Cue *Legion* in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

EDIT: A-ha! Found the current build for the $750 rig.

Get 4gbs of Ram. No doubt there with prices as low comparatively as they are.(DDR2 800 is probably the best decision here, say goodbye to the DDR).

A good mobo for you would be the gigabyte p35. If you want to step up there, get the Asus p35.

Proc wise, try the E6450 C2D for a cheapo. Other wise try the Qwhatever that's clocked at 2.6. This along with a decent cooler(the stock ain't too shabby) should allow a big ole overclock.

Video card, go either the 9600gt or the 8800gt512. Its a personal choice here because they score very similarly on price to value ratios.

PSU, try for a 550 or 600 watt from a name brand like forton or PC Power and Cooling. Cheap ones are not worth it. I have a whole dead system in my basement as proof.

Do you have a price to shoot for? That would make it way easier to recommend as reasonable can vary from 750-1500 depending on the income bracket of who you talk to.

Glad I could be of service.

Must upgrade.......hardware outdated.....

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Is this gaming worthy memory? I was going to pick up 4gb of it. Any other recommendations for memory?

It doesn't make sense at first glance, however the x600 series of Nvidia cards tend to be a little underwhelming. Coupled with the fact that the newer 512MB 8800GT's are really beasty, awesome cards, the 8800GT come out with better benchmarks and a slightly higher price.

I don't think anyone will give you crap if you pick up a 9600. They're solid cards with good benchmarks and a great pricepoint. They're especially awesome if you're pinching pennies.

I'm not so much pinching pennies as stretching dollars. With me, it's all about bang for the buck so if the 8800 is slightly more money for more than slightly better performance, I've got no problem shelling out the extra ducats.

What I want is an "Upgrading for Dummies" pick list *glances over Legion's way* because even once I decide to get an 8800GT, I still have to pick a manufacturer, right?

Thanks. I used to be in to this... but then I got old... and have more money than time... which is mostly a reflection of my time.

I said that. But in layman talk. I swear its not because I refuse to remember statistics.

The GPU is going to be the same no matter who makes your card.

The reason one would buy from somewhere like EVGA or XFX is top-notch service, incredible warranty support (including warranties that don't disappear just because you had the nerve to do a little overclocking), step-up programs, hardware reliability, maybe a bit better stock cooling, and stuff like that.

There are a number of card manufacturers who put out decent vanilla cards that work just fine, but if you're paying the same amount either way, you want the one with the rest of the package.

MSI's kind of a second tier hardware company. Their cards are decent, their motherboards are decent. I've used both, and still have an MSI motherboard in my wife's overclocked PC. Their gear works well enough, their mobo BIOS was reasonably good for overclocking... their stuff just falls into that "nothing special" category that a number of others do. Adequate, solid enough, I have no complaints with my experiences with them... they just don't really specialize in anything to where they'd be an industry leader.

EVGA and XFX specialize in gaming and serving the enthusiast, and though you might never need the extra level of service, it's awesome that it's there if you ever do. They're also usually the most aggressively priced, or at least among the lowest priced, so you rarely have to pay any sort of premium for it. Me telling someone that they should really only consider companies like EVGA and XFX is less of an indictment against the other guys, and more of a statement on how well those companies do with their service & support.

Good deal. I wouldn't have turned it down either.