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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TwistedBishop" data-source="post: 4627218" data-attributes="member: 12503">You won't be able to upgrade the CPU to an i7.  Your motherboard won't have the appropriate socket for it.  If you want to replace the motherboard to get one, as of right now you're looking at: $300 for the CPU, $200-250 for the motherboard and ~$100 for 4GB of DDR3 RAM.You'll want DDR2 RAM for your current CPU (guess it's a Core 2 Duo).  It's very inexpensive.  Around $20 for 2GB.  (Your RAM type will be decided by your CPU, btw.  Core 2 Duos use DDR2, while i7s use DDR3. The difference between them is operating frequency and latency.  Overall it's not something to be concerned about.  All you need to know is what your CPU requires.)You'll be spending around 4x the amount for a fast HDD of comparative size to an average speed one.  About $200 versus $50 for 250GB, as an example.  I don't personally believe the performance increase is worth the price you're spending there.The ATI 4870 is leading the price vs. performance war at the moment for single-GPU video cards.  A 1GB 4870 will cost you about $240.  The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is comparable and costs about $250.  If you have a 24" monitor (which is what I have, btw) and run at a native resolution, these are your sweet spot cards for current games.If price is a major concern, the ATI 4850 or Geforce 9800GTX can be had ~$180.  Stepping down even further, the ATI 4830 and the Geforce 9800GT can be had for ~$130, sometimes even near $100.And, of course, the Vista software will cost you $100 for the OEM version.</blockquote>

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