Hi everyone.. About 2 years ago I spent a ton of money getting the most bleeding edge components available. And for 2 glorious weeks, I had the fastest computer possible. Now I'm feeling like getting back a little closer to the edge, and I'm requesting your help for the most cost-effective upgrades to my current system.

Resolution: 1650x900 (21inch widescreen lcd)

Requirements: bang for my buck .. e.g. Intel QX6600 vs. Intel QX9650
Twin 8800 GTX or a single GTX 280.

SLI never particularly impressed so I'm leaning toward the single card for heat savings as well.

Below is my current system. let me know what's salvageable if anything.

Thanks for your help!

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822144417

LIAN LI V SILENT PC-V1100B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811112073

NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model ND-3520A BK - OEM
Item #: N82E16827152035

Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory Model KVR400X64C3AK2/2G - Retail
Item #: N82E16820141308

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131517

ENERMAX Noisetaker EG701AX-VE SFMA(24P) 600W EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817194001

AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 San Diego 2.6GHz Socket 939 Single-Core Processor Model ADAFX55BNBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103527

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS GAMER Limited Edition 70SB035000013 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16829102171

ASUS En6800Ultra/2DT/512 GeForce 6800Ultra 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814121198 X 2 cards in SLI mode.

The HDD is salvageable, but I'd only use it to store music or movies or other things you access rarely. The burner should still be OK too. Same for the sound card.

The case maybe too small for 8800GTX or GTX 280 cards. You need to check.
Or you can get HD 4870 cards. Those are smaller.

The RAM/MB/CPU/GPU must go.

The PSU is good enough for one 8800GTX or HD 4870. It's too small for 8800GTX SLI. I'm not sure about GTX 280. Between one 8800GTX and one HD 4870, the HD 4870 wins big time. I have an 8800GTX (($650 a year ago) and I'm frustrated when I see that even the HD 4850 beats it.

Worse than I feared. I figured the psu, case, hdd, dvd would be ok. The case is huge, so I'm sure it'll be ok to keep, but looks like the rest might have to go. So basically an entirely new system. PC gaming is rapidly entering a high priced niche.

Thanks for your help.

Actually, it's not really as expensive as it seems, it just depends on your goals. If your goal is to flaunt the size of your e-peen, then yes it'll be quite expensive. But if you just want a good solid PC that'll run pretty much everything, then consider the following.

Reuse -
Case, DVD, and PSU

MoBo - Pick One (I listed all Gigabyte, but Asus and MSI all have comparable boards)
GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L = $85
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L = $100
GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 = $225 (only if you think you'll go Crossfire at some point)

CPU - Pick One
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz = $120
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz = $170
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz = $190

GPU - Pick One
ASUS Radeon HD4850 512MB = $150 (after MIR)
POWERCOLOR Radeon HD4870 512MB = $250 (after MIR)

RAM - Pick One
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 = $50 (after MIR)
Mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 5-4-4-12@1.8V = $70 (after MIR)

HDD -
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB = $85
(I read there's a new Seagate that is comparable in size and performance, but I don't remember the exact model, either would be good)

HSF - If you're going to OC
XIGMATEK HDT-RS1283 120mm CPU Cooler = $35 (after MIR)
XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket = $7
Tuniq TX-2 Cooling Thermal Compound = $4

So for <$500 you could put together a very respectable rig that'll run circles around your current setup or for <$900 you could put together a fairly future proof system that's at the high-end of the mainstream and when the time comes you could upgrade your PSU and add a second HD4870. Or you could settle for somewhere in between. Like I said, it all just depends on what your goal is.

Thanks for the great advice. I'm kind of a power gamer, which is why I spent so much on the rig I built 2 years ago. I guess I learned my lesson about spending that kind of money on a new computer. In any case, My other dilemma was how my old rig stands up against newer components and how much I'd have to spend to surpass it's performance. Not much at all, I guess.

Thanks again!

All good parts there. Let me add the Asus P5Q Pro to the mix. It's not quite as good for Crossfire as the $225 GA-X48-DS4, but still OK, and it's only $140.

And if you're definitely not going to do any OCing, you could go even cheaper and go with an AMD setup...

MoBo - Pick One
GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3H AM2+/AM2 780G = $90
BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX A2+ AM2+/AM2 790GX = $100
MSI K9A2 Platinum AM2+/AM2 790FX = $150

CPU - Pick One
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz - $66
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz = $112
AMD Phenom 9650 2.3GHz Quad-Core = $200