System upgrade. Could there be better values/parts/combos?

[mathiasschnell]

What I have...

Case - Antec 900 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=Antec%20900
CPU - Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Windsor)
Mobo - Gigabyte M61P-S3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128034&cm_re=M61P-S3-_-13-128-034-_-Product
RAM - A-Data DDR2-800 (2 x 1GB)
GPU - NVIDIA GeForce 6800
PSU - Corsair 650TX - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&cm_re=corsair_650-_-17-139-005-_-Product
HDD - 250GB, might be WD
OS - Windows XP Home

What I'm going for...
Case - Same
CPU - Athlon X3 450 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103886&cm_re=Athlon_X3-_-19-103-886-_-Product
Mobo - MSI 870-G45 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130290&Tpk=MSI%20870-g45
RAM - G.SKILL DDR3-1333 (2 x 2GB) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180
GPU - EVGA GeForce GTS 450 1GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130572&cm_re=GTS_450-_-14-130-572-_-Product
or
- Gigabyte Radeon HD 5670 1GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125339&cm_re=5670-_-14-125-339-_-Product
PSU - Same
HDD - Samsung Spinpoint F4 320GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152244&cm_re=samsung_spinpoint-_-22-152-244-_-Product
or
- Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=Samsung_spinpoint_F3-_-22-152-185-_-Product
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754&cm_re=Windows_7_premium-_-32-116-754-_-Product

Approx total - $460 (GTS 450 + Spinpoint F4 320GB) or $470 (Radeon 5670 + Spinpoint F3 1TB)

Budget - $500. Less is better.
Purpose - Gaming at 1680 x 1050 or better (max resolution is 1920 x 1200).
Preferences - Everything runs at stock, no overclocking (unless it comes that way). Quieter, cooler & smaller is better. I somewhat favor Nvidia due to more robust drivers (on XP at least) and also because very many games still seem to favor them as well (The Way It's Meant To Be Played). I'll give ATI/AMD a try if it's a good deal though.

 

[mdd1963]

I'd try to up the cpu to an X4 quad core, and the video card to a GTX460 (1 GB), even if you must reuse an old hard drive, or sell a pint or two of blood to fund it...

 

[rolli59]

Don't get anything less than the GTS450 for your resolution.