some of the risks would be? Would it effect the lifespan of my MB and CPU? Do I need to invest in a really expensive cooling system in order to Overclock? If Overclocking this processor is really the way to go, what MB would you recommend that I look at in order to do this? I'm willing to spend about 100-125 for a new MB basically I want to keep my total costs below 350. Man this project keeps getting bigger and bigger, but I figure I might as well just try to do it right. I'll probably end up spending more if I decide to buy a new mid-tower case as well, but I'll leave that for later.

 

[b1gapl]

For that price range, I would suggest this board:
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
....It's a stripped down version of one, of the best overclocking boards.

It will effect the lifespan, but given that an average CPU, can last 10 years, it will only take off probably 1-2 years. And I assume you're not going to be using that for 8 years, and you'll be buying a new one by then. So it's really not that affected.

You don't need to invest in expensive cooling. All you need is a good aftermarket CPU cooler, because the stock won't take you far. I would suggest this:
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler for LGA775

 

[Nick]

I personally would choose AMD becuase the pentium 4 pc my parents owned sucked

 

[maroon1]

I personally would choose AMD becuase the pentium 4 pc my parents owned sucked

But he is not getting Pentium 4

He will get E2140 which is based on Core 2 architecture

 

[Nick]

i know, Intel now have the lead in CPU manufacture but Pentium 4s were really crap

 

[Invisible]

that doesnt have anything to do when comparing the e2140 and the 3600+

 

[joeodd2]

Now let's talk power? I think I'm going to go ahead and buy a new case and power supply. what kind of wattage do I need to get in order to run this system smoothly? I'm going to have a dvd burner and a dvd drive as well as 2 hard drive connected to it. As well as the cpu, MB, and VC mentioned above.