$300~500(600?) cpu/mobo/ram? (Gaming PC)

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 1~3 months. I'm not in too much of a hurry but I would like to pick this up before the money goes elsewhere.

BUDGET RANGE: I have around 300~500(possibly 600) dollars to work with atm.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: It would primarily be used for gaming with some web surfing/school work on the side.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, Monitor, Graphics Card, PSU. I'm really only looking for a CPU/Motherboard/RAM combo atm.
PSU: OCZ GameXStream 700watt
Graphics Card: e-GeForce 8800 GTS (I couldn't find the exact page on Newegg). I plan to pick up another one of these for SLI later on (or would I be better off picking up a new one eventually?)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I would like to stick to Newegg since that's always been a reliable place for me but I'm open to other sources.

PARTS PREFERENCES: No real preferences. Whatever would work best I guess.

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Eventually

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1280x1024 for now but I'll be picking up a bigger monitor in the near future.

So yeah, that's the general info (using the stickied thread layout).
I'm really only looking for a CPU/Motherboard combo that will run with what I already have (my current one is old and falling apart (Gigabyte S-series motherboard and Pentium Dual Core processor)). I'm also looking to picking up some new ram to go along with it. I'll be picking up Windows 7 in the next few months but I'm not factoring that into my current budget. I want those 300~500 to go into the parts I'm looking for. I just want something that will last me a while as cash is a bit limited. A basic gaming rig that would be able to run all the current and upcoming stuff at a moderate speed with potential for future upgrades. I'm planning to pick up another graphics card and running them in SLI but I would like to know if that's wise or if I should just save up for a completely new one. Just tell me if there's any more info I should provide.

Thanks!

you might be just in luck!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.294655 $366.97
throw in this ati5750 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102859 at $144 and you are done

+1
question is, does he needs to upgrade another part (beside the gpu which will bottleneck him) in his current built?

Actually i would prefer an AM3/DDR3 770 chipset with just the single PCIex16 2.0 and marshal my $$ for the juiciest GPU i could afford but i have been told my builds are too practical sometimes

Alright so I guess I'll go ahead and save some cash for a new GPU altogether. But I would like to take care of the CPU/Motherboard/RAM thing before I look into that.

I'm really interested in those 2 combos that were linked though. Mostly because everything comes together and it's just plain easier on a tech newbie like me (I don't know what half the specs even mean yet but I'm learning ).

Which one of these would be more convenient/powerful/efficient/etc? I'm thinking the first link but I've never really delved into AMD products. The Intel one is also pricier but not by too much ($20 difference after the rebates). I looked into the customer reviews for both and they look solid overall. The MSI motherboard from the first link also seemed to have far more positive reviews than the Gigabyte alternative. They both hover around my ideal spending range of 350~400 which is great for me. Keep in mind that I don't have any real plans to overclock though. I just want a solid default setup for now. As for the question about my HDD: It's a Maxtor 6V300F0(I'm pretty sure that's it). It's a bit old but I've never had any real problems with it.

If there are still more alternatives that would be great too.

Thanks again!



Edit: Looks like the offers ended, unfortunately. Back to square one I guess.

I'm not sure if I want to go into the overclocking thing as of right now though.


I decided to pick up an Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz processer. That's around $200 on Newegg so I have around 200~300 to work with for a motherboard and RAM. Anyone have a good recommended combo that would work with what I have?

PSU: OCZ GameXStream 700watt
Graphics Card: e-GeForce 8800 GTS
HDD: Maxtor 6V300F0


I'll replace the HDD and GPU eventually but that will have to make do for now.


Thanks again!

I was planning on just doing a clean install once I had the parts. Stick all the documents I don't want to lose into a flash drive and reformat the HDD.