[Solved] Four year old gaming comp in desperate need of a processor upgrade

Also, almost forgot: Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM SATA x2, running in raid (type 0)

If you want to play modern games, you need more than a processor.
The motherboard is outdated, and dead end. They have not made socket 939 processors in over 3 years, so you must have bought the board right at the end of the socket 939? Don't feel to terrible, I did the same thing. Should have spent a little more back then and went with the new AM2 platform DDR2 memory, but oh well it's water under the bridge now.
Anyhow, yeah you are due for a motherboard, processor and memory. Good news is AMD has very attractive parts right now that are strong on gaming, and easy on the wallet. The old 7600GT is well past it's retirement age in the gaming department as well, it ain't gonna get the job no matter how fast the platform is under it.
However, your drives are fine I think. They are old, but if you been running them in RAID this long, they must be okay.
You would be hard pressed to find anything that will out perform the old Raptors. If they are still working fine, use'em till they die.
A new PSU is a must though. With todays hardware and video cards, you cannot skimp here, this is money very, very well spent to buy quality.

Using Niklas' suggestions, you could round out the computer for $400.

OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341016 ($39.99 w/ $20 MIR + Free Shipping)

SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product ($99.99 + Free Shipping)

Total: $388.96 + Shipping (Including niklas' suggestions)

For this build, a relatively low power one, a 500W PSU is more than enough. OCZ makes solid PSUs, and this one would do you well. Really anything in this ballpark is suitable, look for brands like Antec, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, OCZ, and Seasonic.

Hey all,

Sorry to resurrect this "solved" thread, but browsing Newegg today I saw they put a HUGE deal out on quad core AMD chips. Looking specifically at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 19-103-704

I realize it doesn't have a L3 cache and the X3 I ordered does, but I'd imagine that fourth core is going to make more of a difference than that cache, and the new chip is worth the money.

I had ordered the combo niklas suggested,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.259850, and now obviously would like to RMA the processor (unopened I shouldn't have any trouble). Problem is, the new combo deals are less desirable motherboard wise than the one I ordered;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] =10&page=1

With this one being the closest in terms of motherboard equivalency.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.262201

Between my not wanting to pay for an onboard GPU I don't need (I have a PCI-E graphics card, after all, even though it's old) and some RAM issues I'm reading about in reviews of the ECS board (apparently their default voltage is 1.6, and the GSkill ram I ordered should be running at a standard 1.5), I'm hesitant to just switch out the entire combo. I dunno what Newegg's deal is with returning only PART of a combo... my bet is they're going to slice the $20 they deducted for the combo right out of my rebate. What do you guys think - is this the right plan? Keep the mobo but upgrade the chip? Or is that fourth core worth the time and money? Thanks!

Awesome - just what I wanted to hear. Thanks!