PC Upgrade Advice

[Switchblade]

Alrighty, so I'm back alive and free of depression/life problems and I realized, my desktop is now composed of homemade dog poop, and my laptop has video issues thanks to some kid knocking it off a desk in class one day, so I need something I can game/work at home on with relative ease and with minimal problems.

My current rig is an AMD athlon 1600+, ati radeon 9600 XT......do I need to go on? Only reason I need a new mobo is cuz mine has been acting wierd I think. It's possible that I could get by on just a new Vcard/cpu but idk for sure, depends on the slots and compatability.

Riding on about a $500 budget, I'd need a new Vcard, mobo, and CPU and a new mouse would be nice but meh, those three things are the most important.

Since I've been out of the gaming loop for so long I have no idea wtf is good/bad/bargain anymore.

Been pixelwindow shopping on newegg and stuff, found some nice deals, but I'd like to hear what the pros have to say about this.

Just something that can decently play the newest games, don't need dual graphics and quad core stuff, although if there's a setup out there that fits the budget, by all means I'll do it lol.

All advice is much, much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Hannibal888]

Tom's hardware just did a recent build for a $500 gaming pc. I'd go with the 9600gt over the 8800GS though. It'll cost about $10-20 more but well worth it. Also you can skip the CPU cooler and case if you don't need it.

[jdeegz]

uh, id say go amd for cpu + mobo.
i got my 4800+ which is 2.4 ghz x2 compared to the 1.8 of that intel cpu on that tom's hardware budget pc. i got the cpu for 70 bucks a few months ago, its definitely dropped in price since then. you could even get the 5000+ x2 black edition for 70 now i think, which is a really awesome deal cuase it is unlocked. and for the money the 3870 is the best deal no doubt. 160 for the saphire's version, its one of neweggs best sellers.

I just think AMD/ATi are far superior in budget builds, which is what the majority of people in the world want / need so i dont see them going anywhere for a while.
but yeah that was my rant.

i built the comp you see below for 380, it doesnt have a video card right now, and some prices have been lowered so im sure you could get this same thing, which runs great, and throw in a 3870 for 500 smackers now-adays.

[jdeegz]

gpu -
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics
Sapphire 3870 - $164

cpu-
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors
4800+ x2 - $76
this cpu is so bomb, mine runs at 25 degrees stock fan, each core runs at 6/7 degrees ive only seen it go as high as 10/11 a few times. forgot to add that i replaced the thermal paste that came on the heatsink with arctic silver.

ram -
Newegg.com - A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
A data 2x1gb ram ddr800 sdram - $39
pretty nice ram, i do alot of artsy things, ive been able to run photoshop, 3d studio max, and corel painter 10 while talking on aim, mirc and in ventrilo with no lag at all... soooo yeah it was a good upgrade from my half gig of ram in my HP lol.
hope these helped a bit, dunno much about the mobo that shit always confuses me and it varies depending on what other cards and stuff you need.

[Switchblade]

Mmmm.....lots of toys. I might run to my local Fry's and check out what they have as well.

Figured out I actually have like $600 so that adds a bit extra into the mix. I might get a new PSU. My case is fine, a bit of wear and tear but should be okay.

Only downside is that I have like a 5 year old 19 inch LCD....you know the ones that DIDNT market on response time, just on size and color/clarity

Maybe I will upgrade it later. But for now the pc itself is my definite point of upgrading. Was looking at

Newegg.com - EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics

on newegg, but the Radeon you linked Jdeegz looks kinda nice as well, and I've been ATI forever so might as well .

What about gaming mice? Razer and Logitech have been my main brands before now, although if I can find my old Razer Copperhead I might be able to see what was wrong with it before and fix it.

But yeah, compiling my To-buy list and then prolly get it all shipped out to me and put 'er together and start rockin in TF2, crysis, and whatever new games are out there.