New MB and CPU help, please

[Guest]

430w power supply
Radeon 9250

I would like to upgrade my motherboard and cpu, along with ram to build a stable system that could run Vista. Don't play many games, except for WoW.
Do not need to SLI or Raid, wont be doing any overclocking.

I was looking at the E8400 and would like some suggestions on ram and motherboard.

 

[Shadow703793]

Budget?

My recommendations:

P35-DS3L ($83)

E7200($120)/E8400 ($170)

ATI 3850 ($90) or 8800GS($90)

4GB (2*2GB) DDR2 800 RAM ($75-$85) [With out Rebates, with Rebates $40-$60] from Corsair, G.Skill, Patriot,OCZ.

Vista x64 Home Premium w/ SP1 OEM ($110) IF getting 64bit Vista make sure you have Vista x64 drivers for printers, WiFi,etc

Corsair 450VX ($50 after Rebates)

Any ATX compatible case you want/like ($50-100)

##Prices based on Newegg##

 

[Guest]

thanks for the options, at this time im not looking to upgrade my video card, just mb, cpu and ram.

is there any benefit of getting a p45 based board for future upgrades? if i keep my current video card do i need to upgrade from my 430w thermaltake?

i already have a case, which i am hoping to use for this upgrade! thanks again!

 

[ZOldDude]

Why would you want to "upgrade" to Vista if all your going to do is play WoW?

 

[byronic]

Probably upgrading to Vista for other reasons, as the original post says "Don't play many games, except for WoW." I would assume this isn't going to be a gaming system.

 

[Shadow703793]

thanks for the options, at this time im not looking to upgrade my video card, just mb, cpu and ram.

is there any benefit of getting a p45 based board for future upgrades? if i keep my current video card do i need to upgrade from my 430w thermaltake?

i already have a case, which i am hoping to use for this upgrade! thanks again!

You won't have a fun time running Vista (Aero) on your ancient 9250. Mind you they don't even have Vista drivers for that card. See: http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html

Don't even mention gaming on Vista. For just playing WoW there is no point going P45. Go to P45 if doing some serious OCing (400FSB+ aka FSB1600 ).

As far as PSUs go your PSU is probably 2-3 years old. The caps in that PSU are probably degraded. And it isn't the top of the line PSU either. The Corsair PSU is a very good PSU heck you could run a 8800GTS on it.

You could save some money by dropping in a cheap E2180($65-$70) and OCing it to 2.5- 3Ghz+. [Hint: If planing to get the P35-DS3L, check out the P35-DS3L OCing guide found in this Forum]

As the ZOldDude mentioned unless you absolutely need to have Vista don't bother getting it. Vista NEEDS at least 3-4GB to run well imo along with a preyyt good GPU to game even on many non demanding games (ie WoW).