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Hey,

I just got a bit of extra cash and I'm looking to upgrade my gaming rig. I was wondering what would be the best way to go. I normally play Everquest 2 and similar MMOs with a some UT3 on the side.

Current Spec:

AMD 64 X2 3800+ 2.01GHz
2GB Corsair Ram
Nvidia Geforce 7600GT
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard

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I haven't had any performance issues with anything in particular, but a little more speed never killed anybody.

My thoughts were maybe a Geforce 9600GT or a AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Those upgrades would be a step in the right direction. Go for it, it'd give you a massive performance boost IMO.

Of those two, which do you think I should get first then?

Probably get the VGA card first. It will be CPU limited in lower resolutions but if you go higher or add effects such as AA (anti-aliasing) & AF (Anisotropic Filtering), it should be less of a factor (at least it'll help you wait for the CPU upgrade).

Cool, thanks for chiming in, I appreciate it.

Also if you have the extra cash to spend i'd recommend the 8800 GT instead as the price difference isn't all that big and you do get a noticable amount of extra performance with it.

I was about to recommend Intel if you overclock but seeing as you've been using an X2 previously it'd be a waste to change out an entire board :P

Noted and looking into it, thanks