Alright, I assembled the computer I'm currently using from components that I bought approximately 5 years ago, and I'm now looking to upgrade it.

Current specs:
Motherboard: Asus A8V E-Deluxe
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Hard Drives: 120GB IDE 7200RPM and 36GB WD Raptor 10kRPM
RAM: 1 GB (from 2x 512's), not even sure whether it's DDR1 or 2. I should check.
Graphics Card: Geforce FX 5200
Sound card is built into the Motherboard
Optical Drive: DVD +/- RW/ROM + CD +/- RW/ROM whatever, does everything

Also I currently use Ubuntu 8.04, and don't currently plan to use Windows at all in the near future (at least not on this computer).

So after a couple hours on Newegg I came up with a basic list of things I wanted to replace.

Proposed New Setup:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3.0GHz, dual-core)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819103773
Motherboard: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131013
Graphics Card: EVGA 512-P2-N757-TR GeForce 8600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130290
Memory: G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRam DDR2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231111
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB 3.5"
http://www.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingIte...N82E16822136098
Plus the hard drives I already have?
Sound Card is still built in

I was also thinking about this case:
RAIDMAX Ares ATX-801WB Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower

So basically what I'm wondering is (a) whether all these components are compatible with each other, and that the processor, video card, and RAM will fit in the case and motherboard, etc.

and B.) does anyone have any suggestions of components that would be better choices than the ones above? Price is definitely a concern, but I don't want to buy low-quality components because of this.

Thanks!

That motherboard only has one IDE connection. If your old hdds are IDE you will use that one connection, and if you have a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM you will need a PCI to IDE controller card like this one.

What kind of PSU are you going to use?

Interesting, so is there a different motherboard I could use with more IDE connections, or is the PCI to IDE controller card necessary?

And right now I have an NSpire 350Watt PSU (NSP-350P4DL). Not the highest-quality power supply on the market I don't think. Would the system I'm proposing necessitate a new one? There are often Case/PSU deals on newegg, etc. so that might work out.

Thanks for helping dc3

The problem is that you run into trade offs when you go for a board that will provide you with a second IDE connector. That trade off is the loss of one PCI-E X16 slot. This means that you wouldn't be able to use if for SLI. The best that I could find in a Asus board is [utl=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131172R]this[/url].

Are you going to be going SLI eventually?

Are you locked in on a Asus motherboard?

That graphics card requires a minimum 350W @ 22A PSU requirement for a single card, 400W if you go SLI.

If your PSU is five years old then you may not be able to use is as there are new connections on the motherboards that are different from the old ones. The motherboards now require at 24 pin main connector, and there is a square four pin CPU connector as well.

The PSU is the heart of system, I wouldn't skimp on this item. The PSUs that are included in a case generally are of a lessor quality.

I'm definitely not opposed to buying a motherboard from a different manufacturer, though I doubt I'll want to use SLI at any point in the near future. I just don't want to use intel.

In terms of games I might play Starcraft 2, Half-Life 2, and/or possibly World of Warcraft, so I'm fine with anything that can run these and show fairly high quality videos. Anything will seem awesome compared to the Geforce FX 5200 I'm currently using.

And I agree that a good power supply is important, and that I should upgrade mine.

Here's essentially what I want:

An alright graphics card (perhaps an nVidia Geforce 8600 GT), that lets me play at the most SC2. I don't have my heart set on an nvidia card though either.

An AMD Athlon X2 processor, probably 6000+, unless anyone has other strong recommendations (I don't want intel though). I'm also starting to wonder if an AMD Phenom 9850 might be better?

4 GB of DDR2 Memory

A new hard drive that's 7200RPM and has pretty good storage (320 gigs+).

A motherboard that can fit all this stuff in it, and is fairly nice. I don't particularly care whether it's ASUS or Gigabyte or whatever, as long as I can connect all this stuff to it and have it work. If I need a PCI to IDE connector card thing because there are no motherboards like this, that's fine.

And a new power supply that will allow all of this stuff to run, and won't give me problems.

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I also have a SATA hard drive and an IDE hard drive I'd ideally like to still use.

EDIT: Sorry this post is so long, I really appreciate your help dc3. How about these components: are they all compatible, do you think these are good choices?


EDIT Again: Alright I'm replacing the Geforce 8600GT with this Geforce 8800GT, because it's apparently WAY better and at an extremely good price:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...p;sku=P450-8836