What about this upgrade...

[Kielgard]

As stated in a lower thread, my MB is fried after 2 years. So may as well upgrade, while using some stuff. I'll sell the old parts that still work (CPU, Graphics Card, RAM, Dvd) to hopefully offset the cost.. and hope for a nice tax return?

Old System:

ALIENWARE AREA-51
ABIT AA8XE 925XE MOBO
P4 3.4GHZ 1MB 800FSB LGA775 550
1.5 GB PDP DDR2 PC4200
WD RAPTOR 74GB SATA 10K RPM 8MB HD (os and games)
MAXTOR DIAMONDMAX PLUS9 7200 RPM 160GB 8MB HD (storage)
NEC ND-3500 16X DUAL LAYER DVD±R/W RECORDER
CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 2 ZS 7.1
MSI GEFORCE 7900GT 256MB PCI-E
MICROSOFT XP
THERMALTAKE BIG TYPHOON

New:

AREA-51 Case
Asus P5n-E SLi 650i (will sli in fall maybe)
Core 2 Duo e6600
Geforce 8800 GTS
Corsair XMS 2GB 6400 800mhz
Windows Vista
Raptor (OS) - no raid
Maxtor (storage)
Vista Home Premium 64bit
Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Keep the DVD-R/W
Keep the Audigy 2 ZS

I had toyed with ideas like a slower processor, keeping my same processor, keeping my old ram, going with raid arrays, keeping XP 32bit, going with a 680i board. Am I missing something? Is this overkill? Where could you shave 100-200 dollars if necessary? I was actually quite ok with the old system, but wouldn't mind going with something under the hood. How would the proposed system do?

 

[Wayward_Son]

The proposed system will be very nice, but you could save several hundred dollars by sticking with XP. From what I've read about Vista, I know that wont make the switch for a couple years, if ever. Then again, if you want DX10, you'll have to upgrade (unless someone can step in and correct me here).

I'd stick with XP and go SLI instead. But that's me.

 

[jivetrky]

Looks pretty good. Only thing I'd say is that if you are going to do SLi in the future, I'd spring the extra $$ for the 680i board. You get better overclocking capability, you get 16x PCie lanes instead of 8x (which could be needed for a future card), you also get a third PCIe slot for the possibility of Physics acceleration. Plus all the other little things (2x Ethernet ports instead of 1x on 650i, etc. etc.)


But you would probably get a fair overclock with that 650i, so if budget is a concern, I'm sure that system will still be quite nice!