Upgrading from...A long time ago

[Talis]

Hey guys, I am currently looking to upgrade my current PC. Its a little out dated, I built my PC back in Early 2006.

Current:
MSI K9N Neo-F AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD
OCZ Platinum 2GB (4 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
EVGA 256-P2-N583-AR GeForce 7900GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core
FSP Group AX500-A 500W

What I was originally looking to upgrade was the Processor and the GPU. But obviously I went with the AM2 socket and not the AM2+. So now I gotta get a new mother board, Am I right? I look at my parts list now and I feel like its from the stone age...

Upgrades looking to purchase:
ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core

EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
OR XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5

If i were to this new motherboard I would also have to purchase new RAM, Am I right? The old DDR2 800 will not fit on the new DDR3 ? Also another question the motherboard states its "Xtreme Design w/ DDR3 1800 and 140W CPU support" What does that really mean. Can I only buy DDR3 1800 memory for this motherboard or is compatible with 1800.

Will the GPU first well into a MID tower case with the new motherboard??

Any Help on this will be much appreciated. I know my way around a PC pretty well but I would still considered myself a noob wanting to learn.

 

[orihS ‪‪‪Shiro]

Ok.
First off.
If I were you, I'd just upgrade your GPU for now, and see how I liked the new performance.

Why are you upgrading? Is my question to you.
If your main reason is fps/gaming.
Then just upgrade your GPU for the moment, and see if it's a good enough upgrade for you.

Secondly. If you purchase an AM3 motherboard you WILL need DDR3 RAM.

That motherboard you're looking at can take 1800 Mhz RAM... But really there's no need to buy RAM clocked that high, because it's overly expensive and you can just buy standard 1333 or 1600 Mhz DDR3 RAM and overclock it.

Now, as for that graphics card?
I don't recommend the GTX 260 to anybody because it's overpriced.
It's $200+ and performs around the same as a 5770...
And 5770's are around $150~
Though if you really like PhysX or something, I suppose you can stick with Nvidia?
Just trying to help you save money...

 

[Talis]

Majority of what I do is Gaming, Thanks for the advice with the 5770. I think I will just go with that for right now. Thanks alot for the help.

 

[Tro1086]

I belive AM2+ means the motherboard will take AM2 or AM3 processors. Someone please correct me if im wrong. You could always upgrade your AM2 processor and stick with the same board. A 3800 X2 seems a little slow for the AM2 era. My previous machine was socket 939 (before AM2) and I had a 4400 X2 @ 2.4GHz.

I would look at upgrading your GPU for now, and possibly see whats available for upgrading to a higher end AM2 CPU. A 5770 is a great card for the price thou.

Personally if I were going to go as far as new mobo, cpu, ram, etc, I would just build a whole new machine. Keep the old one as a 2nd computer, or try to sell it. Keep in mind if you upgrade your mobo and have an OEM version of windows, you will most likely have to get a new copy of windows to. An OEM windows key is usually pretty much stuck with whatever mobo it was registered on.