[Solved] WoW @ High Specs, New Sys or Upgrade?

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Next Week

BUDGET RANGE: $300-600

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Watching Movies, Surfing Internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg

PARTS PREFERENCES: I tend to lean towards AMD and Radeon, but am up to suggestions

OVERCLOCKING: Yes if it's a good bang-for-buck. She doesn't like heat/noise, though.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900 I'm pretty sure.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: My GF is looking to renew her WoW addiction with prospects of the new expansion, and as a part of that upgrade her system to handle it better while streaming music in the background, being able to alt+tab easily without long delays. Her current system is a Core 2 Duo E6300 at 1.86Ghz, 1GB Ram, Radeon x1050, No-name MB, 300watt PS. (It's a Gateway GT5238E Media center with a video card slapped in).

On the very cheap route we can slap in another 1-2GB of ram for 15-30 bucks. That doesn't do much for the video card or processor. We can swap out the x1050 for something better, get a bigger PS, upgrade the CPU, etc., but at this point it seems like it might be better/less aggravating to upgrade the whole system vs. running into bottlenecks.

I'd love to find a way to creatively upgrade her current system to save money, but yeah, it has some limitations.

Something I threw together based on some other threads is

AMD Phenom II X2 545 Callisto 3.0GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDX545WFGIBOX - Retail
and
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Combo for $139.98

OCZ NVIDIA SLI-Ready Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2N800SRC44GK - Retail for 46.99

Antec earthwatts EA430 430W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail for 49.99

SAPPHIRE 100277L Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail 109.99

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM 69.99

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail 49.99

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model GH22LS30 LightScribe Support - OEM 29.99

Totals 496.92 before tax and shipping which raise it to 557.92

I don't think I missed anything critical in the build. Any ideas and feedback on it? I'd love to chop it down to the $300 range. I'm just not sure on how much processor and video card she'll really need for what she wants to do.

Thanks

if you're going to build the new system, don't forget to factor in OS costs.

Dirtmoutain... I stand corrected on the OP needing a AGP card.

I reviewed the listed graphics card by the OP and it came up as an AGP, so I thought the board required a AGP. I reviewed the motherboard listed for the Gateway 5283E (G965 Intel motherboard) and it does support a PCIe-16.

Wow! Thanks for all the responses folks.

It looks like we're leaning towards putting in 2x1 GB of Ram to help things along. In addition, getting a new PS and Video card that can later be transplanted into a new system. Would a Radeon 4770 with a PS that can later crossfire it be a good idea? Or would that video card have some trouble on this motherboard with such a slow processor? I'm not too sure on these sort of things, beyond "it fits the slot." Also was wondering if it would be possible to crossfire the 4670 later on, and maybe get that for the "low noise" factor. I'm not sure.

I think that getting the RAM (the G965 chipset can take DDR2 800 1.8v RAM with 5-5-5 timings or 6-6-6 timings) the one i listed earlier is fine along with the Antec 430w Earthwatts or the OCZ 500w listed by Batchuka and either the HD4770 or a GTS250 1GB would be a great upgrade and could be moved into another build at a later date. Check out the benchmarks for WoW i posted earlier, the GTS250 1GB performs very well in WoW.

*edit for clarification* The G965 chipset can only handle FSB 1066 or FSB 800, none of the E series wolfdales are compatible.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] _13_0.html

dirtmountain - it all comes down to bios support, pin out, chipset AND vrm design - OEM's and system manafacturers like dell etc like to cut corners and not make things future proof etc (eg using cheaper regulation/vrm designs that cant haldle higher end or future processors etc) - i doubt it would work.

I know it gets pretty confusing with so many options available, it's like the old days with homework/homework/homework. Good luck in your research and always post again when you decide on a build.