Computer Upgrade Suggestions

[trust]

Alright, I built my computer either the summer before 9th grade...so it's pretty outdated. Even then I didn't use top of the line parts and it totaled somewhere in the $800's. (That's with a $100 case, so...$700 in hardware)

Anyway, I think I've decided to fully upgrade my desktop. It won't be all at once since I'm unemployed and have just under $1000 left. Originally I had planned on giving my desktop to my sister when I left for school, which would free up the other computer for my parents and my little sister wouldn't be playing all her dumb games all the time. I am getting a new laptop before I go though, either a Mac or a tablet...and I figure there's no use in having two laptops. So I'm going to give my parents my laptop which is probably better for them too for when they go on vacation or something, and I'll take my desktop for games and stuff and my laptop for classwork/sitting in bed/etc. and whatever else. That's the plan now anyway. Really all I need to upgrade is motherboard/processor/video card/monitor.

I'll have my 360 though so I'll probably play games more on that since it'll be more social (play with roomate and such), but still...just in case I'm still playing WoW or something.

My current specs include:

Biostar M7NCD Pro Motherboard
AMD Athlon 2800+
512 MB PC2700 DDR RAM (Buffalo I think, but I don't feel like looking)
Gigabyte Radeon 9200SE
And some cheap case that cost like $10, I had the Lanboy but for some reason I wanted a new case when Newegg had one for sale at one time. I think my mom threw the lanboy away some time ago. Bleh. I actually don't even have one case fan in there I don't believe, which is why I bought a new case yesterday - ventilation concerns. I have the side panel off (don't even know where it is) and it's so dusty, and whenever I clean it out it just gets dusty again...I fear there will be a fire or something.

Anyway, so yesterday I bought:

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA21357&RSKU=BA21357
and a gig stick of Samsung 3200. Obviously it'll be underclocked to 2700 but I figure I should get the 3200 so I can upgrade.  I bought the Samsung because I had heard good things about it's performance and it outperforming Corsair. Also it was $10 cheaper and I had limited funds because I was paying with Paypal. Hopefully it doesn't suck.

so back to what I was asking, I kind of rambled:

I have no idea what the good mid-level stuff is now, so what are some recommendations for a motherboard, processor, and video card. I'll probably upgrade the video card first and then the motherboard and processor later. Since between school/social activities/ and my laptop the desktop probably won't get too much use outside of some gaming price is an issue, so keep that in mind. I don't know a certain price, I just know it's a factor.

[Ergot]

7800GTX runs well. 8800GTS runs very well.

[trust]

I didn't realize my motherboard doesn't have a pci-e slot, so it looks like I'll have to upgrade that before the video card.

[trust]

The memory/case/cooling upgrade is complete. As far as the additional memory goes I don't really notice a significant speed increase. I wonder if I'd be better off with 1 gig of 3200 than 1.5 of 2700 (since the 3200 is nerfed)

[Skywing]

BTW, keep in mind that you generally need to match DIMMs to gain the benefit of dual channel.

Anyways, I'd definitely be wary of having less than 1.5GB of RAM; I'd go for 2GB as a good minimum, but I tend to run a lot of things simultaneously, much more than your average person I suppose.

[Joe]

On the other side of Skywing's point, I'm often running iTunes, IDA, C#'s IDE, Gaim, and Firefox (anywhere from one to ten tabs) simultaneously on 1GB of RAM and don't notice slowdown. I'm not sure what the nature of Skywing's programs are, but I personally have no problem with this.

However, if you're building a new computer, 2GB is the way to go so you don't have to upgrade a year down the road.

[trust]

I've noticed  a huge improvement in WoW. I'd usually lag walking around SW and have lag spikes just questing or grinding, not to mention load time would take forever. I'd be unable to tab out of WoW because it would be a 5 or so minute process to tab out and tab back in and such. The tab out/in time is instant now, which is great. I usually only have Firefox, iTunes, and Pidgin running. When I'm playing WoW I open those on my laptop instead so I can look up quests and stuff on thottbot.

So far I'm happy though.

[Furious]

My 1gig of RAM does me fine, I generally have - AVG 7.5 Prof. ; Trillian 3.1 ; ProcessGuard ; Spyware Doctor - all running while I play WoW and what not, the only time I *really* get any lag is when I run into Shattrath City.