Upgrade help

[kainkun]

I bulit my current pc nearly 3 years ago. I'm now looking at putting togeather another system with around $550. My current system is a amd64 3000+, one gig of ddr 3200, geforce 6600gt(supreme commander crawls). I do not have the ability to go above 1024x768 in games, and I don't see me getting a better display in the near future. Bottom line is I want a pc that can do ok with newer games and give me another 3 years of life.

Items I'm looking at:
amd athlon 64 x2 6000
asus m2n-sli deluxe nforce570
2 gigs of corsair xms2 ddr2 800
geforce 8600gts

I figure that adding another 8600gts within a year would keep me playing newer games at a decent pace. I also picked the 8600gts because of the dx10 support. Seems like I will be forced into the dx10 world within a couple of years.

Please give me some insight, on paper the upgrade looks to be double what I have now. My current rig is amd and has been rock solid, which is why I would like to stick with the brand.

 

[Markfw]

As the owner of AMD now (did have 10 rigs, now only 3 AMD, the rest Intel), I hate to say it, but Intel is the way to go now.

Abit IP35 motherboard, same memory and video card, and a E6550 (overclocked)

 

[lyssword]

or maybe wait a few weeks and see if 3850 drops to $150, as it totally kills 8600gts

 

[Denithor]

Yep, ditch that 8600 in favor of either:

HD3850 @ $180
HD3870 @ $220
8800GT @ $270

These are rough prices, especially on the 8800GT (seen it anywhere from $220-330). Give it a few weeks and it should drop into the $200-250 range and is the best of these cards.