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vileguy · Rated PG-13

Well fixing my computer is priority for me, or at least salvaging parts from it. Seeing as I have no 2nd computer in the house I can move parts into and my computers a bit old anyways, buying a new computer sounds like a good plan. My dad doesn't believe in upgrading so he's all for it (though I'm gunna be dishing out the $$) but I know if my computer was working I could use it for another year at least, even with only 80GB HD space.

I figure I can buy a whole new machine, either assembled for me or in parts, sans the sound card, mouse, keyboard, speakers and monitor, and have a good machine. I can then move my old HD into the new case and check it for problems as well as the old video card (don't know if a new mobo will accept an AGP card though) so I can at least know if the old mobo/cpu is trash. Does that sound safe or smart to put old parts from a freezing odiforous machine into a new one?

As for gaming, I'm very serious about it. I don't play EQ2 or DDO and if I did I wouldn't care if I had to lower the settings for performance, but I definitely want at least 1G of fast ram, fast cpu(s) and enough wattage to feed everything. I'm not picky about cases but like I said the Raidmax one looks nice. Read an article here on it too.

I play FFXI, WoW, CS, HL2, WC3...and many other titles. I wouldn't mind having a larger hard drive either though I've gotten used to my tiny 80GB. I don't need multiple VPUs to run 2 outputs or anything and I don't know the pros or cons of hypertreaded this or dual-processed that or whatever. Any personal experiences or preferences from a gamers perspective as to a Intel Core 2 Duo Processor versus an AMD Athlon 63 would be helpful. Thanks for your opinion on a DVDR Drive.

Any personal favorite parts (mobos, power supplies, whatever) would be great. I'm browsing threads and it sounds like Seagate HDs have a good rep for being fast. I'd rather have something I can count on than a no-name 400GB HD that will slow me down. I was eventually going to get a new case, motherboard, and cpu as those were what I thought the weakpoints to my computer, but because of PCI-E I decided to just make a new computer and transfer peripherals.

Motherboard?
Processor?
Power supply?
Video card?
Memory?
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB
Case: Raidmax X-1 ATX Mid-tower

I guess a mobo is a good place to start...I have a slight preference for AMD but without foundation. I also have no idea whatsoever as what to look for in a mobo.
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