I kinda sorta maybe might be able to upgrade my PC in coming months (3-6), and I know what I want to get, but here's my situation:First off, the upgrade components:E6850ASUS P5K-V moboEVGA 8800GTS 640mbMushkin extreme perf 2 x 1GB DDR2 800ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro (I want to OC eventually)edit: prolly Vista/XP dual boot at first, then VistaAnd my current rig...the thing is, I don't want to take out all of the good parts in my current setup and put them away in the closest...What should I do? I will have a good mobo, cpu, RAM, and video card, but no case, psu, sound card (but will have onboard). Should I buy a cheap case with a low end psu and put them all in that, then I'dhave to get a monitor and kb/mouse for that one too??? My plan kinda was to wait until my wife's Dell 2400 dies (it's not too old, a 2003 model), and then was going to use my current parts to build her an office PC.What do you guys think? Shelf the current parts for a while? Get a few more components and have a third PC? HmmmmmOther than that, I would use my OCZ 520w PSU for the new build, along with my 19in LCD monitor, my Creative XFi soundcard, and kb/mouse, and of course my case etc. Will my 520w psu be enough? If it will, that would be great, so then I wouldn't have to take out the psu (pain sometimes) and I could just rip out my current mobo and put new one in right?Any suggestions, comments about components etc?I know the Pereyn (sp?) is coming out soon but I really like the price of the 6850....and it keeps going up lol....arggh

Other than putting in another gig or two of RAM to satisfy Vista's memory appetite before FSX + addons come into the equation, your proposed spec looks nicely balanced to me. Re your 520W PSU being good enough, with a brand name like OCZ it should be sturdy and as long as it punches out enough amps on the 12V rail to satisfy the 8800GTS (26A from memory), it will be good enough. My 480W PSU, with 12V rails rated to 28A, does a similar job just fine. Re building one, two or three PCs from left overs, that is really a personal decision based on how much use you will get out of each system for dollars outlaid. If you do buy another cheap case/PSU, at the very least put your old PSU in the newest rig.Gary

If I have a working PC I just leave it as is to use or sell, and build a new one. I like the corsair HX620 PS for overclocking and 8800's.

>>What should I do? I will have a good mobo, cpu, RAM, and>video card, but no case, psu, sound card (but will have>onboard).Case? Who needs a case?Build the Core2 rig on your desk, and lay the parts out there and connect them all, and have a working PC laying on your desk. :)Actually these days with hot-running components a case is probably mandatoryOne time in the early 90's me and some buddies did run an AMD 486DX4/100 PC like that for a while though. We never even got shocked. I don't think it was grounded.> Should I buy a cheap case with a low end psu and>put them all in that, then I'dhave to get a monitor and>kb/mouse for that one too??? My plan kinda was to wait until>my wife's Dell 2400 dies (it's not too old, a 2003 model), and>then was going to use my current parts to build her an office>PC.>I would do like you say: re-use the good stuff you have in your 3700+ rig, like the OCZ 520 power supply. Then with the 3700+ rig you can get some cheapy power supply to put in there. Now you have a 2nd PC to donate to someone, or to use yourself for data storage, surfing, mp3 storage, use at work, etc.I usually sell my second-hand to a friend, as my 2nd-hand is usually way better than what they are using.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

>>Re your 520W PSU being good enough, with a brand name like OCZ>it should be sturdy and as long as it punches out enough amps>on the 12V rail to satisfy the 8800GTS (26A from memory), it>will be good enough. My 480W PSU, with 12V rails rated to>28A, does a similar job just fine. >That is kind of the situation I am in: I have a PC Power & Cooling 510 watt power supply that I intended (back when I bought it) to have it last through two builds. In your opinion, will it make it?I am going to try to keep using it with a Penryn-class setup and an 8800 or whatever the next gen DX10 cards are. The 8800 uses so darn much power, I hope the next gen is a little more efficient. Good thing the Pen is supposed to be more efficient.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

The specs I found on your PSU have the +12V rail delivering up to 34A constant, and that will even drive an 8800GTX. It will make it :-)Gary

You can drop a nuclear bomb on PC Power & Cooling stuff, and it will still survive. ;)RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Wow, so Vista needs more than 2GB of RAM??? Uggh? What about those OOM errors with Vista? Should I get 2GB or 1 extra?Also, what about the mobo, any good?

>Wow, so Vista needs more than 2GB of RAM??? Uggh? What about>those OOM errors with Vista? Should I get 2GB or 1 extra?There is supposed to be a hotfix coming out that fixes the OOM errors with Vista...and that fix is also going to be in Vista SP1 from what I understand. I hope the fix works.I wouldn't get 3 gb memory, I would go straight to 4gb in two matched pairs (2 x 2gb = 4gb), unless someone can convince me it's a bad move with Vista. So far no one has convinced me of that.Now if you are keeping existing memory, that's a tougher call. You would have 2 x 1gb = 2gb. Then your other option is to add another two single gig sticks for 4 gb. Or add a single 1gb.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian