Hey All,

Well after 5+ years of serving me well, I think it is time I started thinking about a system upgrade. Age of Conan was the key factor, my current rig simply can not handle that game.

Unfortunately, I don't have thousands of dollars to throw around. But on the plus side, I intend to cannibalize what I can from my current rig to make my new box. Which basically means hard drive, monitor, and peripherals.

Basically what I want, is a motherboard, processor, Ram, and graphics card.... for under $500 total.

This is something that is very difficult for me to figure out, since the last time I really looked into hardware on the market, was 5+ years ago, lol. I honestly know nothing about what is out there today.

What I want out of this computer is to play games like Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, and other upcoming games, be able to set their graphics at the very least to medium, if not higher, and have smooth as silk fps wherever I go. This is a gamer PC in every sense of the word. No video capture, no video editing, or anything of that sort. Just gaming.

So there is the task... mobo + proccesor + ram + graphics card.... for under $500.... built for gaming.

If you folks could give me some guidance, it would mean a lot to me.

Oh, and please talk to me like an infant with regards to some things. Just as an example, today I learned what SLI stands for

Ok this should be pretty simple since you only need four new parts.

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition Processor - Retail $87 (newegg)
-This is the dual core version of the AMD64 architecture. Black edition means it has unlocked multipliers, so you can overclock without raising the FSB. But it doesn't come with HS/F, so heres one for ya:

HS/F
COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-L9U1-GP 92mm Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler - Retail $30
-THG highly recommends this HS/F, great cooling at a good price

RAM
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $85 (on sale, newegg)
-DDR2 800 is so cheap these days, you can't not afford to buy 4gb, even if your OS can't address all of it! Corsair is good too.

MOBO
ASUS M3A-H/HDMI AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $100
-AM2+ motherboard with the 780G chipset, looks like a fairly high quality board for a good price.

GFX
XFX PVT88PYSF4 GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $170
-The 8800GT provides excellent performance for under $200. If you could find an 8800GTS 512mb for the same price I would recommend that.

Total price: $480 without shipping.

On a side note, you might need a new power supply to power everything, I think you would be fairly safe with anything that has around 450W, but no less. This all should serve you well for playing AoC.

Good luck!

get an msi nvidia 8200 instead

asus cheaped out on the powermanagment for that board.

if you can swing it, get a better graphics cad that is compatible with the 8200s hybid power, but not necisary, just an added feature of the chipset.

I put the Gigabyte MA-78G in my sons computer and it runs Bioshock on High settings with some on Medium and Crysis on Medium with some in Low.
I would put an ATI Graphics Card in instead of a Nvidia as then the Graphics will Crossfire over.

780g hybrid crossfire only works with bottom shelf basic cards. the 3450 or 3470 is the best it can work with.

No point in using two graphics cards if your budget doesn't allow for it. 8800GT is a solid card.

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6813128337
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6819115037
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6820220174
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6814127329
$513.96 before rebates and shipping -$40 in rebates

You could go with the links he put up there but go with a amd system save about $150 on the cpu and mobo combo and put it into some good ram and at least double it. Hell for $160 about you can get up to 8 gigs if your gunna run a 64bit system which i personaly love. the video card is fine otherwise. You can also save a little by going with a 3870 about $20 to $50

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] on+HD+3870

Not sure if that link will work but there you go.

Agree with the above setup, except maybe:

Change the CPU to the Core2 E7200 instead of the 8400 to save a few bucks and increase your RAM to 2 X 2gigs. This system will run AoC on high settings smoothly and give you near high-end stock performance. If you spend 5 minutes overclocking it, truly awesome performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115052
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145184

No AMD system on the market currently can compete with the above. The Intel Core2 chips are just too fast right now.

I've heard great things about the E7200 as well, and is the reason why I'm choosing that over an AMD system. People have overclocked that chip in the 3.5+GHZ on air cooling, 4+GHZ on water, and some even reached 5GHZ. Crazy good.

MSI NX8800GTS 320M OC GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

would this card be a good sub for the 8800 GT?

the 8800 is faster than the 8800 GTS 320mb, but perhaps a tiny bit slower (or at least less overclockable) than the 8800GTS 512MB. impo, the 8800GT 512mb is probably the best value (can be had or 150 or less at newegg).