Upgrade CPU/MB/Ram/maybe video card $300- $400 budget

Purchase Date: 2 Weeks
Budget $300 +/- $50 Best Buy gift card would throw another $50 in towards the gift card.

System usage: A little of everything but does not need to excel at one thing.

Parts not needed: Antec True power 550 PS, Case, HD.

Websites: Newegg, Bestbuy(only with gift card)
Origin: USA
Overclocking: Maybe

Comments: I'm wondering what people think would be a good upgrade path and give me the most bang/buck while keeping future upgrade options open to me.

Right now I have a old 939 AMD 64 3700+ with a misc PCIe Video card.
I've been looking at the following as a good choice for just the CPU/MB/Ram

# AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor Model HDZ720WFGIBOX - Retail
# 259850GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.259850

As for ram: OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product


That puts me at $278.54

After that I have a $50 for Best buy gift card and maybe another $50 as well for a video card?

What do you guys thing?

I think it looks pretty good there. I would suggest finding an AMD dual core, but it looks like that's a pretty good package there. As for the video card, if you're not looking to be doing any very intense gaming the nVidia 9800GT could work well for you ($129.99 while on sale for $30 off).

^Agreed.

With the parts you've chosen, $100 for a video card at Best Buy probably won't be enough even for a 4650. Considering what you have now, the following would offer much better performance, and offer an obvious upgrade path:

Dual core CPU, overclocks well. There's a chance to unlock additional cores, but consider that icing on the cake, not a reason to buy it:
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor - $102
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103680

Crossfire-capable mobo. Has a good IGP on it (HD3300) that may be adequate for general use, and if not will provide a baseline that will help you decide how much of an improvement you need. It is currently the fastest IGP out there, and can actually play some games with settings lowered:
GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - $115
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128398

DDR3-1333 may be enough of an improvement to be worth the additional cost; a jump to 1600 may not be worth any more.
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH - $89
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231276

Total is $306. There's a rebate on the mobo; I never count those.

I'd rather have a 720BE too, but a faster CPU can always be a future upgrade. Compared to what you have, even a Regor would be a big improvement.

what operating system are you using? a 64 bit version of windows? What power supply were you going to use with the build? I'm not really informed enough to help you but I think that info will help others make quality suggestions.

I'm not really worried about the Video card as the games I play now are not that new.

Enemy Territory and a little L4D. Also for the MB is it 790GX better then the 770?