The final upgrade - am I doing it right

[Eupolemos]

Hi.

So, my rig is old but I'm trying to keep it alive - I need that gaming

I don't know much about 'puters, so I'm hoping some of you will take a look and tell me if I'm about to utterly ruin my computer or perhaps just making some poor choices. Be warned, this is old(school) stuff

The main problem and reason I'm upgrading is the CPU, it is ancient - but I'm also limited to keeping my old mainboard.

This is the mainboard: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_nforce_740a_sli_us.html

So, while I'm at it, I'm getting new RAM and perhaps a new GPU. These are my choices:

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727&Tpk=HDZ965FBGMBOX
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139075

Will that work? What problems am I likely to face?

The GPU is also difficult though. I wanted to go for this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121633&Tpk=ASUS%20HD7750-1GD5-V2

But then I saw that it is PCIe 3.0, while my mainboard only supports 2.0

Then I thought I'd go for this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150576

Following Tom's suggestions in the GPU articles, but that one is PCIe 2.1

I have no idea what the results would be if I put that onto the mainboard. So, I'm hoping to hear some thoughts on how to keep this old friend of mine alive

 

[allanitomwesh]

Get this
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=58645&vpn=HDZ975FBGMBOX&manufacture=AMD
and these are better
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231542
and the 7750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161403
pci e 3.0 is backwards compatible all the way back to 1.1.Also don't forget to update your BIOS to the latest before changing processors.

*edit*fixed link.

 

[Eupolemos]

Hey - thank you for the reply.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to watch your newegg links, for some reason they just take me to the front page

Is the 975 really worth it? It is almost twice as expensive as the 965 in my country, for what looks to me like a very small markup.
- Then again, I don't really know what to look for...

 

[allanitomwesh]

The 975 is the best performing phenom x4,but if the price is too steep, the 965 is very capable. There's only 15% difference in most tests anyway.