Hi, first time poster here

I've got a pretty outdated system. The components that I will be keeping though include:

500W PSU by EZCool. Considering changing this.
74GB WD Raptor

Items I am considering buying:
Gigabyte P35C DS3R
Intel E2160 --> Plan to overclock this to 3ghz
Antec Solo Case
2x1GB Ram - I've stuck with Corsair so far

I have no idea what graphics card to get for this system.

I don't want to be upgrading this system for another year, but I am happy to be spending a larg-ish sum of money on it. Parts seem so cheap at the moment, I feel it's a good time to build a new system.

Should I be getting a better CPU instead? I've no idea about bottlenecking and graphics cards. I would like a good card. Sadly, my current one is an AGP slot Radeon X850PRO, which was incredibly expensive and a waste of money! PCI-e doesn't seem to be going out of date any time soon, and we've only just hit DX10 - so, might be about time to make the jump.

I'll be grateful for any thoughts/help/advice you can provide


EDIT:

I need a sound card. I like listening to music. I have average speakers - Logitech Z230, 2.1 speakers.

What's your budget? What games do you play? What is the monitor resolution?

The most intensive game I'll be playing is Oblivion. Don't know about future games though!

Monitor is 17", a leftover from an old Dell computer.

Budget is around $1000AUD. So maybe around 800 american

Check this list for a PSU :
http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiere [...] ngs?t=anon

And find something in your price range. I would suggest a Corsair 470W for a nice 8800 GTS 320MB Graphics card. If you are keeping that monitor, get the 320MB graphics card, if you are going around 16XX x12xx Then shoot for a 8800 640MB card.

I would get rid of the raptor to save some money and put that into the graphics card. I suggest a nice Seagate 250GB or 320GB drive for a lot less. I game and I have a raptor, and don't really see any gains for the money.

Also, if you aren't going to upgrade to DDR3 RAM anytime soon, I would suggest getting a cheaper P35-DS3R motherboard instead of the C. If are thinking about upgrading the motherboard in a year or so, however, get the P35-DS3L, its much cheaper and also a great Overclocker.

If you just do games, that CPU should be just fine at around 3Ghz. Test have show that it comes close to some of the top of the line CPUs in games. However, when games start using 2-4 Cores, you might be lagging behind.

About the sound card, I suggest you build your system and see if you like the sound or not. If you can't, its pretty easy to add a sound card later. The new Onboard audio is actually pretty good.

If you have any questions, let me know. I'll be glad to help

Thanks for your tips. What do you mean by 16XX x12xx?

I've already got the raptor - realised the same as you, not worth it for the amount spent! Glad it is still fairly high-end though.

I meant the resolution of the monitor. Some monitors are 1600 x 1200 and some are 1680 x 1050.