Some suggestions for a budget upgrade please!

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Veregund

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Hey guys, I'm trying to upgrade my desktop to gear it toward gaming. Its an Alienware - maybe about 4 years old, so it's due. In the past I have upgraded the video card and the memory a bit, but that's about it. Here are my current specs:

Intel D925XCV 925X Motherboard
P4 3.6GHz 1MB 800FSB LGA775
Samsung 2GB DDR2 PC4200
480W Power Supply
NVidia GeForce 7950GT 1MB

If you need anymore info, just ask.

I think my graphics card is still up to par, but I'd like to purchase a new CPU, Memory, and mothboard (only if necessary, which it probably will be). I would like my budget to be under 400 dollars. If it's a little over, I'll try to make due :) Let me know what you think please. Thanks!
 
Slaymate, I thought the Q8** series were meant to be not very good?
 
What do you expect for $400. I would wait and save up another 3 or 400 dollars. Even another $200 would help. But waiting is alway hard.
 
Muffin - is the new video card necessary? how much of an improvement would it be on my current card?

Slaymate - Is there a downgrade on a motherboard that would be compatible and still run well? How worse off would I be? And what about the memory that Muffin posted - it's cheaper than the OCZ.
 
The 4850 is a great card and you should definitely see performance increase over your 7 series geforce. In fact Muffin's whole suggestion I would go with. My only concern would be your 12v amperage in your psu. Maybe link us a spec sheet? Or a picture of the side of it, with the sticker listing specs?
 
Muffin - is the new video card necessary? how much of an improvement would it be on my current card?

Slaymate - Is there a downgrade on a motherboard that would be compatible and still run well? How worse off would I be? And what about the memory that Muffin posted - it's cheaper than the OCZ.

The HD 4850 is a good upgrade from even my HD 3850, and my HD 3850 is good bit faster than a 7950gt man... (refer to our GPU Ranking guide)

There's also the P43's which are decent too, but at this price range, you are much better off with AMD.
 
Hey Muffin - I'm going to go with your setup I think (so thanks!)

Will i need to purchase a new power supply? I know that you asked for the specs on my power supply, and I can get them to you, but I'm at work right now, so if you need them it will be later.

Also, should I be worried about buying a new case? The alienware cases are huge, so I figure there isn't any need, but I just want to make sure. Thanks!

Also, I'm upgrading for gaming. Is it necessary to go with the quad-core? Or can I just stick with the dual core? Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
 
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