ct1615 :
i personally would go with an AMD athlon II x3
as far as serious gamers goes, you may be a serious gamer but your budget is not so you go with the best value you can get
the bit-tech article is more of a guide, you don't need to get the exact same product listed
any GTX 460 will work, get the best priced one
you can use the cooler that comes with the CPU so you don't need the Akasa
i'm assuming you have DDR2 RAM currently, you can re-use it if you get an older AM2+ mobo but any AM3 mobo needs DDR3 RAM
you will also need a new copy of Win 7
W T F?! A new copy of win7?! Why? :S
I currently use a not genuine copy of it, cant i just install it like i did on this computer? lol. How do I check which type of RAM i have, so i can figure out if its DDR2 or DDR3?
Which AMD x3 did you mean? The AMD x3 445 or the AMD x3 450?
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I've decided i will build a whole new computer. So what i think is best to upgrade with the money i have in hand right now is;
New Cassi:
Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus
New Motherboard:
I dont know anything about motherboards so tips will be much appreciated!
New PSU:
Corsair VX 550W 80+, is this a good PSU to support my new GPU?
New GPU:
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 768MB GDDR5 / PCI-E 2.0 / SLI / 2xDVI, definatly !!
Do i need a new processor for this kind of setup, or is it manageable with my Phenom(tm) 9500 Quad-Core 2.20GHz? Please God, tell me no!!
I have now done a price runner check through following components: Chassi, PSU, GPU, CPU (which motherboard to use is yet no decided, but it will be be under 150$) All together it sums up to about ~670$, probably too much then everything actually costs, but i chose to over price it just to be on the sure side, so prices are not exact).
*please take note that this is not going to be a complete build, I will still upgrade...*