my friend needs some advice on upgradin his pc

well, now, hes got a 3 ghz pentium D, 1 gb of 533 mhz ram, and a 256 mb (laughable) radeon x300/X1050, n weve made up a plan to upgrade his pc, for less than 200$, now we got 194$bill (if he does it), n here r the parts:

E2160 (56$) on a AC freezer 7 pro (15$(!!!!!!)) so he will oc, to bout 2.4, just to keep i safe...

get 1+ gb of 533 mhz ram (2x512mb, 10.5$ each 512)

and change the gfx to an Asus 8600 GT silent magic 256 mb ddr3 (77$)

can u recommend me sumthin that could improve this? maybe another gfx card in this range?

for under $200 consider this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261002 only $110 after rebate

memory for $10 is awesome but there are a pair of gskill 800mhz (2gb) ram for only $49 on newegg...

OK the next product I suggest isnt the best on the market though it will not only cool your cpu but your ram and northbridge too.. I have it and I idle at 38c sometimes lower.. good to me =]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103026&Tpk=coolermaster

just make sure you have enough room.. most mid tower and full towers have enough room.

The 7600GT, definitely. It runs DX9 apps faster and the 8600GT can't justify its performance in DX10 apps for the price.8_Star_General

No, the 8600GT is better. But just spend another $23 and get a 8800GS or another $33 and get a 9600GT, both are SOOO much better.

How many amps does your friend's power supply have on the +12v rail? He might not have enough to run a 9600GT. Assuming he does, I'd definitely get one. As for the memory, I'd get this Crucial Ballistix 2 x 1GB; it's some of the best you can get for overclocking. The processor and heatsink are fine.

EDIT: Are you sure that your friend's motherboard supports Core 2 chips? There are quite a few LGA775 boards out there that don't.

his does, ive checked the specs... OR, we could keep the D, n just put oin the FC7Pro and OC it to 4ghz, wold that be better?

and... i think il stick w/ 8600, he doesnt need +, the MAX he plays is gears of war, so he wont need +, but i might look @ the 8800 GS tho...