Build advice

This is a copy/paste from another forum, but I'd like feedback from the CoH crowd since this is my primary game. What do you guys think?


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming (currently mostly City of Heroes, but will probably play some other newer games soon), browsing, watching videos
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Would like to stay around $400 not including the OS, but can throw in another $100 if it will make a big difference
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, Lancaster, PA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, motherboard, video card, hard drive
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Case, old Antec Super LANboy, meh it works
Corsair HX520 PSU
Mouse, KB, speakers
Monitors
1 TB drive for storage
6) Will you be overclocking?
Not initially, possibly in the future
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
primary is 20", 1680 x 1050
secondary is 18", 1366 x 768
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
in the next month or so
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
None of these are very important to me
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No, but I may be able to get my hands on windows 7 through a student deal. If not, I can add $100 to the budget for a copy


Here's my current system:
Athlon X2 5000+ BE
4 gigs DDR2
Biostar motherboard (I don't remember the model but i believe it's a 770 chipset)
8800GT
Audigy 2ZS
1 TB drive
DVD-R of some sort
Case and PSU mentioned above

Obviously I'm not looking for top of the line with my budget, but my system is getting a little long in the tooth. I haven't done much PC gaming in the last couple years(been playing on my 360), but I recently got back into City of Heroes and I'd like to be able to turn the eye candy up a bit more than I can currently. I'm also game for reusing more of my current parts if there's a good upgrade path, but I believe my stuff is old enough not to warrant that.

If need be, I can skip the video card for the moment and use my 8800 for a few weeks until I have more funds for a new card, but I'd rather do it all now if feasible with the cash at hand.

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Take a look at my $725 link (currently $675 and change due to "instant savings") and lose the parts you already have. Case and PSU is $130, Win 7 OEM disk is $100. That gets you pretty close to $400.

AnandTech's benchmark database can give you a reasonable idea about CPU performance compared to your current system (they are using a GTX 280 in their gaming tests, which is slower than a 1GB GTX 460).

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Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components

Tempus unum hominem manet

I second Father's advice.

If you're reusing your PSU and case, that's probably your best bet right there.

All the items are currently available but the memory. ~$50 will get you 8GB.
So for about $575 shipped you'll get everything you need, including the OS.


And kudos for giving us all the information up front!

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