My current system has been essentially "as-is" since September of 2003! I've been running an Abit NF7-S board with an AMD Barton 2500+ since then in an Antec 1040 case. Obviously I haven't had any issues. Earlier this year (February) I did drop $200 to add more memory and a newer video card in order to play Caesar 4. The upgrades helped tremendously to go from unplayable to very playable. However, now I have the bug to build a new system.

The dilemma is this: What to do with the old system which is still completely useable? What do you do with an older system? I'm thinking:

Option 1: Keep the system as is and have it around as a backup.
Option 2: Donate system to charity of some kind.
Option 3: Do either of the above but put it into a smaller case and use the Antec 1040 for the new build.

On to the new proposed build. The following are the components I'm considering. If more than one is listed in a category, the leading contender is bolded. For what it is worth, I am probably NOT going to order and build until October, so some selections may depend on what prices do between now and then.


Case: I'm looking at the following but also considering re-using my existing case. Completely undecided here. May buy a "cheap case" for my old hardware and re-use the 1040 for the new build.
Cooler Master Stacker 810
Cooler Master Centurion 534
Antec P180B
Antec Nine Hundred
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS


Board:
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R
***Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
MSI P35D3 Platinum

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750

PSU: Corsair is the leading contender based on reviews and such but the cheaper FSP FX700-GLN is a strong second.
FSP FX700-GLN 700W
Corsair 620HX 620W
Antec NeoPower 650 Blue 650W
PC Power&Cooling Silencer 750 750W
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W
Thermaltake W0106RU 700W
Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W


Video: This is the one that really depends on what prices do between now and October. The 1950XT should be fine for games I play like Caesar 4 or CIV 4 but if the 8800GTS drops anymore I may go with it.
evga 8800GTS 320
***ATI x1950xt

Hard drives:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 7200RPM SATA 3.0GB/s in Raid 1 (maybe; may just have a dedicated "backup drive" )
-either 160 or 250gb sizes

Optical:
some brand of DVD burner/CDRW

RAM:
***Mushkin eXtreme Performance 2GB DDR2 1066 (2x1GB) Dual Channel Kit
Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB DDR2 1066 (2x1GB) Dual Channel Kit
Corsair XMS 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 1066 Dual Channel Kit

CPU HS/F:
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

Budget:
Forgot to say that I'd like to stay in the $1000 to $1200 range which excludes OS and LCD display.

My advice will be to basically redo an entire new build. New case new everything. Let the old PC be your basic work PC and let this new rig be your fast gaming rig. Any kind of work stuff you do, do it on the old PC (unless it's something that involves faster processing then do that on the gamer). As for the new build, build it fast and build it better.

Go with the Armor case on this new build and go with the 320mb 8800GTS (or even the 640). Hands down Nvidia is kicking ATI's butt and it'll be in your best interest to jump on board. That ATI x1950xt is a DX9 card. The 8800 series are DX10 so go with that (your building a new machine so don't take any steps backwards).

The MSI P35D3 board you chose is a DDR3 ONLY board, meaning you HAVE to put DDR3 modules in it. A DDR2 module physically cannot go into a DDR3 slot because of the notch position changes. Unless you have $350 to $400 bucks to drop on a 2GB DDR3 kit go right ahead but i'd stick with the DDR2 boards for now. You may want to switch your selection to the GA-P35C-DS3R. It can take both DDR2 and DDR3 memory sticks. You cannot run both at the same time but must choose one or the other but at least you have the DDR3 option without having to buy a brand new mobo.

Go with Corsair instead of Mushkin (corsair does memory better) for the memory and go with Thermaltake instead of Corsair for the PSU (thermaltake does PSU's better). HDD wise go with like a pure back up drive like 320GB big and maybe your main OS/Programs drive on either a 150GB Raptor drive or a big 500GB drive.

Look into the Zalman 9700NT for cpu cooling.

you should sell your system on ebay or something like that prob get a couple of bucks for it, and then you can use the extra money to build a better pc.

I tend to use old PCs as either a backup (could run Teamspeak or fold or do other stuff on it), or give it away to a family member or friend.

The Corsair PSU is modular. Both it and the Thermaltake are on Tier-2 of the PSU list, so neither one is a bad choice.

Somehow, I don't think the dominator is worth it....(corsair)...just go with XMS2 for 30-40$ less

OK, the MSI is coming off the list because I'm not going to spring for DDR3 memory right now. So here is what I am looking at:

Intel C2D E6750 $204.99
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6819115029

Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6813128048

evga 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB $289.99
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6814130082

Case $129.99 (Price is for Antec p180b but still considering others)

FSP 700-GLN $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6817104015

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6820146565

hdd (seagate * 2) $139.98
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6822148262

cpu hsf $34.99 (Price is for Arctic but considering Zalman and Thermalright)

Lite On optical $34.99
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6827106073

Windows XP -
LCD Display -