I need to upgrade: Suggestions?

[Taskeen]

Alright, I figure it's time for an upgrade from what I have in my current gaming rig that I have had since 2005.

Here are the specs:

AMD 3200+ Socket 939
DDR400 RAM ( the cheap budget variety )
eVGA GeForce 7800GT
Gigabyte GA-K8N-SLI
SoundBlaster Audigy 4 (not an issue)


Everything has worked for me so far. Obviously newer games like BF2 or CoH do not run well on high graphics, but I can play them on medium. I realize I am behind on the current tech, with the new dual core processors and new DDR2.

My budget is around 600 dollars for now, but I really can not decide on what I should get. I have researched very little on the latest CPU's, so I have no idea what would be an acceptable upgrade from my current. I do multi-task, so I am leaning towards a decent dual-core that can handle gaming and applications pretty well. Personally I'd like to stick with AMD, but I do understand that Intel's Core 2 Duo's work great too.

I've been planning on upgrading to a new vid card for a while, and am going to do so soon. I am most likely going to purchase a eVGA 7900GTX and sell the other one to a friend who still uses a 6600GT (= return investment). It's either buy that and slowly upgrade everything else, or purchase a new mobo, cpu, and ram first.

Enlighten me, please.

 

[aequalsb]

I'd say get the E6300/6400(right now i swear by it), keep the video card.

How much memory do you have? You could find a mobo that accepts ddr. If your budget is really $600, then ditch the memory too and get a gig of ddr2.

That'll get you playing BF2 on high without waiting like me. AAX8 all settings on high. My specs are below. Even w/ the 7600 i can get an average of 25 FPS in Oblivion. Really solid compared to what i've been trying. I'm even using the 945p chipset from gigabyte and some cheapo value ram.

Good luck!

 

[Taskeen]

I have 1 gig of ram.

Looking at benchmarks, the X2 4800+ is almost the equivalent of an E6400. E6400 is cheaper, and seems to be the better deal (bang for the buck). The X2 would be the cheaper in the long run, since I wouldn't have to buy a new mobo or ram immediately.

The problem is, I'm not sure if I want to make that jump to Intel again. I'm sure it wouldn't be a big deal as I make it out to be.