Well, after 5 or so years, I'm looking to retire the old Athlon 800 with 256MB PC133 RAM. She was great, but she's really showing her age. She's save me hundreds of dollars because it can't play today's games. So, I have come here for some recommendations. I guess I'm looking for a Tower/PSU, CPU, RAM, and Motherboard. Pretty much your essentials. The stuff I have, and plan on keeping are: DVD burner, MSI 4400 Video Card, Audigy Sound Card, 120 Gig HD, Floppy Drive, and network card. I'm not looking to play DOOM 3 on the highest settings, I'm just looking for something modest, yet practical and financially attainable. So, what are some motherboards/RAM/CPU that would meet my requirements? For a motherboard, I would like some range for expandability in the future. As for the tower, the #1 feature I want is for it to be quiet and for there to be no overheating issues. I'm not looking to overclock either. My budget for this is probably around $500-750 range. In all honesty, I'm really thinking of this upgrade because of one little game called Fate. Brilliant game, but my current rig just can't handle the spells n' such. Anyway, thanks for any help with all the technical lingo surrounding the Motherboard, CPU and RAM.

For $500-750, you can build a decent rig, but I suggest you retire the old video card too. Board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136163 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535 RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440 VIDEO (lots of good choices in the $100 range): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102573 PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954

I would try to swing the Nvidia 6800GS if you can. It's a lot more powerful. Then you could play Doom 3 at full tilt if you want. :-) Newegg had an EVGA for $160 shipped after rebate. In my opinion, it's well worth the extra $60. Another good deal that more people should consider: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103600 Would perform better than the 3200 because it has 1M of cache. Not sure if that's worth the money to you or not, but it would help with games and multimedia stuff. It also overclocks like a demon, too. Get the 6800GS first before this though, that would make more of a difference. Also, check out outpost.com for a deal on that ram. It's $50 after a $25 mail in rebate plus $7 shipping. Buy it NOW if you want that deal. Last time they had it, they ran out of stock in a day. "It happens."

"For $500-750, you can build a decent rig, but I suggest you retire the old video card too". Yup !!! The last time the words awesome and Ti4400 was used in the same sentence is at least three years ago if not more. You should be all set with the recommendations from above and you'll definitely see a huge difference going from the 4400 to the 6800GS. When Google isn't your best pal

I agree with jam and sabertooth. The most important part of a gaming rig (modest or not) is the video card (not that other parts don't matter). The card you already own will not only play games slowly, but it won't even run some games. I'd also go dor the 6800gs since the 6600gt (although a great card) will run f.e.a.r. slowly even at the lowest settings. The 6800gs will ensure you a descent gaming experience in all of today games... yeah, it will play doom3 somewhere near the highest settings and that may be a little too much for you, but doom3, although with beautiful graphics, is not even half hardware demanding than games like f.e.a.r. Free

I remember buying that Ti4400 video card to play Neverwinter Nights back in the summer of 2003. I paid $399 (Canadian) + tax for it, and now nearly 3 years later, it's useless. Oh the humanity! Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!

BTW, on newegg's site, there are 13 6800GS video cards. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp? N=2010380048+1067918817&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=48 Which one should I get? And, is this type of card actually worth approx $100 more than the video card Jam recommended? Thanks again.