Hello all, longtime Toms lurker here gettin ready to build a new system or upgrade my old.  I do moderate gaming WoW, Dawn of War, and would like to play Oblivion.  Mainly a RTS/RPG guy, for work I use Acid Pro for sound editing and work in photoshop and vectorworks.
 
Should I put any money into my old Pentium 4 based system, it's served me well for 4 1/2 years.
 
2.4ghz Northwood
1.5gig pc 2700
GeForce 6600
 
or Should I build this
 
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3
2 Gig of GSkill PC2 6400
Intel E4400
GeForce 7950 GT 256mb HDCP
Antech 900 case
Antech NeoPower 650 PSU
 
 
Can get it all for about $730 and it gives lots of room for future upgrades.
 
Thanks for any help
 
-B

Nice build. I would probably (for gaming reasons) drop down on the CPU to a Allendale 2140 and do a slight (but manageable) OC on it. Then I would upgrade the GPU to a 8800gts 320mb for $250 on newegg.com, thus giving you the best bang for the buck!!! I myself would build the system around a differenct case, but I don't have that kind of $ to use, so what you have is fine. Good luck with the build!!

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 (Good, have take a look on gigabytes P35 series?)
 
2 Gig of GSkill PC2 6400 (G.Skill? I have never used 'em . I use only Corsair, Kingston and A-Data)
 
Intel E4400 (If you still can afford this, than don't mind the E2xxx series. You get what you've paid.)
 
GeForce 7950 GT 256mb HDCP (Good choice. But I think 8800gts 320mb is better)
 
Antech 900 case (Nice)
Antech NeoPower 650 PSU

Of coarse the 4400 would be much better, but if he doesn't have the budget for a 4400 AND a 8800gts than a e2xxx and the 8800gts would be better for gaming. The 7950gt is nice, but for about $50 more you can have the 8800gts, which is better than the 7950. Don't get me wrong a 7950gt is nice, but for a total gaming package I think the e2xxx and an 8800gts would be better. Just my opinion though.

Thanks for all the input... gona go look at those components