X Mas Upgrades

[4thSurvivor]

1. Gaming Mostly

2. $400

3. US

4. Whatever is best on the market for the $$

5. YES
I will be using the following
Antec P180 Mid Tower
TSSTcorp Super Multi DVD+-R/RW/RAM
SONY CD-R/RW 52x/32x/52x
250gb PATA Seagate Barricuda 7,500 RPM
Windows Vista Ultimate x64
Optional
eVGA e-GeForce 7900GS 256MB
Antec TruePower II- 550w

6. Yes

7. Maybe some OC but pending the build I wouldn't mind stock really

8. ...X mas

I was thinking along the lines of a P45 board? PCI-e 2.0 x16 is a MUST.

Upgradability, yet ability to play latest games at high settings is also a must.
SLI/CX I don't care for, it sucks really when you compare it to a brand new card.

GTX 260 Core 216 would be nice if it's in the budget, otherwise an equally impressive 9800GT/8800GT

E8400 Wolfdale would be nice as well

Do I need to upgrade my power supply that bad? If I don't will my system short circuit, and explode with a high-end graphics card, or anything else added to it (lol)

What else do you guys suggest for a mainboard/cpu combo, I will also need RAM that matches the mainboard, that's obvious though.

Thanks for all your advice, and help.

 

[4thSurvivor]

what about this mobo/cpu combo...
h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.147942

with this ram ocz platinum 4gb ddr2 800
h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227371

or this ram ocz titanium 4gb ddr2 800
h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227270

and this 9800GTX+ Overclocked
h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130420

for around $420 shipped...good or no good?

another thing

should I drop the mobo/cpu combo, pick up the mobo and pick up this cpu h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272
instead...as I hear the 6000 x2 produces way too much heat at 128w or w/e

or maybe this cpu/mobo combo?
h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.147963
although I've read about bottlenecking with a cpu lower than 3.0ghz with the 9800GTX+ should I be concerned?

new ram gskill ddr2 800 4gb
h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231207




here's another setup to think about?

mobo/cpu combo
h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.147963

gskill 4gb ram ddr2 800
h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231207

evga 9800 gt oc ed.
h**p://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130397

 

[DSF]

Forget the OCZ and go with 1.8V RAM.

 

[4thSurvivor]

bumpety uppety

anyone else have the advice?

 

[heyheybooboo]

Combo Deal: $109 ($79 AR) X2 5600+ & Corsair 2 x 2Gb DDR2 800, paired with an $80 Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770

MSI R4870-T2D512 OC Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5$210 ($180AR)

$399 ($339 AR)

Won't hang with the e8500 but should be quite 'snappy' (and the Gigabyte 770 is Deneb qualified)