[RRuger]

Hi again

Just a note on your budget, you will have to include RAM and a PSU as well. You should be looking at 500w+ PSUs from a reputable manufacturer, a 6 year old PSU isnt likely to have the power connector for the CPU or the PCI-e connector for the graphics card or enough wattage - I was in the same position, with an old system there really isn't anything aside from the hard drive and optical drives which will be compatible with the latest motherboards - And most modern motherboards will be either DDR2, or DDR3 neither of which will take the older RAM I imagine will be in their current systems - DDR400 PC3200 or lower?

I have never owned a 8800, wether or not it will run well with such a large resolution I couldn't say, my old system is a 6800 with a resolution of 1440x900 and it works nicely on 4.08 with excellent graphics and not so nicely on 4.09. There is a guy on these forums called bigsilverhotdog who clearly knows alot about modern systems and graphics cards - it may well be worth contacting him maybe via a PM and asking him what would be suitable.

3.0Ghz seems to be about the speed you should be looking for - the E8400 would give you that without overclocking, but it'll cost you... that said I have only looked at UK prices. I should be able to acheive 3.0Ghz with the E5200 I am ordering... and that is a great deal less.

Hope I have been at least somewhat useful. I will be happy to help out if there is anything you need....

I'm not trying to step on your toes here Pirate, but if I was going to build a system right now I think I would go with a 600W PSU minimum. It's not that much more than a 500W and leaves you room to breath a little, budget or no budget...