Worth upgrading from an opteron 146? Suggest some specs?

[Noopz]

Hi there,

I currently have a opteron 146, DFI SLI Ultra D (I think), 2GB of ram and a x1800XT 512. I upgraded it for two reasons, oblivion and half life 2. Since finishing those games, I seldom use the Pc for much else.

I wouldn't mind playing some games that have come out (Crysis, Bioshock and gears of war namely) and was thinking about buying a 360 but thought the supposedly cutting edge Halo 3 looked like crap. So I thought I'd upgrade my PC.

Obviously an upgrade will mean a complete rebuild. I've been reading these forums in the last day or two and am completely confused by the amount of stuff out at the moment. I'm looking for a new system and have the following ideas:

CPU - Intel E2180 cpu
Motherboad- IP35? I know nothing about mobos and there are 4 different intel chipsets?? What gives with that?
RAM- 4GB of ram seems standard. What make should I buy?
Graphics- Not sure yet, but I game at no higher than 1280x 1024 -19" TFT and won't get a bigger one. A 8800GT/S or 3870XT?
PSU- something cheap but does a 'decent' 500W+?

Basically, I want something that will last me 2 years and is fairly cheap (less than £500 for everything above). If it could be future proofed for the next iteration of intel cpus, that would be a bonus.

Thanks in advance

 

[Noopz]

Just drop an 8800 GT - your sytem is hardly low specced, it's really only the graphics holding it back in 90% of case, IMHO.

Really? That'd save me a lot of bother and money.

My X1800XT 512 was pretty cutting edge when I got it two or so years ago. Even so, with the Opteron overclocked (quite a bit I think) it fails to run Oblivion speedily at 1280x1024.... noticable slowdowns outside etc. I always thought it was the CPU.

 

[Noopz]

Used to have it clocked to 2.9 I think.

I lost the settings about a year ago and forgot how to do all of it so it's sitting at stock at the moment.