Progressive upgrade of pc

[Banzai_Joe]

Hi all, been searching around and can't really find a thread that answers my questions, so here it is.

I wanna upgrade my existing pc (over 2 years ago this was the dogs wotsits):
Levicom 430w psu (heavy as f00k)
Asus A7N8 Deluxe
XP 2500 (barton) @ 3.2GHz
1Gb Corsair PC3200 gaming ram (dual channeled for my pleasure)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
120Gb SATA drive
DVDRW (dual layer)
DVDROM
Lian Li PC70 case

Now, i'm all excited about having just ordered Splinter Cell: Double Agent, but know that my system may be a little sluggish with the game.

I would ideally like to upgrade in stages, but my main sticking point is my gfx card, its still AGP. And there's not really any AGP card available that's 'significantly' better than the 9800 pro that could justify the spend (which would then be obsolete when i upgrade the mobo)

Ideally my new rig will be E6300 (clocked to over 3.4GHz?) Not sure its worth going for E6400 or 6600 as they all clock to similar speeds don't they?
Now, motherboards. I've always built rigs with Asus boards... oh and Gigabyte, and like them both.
Questions: Is the i975 chipset much better for o'cing than 965? Is that why they're so much more expensive?
Thoughts: I'm not interested in SLi'ing my rig, so i don't need a mobo that has that capability. But i do wanna clock it up.
The new conroe boards are DDR2 aren't they? So that means i'd have to upgrade ram straight away as well. ****! Quagmire!
I can live with my existing hdd for the timebeing (saving £55 on a 250Gb sata2 Samsung one)
The other thought is......balls to it, keep the existing rig and build brand new (but i can't really afford to). Lol, i sound like a child arguing with himself.

If anyone has any ideas, i'd sure appreciate the input.

Cheers

 

[Lanz]

And there's not really any AGP card available that's 'significantly' better than the 9800 pro

The X1950Pro is... it would be a massive improvement, add 2gb of ram and you'd be sorted.

But yeah, you really need to get rid of the barton.

 

[Defcon5]

The 965 is the better ocing mobo, and i assume you mean your 2500 is at 3200 speeds

 

[Banzai_Joe]

The 965 is the better ocing mobo

Oh! i thought the 975 was the better. Well that should make for a cheaper option for me then.

I originally was gonna plumb for the dual core 805D and megaclock it, still might...as a tester, if i can wangle the parts somehow.

and i assume you mean your 2500 is at 3200 speeds

yup, since day one, with no probs.

As regards the X1950 (agp?). Hmm.....thinking about it, its just gonna be dead money within a few months though i suppose.

 

[V|per]

i have an 805 at 4ghz, it is nice to see the superclocked air cooled chip, but for another £50 an e6300 would perform HUGELY better...

 

[Banzai_Joe]

i have an 805 at 4ghz, it is nice to see the superclocked air cooled chip, but for another £50 an e6300 would perform HUGELY better...

Really? an E6300 would hugely outperform the 805d when clocked to the max?
Is that at stock, or if the E6300 was clocked to its best too?

 

[mikeymike]

i read an article, i think on tomshardware, and it was directly comparing OC'd chips vs new core duo's, i think an 805d @ 4ghz would match a 6300 @ stock but once they started cranking up the mhz on the 6300 it simply left everything else in the dust, and although an 805d is really cheap, for the extra 50 i'd def go for a 6300