HELP me UPGRADE my PC

[hzrai]

Greetings All,

I used to build my own pc's 4 years ago and I'm completely out of date with whats new and whats good, so I need help! I need to get my pc up to date with current games.Budget, ~$600.

My7 current PC specs are:

DELL XPS/Dimension 600

-PROCESSOR..., 80547, PENTIUM 4 PRESCOTT DT 640 3.2 GHz
-DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE..., 1G, 667M, 128X64, 8, 240, 2RX8 ---- 2GB RAM
-2X GeF 7800 GTX SLI 256MB each.
-HD 250 GB
- I don't know what motherboard it is.

This is all I know. I bought a DELL cause I was in a hurry to get a system.
Dont know what type of RAM it is.

I think I will need a new CPU/motherboard/CASE combo. New RAM. My 7800 GTXs are fine I think.

I appreciate all your help, I tried to get familiar with all the new processors/chpsets/bus ect.... but I got lost.

Regards,

 

[Narse]

A Core 2 Duo system would be your best bet, as you have SLI you would need a SLI motherboard, a 750i chipset would do. You currently have DDR2 667 RAM which will work on the 750i chipset. So a new motherboard CPU case and power supply could get you going hardware wise.

 

[hzrai]

Thanks Narse,

That is good a place for me to start. I did some research and found that the lowest of the Core 2 Quad cost the same as highest Core 2 Duo.

I want to upgrade it so it can run some of the latest games like Crysis. I think I have good enough vid cards, but they are bottle necked by CPU and bus. I looked at pricewatch, and found that the Core 2 duo in general costs more than the Quad. So I'm lost.

Then there are the motherboards,Last I remember, ASUS was good anc cheap 4-5 yrs ago.

I dont know which of the 2 duo to get, now there is e6700,, extreme, ect......

$ 345.00 - core 2 quad q9450
$ 324.00 - core 2 duo e6700 VS
$ 213.00 - core 2 duo e8400

I can see the differences in mhz bus speed,andcach size, but my judgment goes as far as this.

I want to upgrade it so that next time in a year or so, I would upgrade my video cards.

Thanks again in advance.