Time for a winter upgrade

[redzep]

That's right folks feeling the urge to splash the cash with a couple of fingers up to the "credit crunch". With those dark evenings drawing in what better way than to keep SAD away than to get a new rig and a few games?! bla bla ahem... anyway currently my rig is comprised of the following components all purchased early May 2007:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
Asus P5B Deluxe (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
1x Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (WD1500AHFD)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA80A)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer - Fatal1ty Professional Series 7.1 Sound Card
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)
Samsung SH-W183 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Pioneer DVR-112DBK 18x DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Lian-Li PC-7B PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939)

I want to play current and future games such as the following maxed out on a 24" Dell monitor:

Fallout 3
Call of Duty: World At War
Empire: Total War
Grand Theft Auto IV
Project Origin
Alan Wake
etc

I've got a feeling my current rig isn't going to be good enough to max the games out without too big a hit on performance. Any recommendations on component changes ? Obviously new motherboard, cpu, ram (4GB) and graphics card are the primary components needed but can anyone recommend a suitable combination please as I've been out of the loop a while now, any help appreciated Budget £650 +/- a few quid

 

[Locke]

That's a nice setup you have there already, unless you want to spend more for a whole new system, then I'd say it's not worth it at the current time.

Tbh, a 8400 overclocked slightly and the 4870 will let you play those fine

 

[pastymuncher]

If your E6600 is running at stock then overclock it for a "free" upgrade. It should hit at least 3.2Ghz. That will give you a nice boost. Should be easy enough with your mobo and cooler. You could get a ATI 4870 which should see a nice boost on a 24" monitor.

 

[beefybarn]

Get a 4870 and 4 gigs ram and put in a 8400 and overclock it, that should be ample for the next 9 to 12 months.