If you are running Vista pro 64, I would at least double the RAM....

Otherwise, A smoking fast system!

First decide whether you plan to run a 32-bit or a 64-bit OS.

Some software and hardware may not be able to take advantage of 64-bit OS.

The 64-bit can support more memory. 32-bit is limited to 4gb.

You will need a graphics card that supports Direct X 10.

What is he running at the moment?

The problem with the old system may not be the hardware, but the software itself.

First make sure you have the most up to date NVIDIA graphics drivers from the NVIDIA website, make sure you are running the latest version of DirectX, make sure both of these versions are stable (some of the newest beta versions are not, so check those message boards if you have any doubt or if you start to experience more unexplained system crashes than usual).

Finally, modern games have lots of graphic settings under the games "options" that when turned up to maximum will slow even the fastest custom-built high-spec gaming systems to a crawl. If a particular game is slow, just reduce the graphic settings a little to get greatly increased performance. I cannot stress how important this is and how much of a speed (and enjoyment performance) enhancement it can make with only a slight graphic effect reduction, even on modern games running on older computers. Try it and see, you may find you don't need a new system at all.

As for the new system you mention, it looks fine. I have a similar system and it works great, 2GB of ram is fine for Vista, but ram is so cheap now days that you should probably up this to 4GB. Also make sure you don't skimp on the computer power supply size, you need one with a good 500W or more due to the requirements of these modern graphics cards.

""As for the new system you mention, it looks fine. I have a similar system and it works great, 2GB of ram is fine for Vista, but ram is so cheap now days that you should probably up this to 4GB.""

Umm... for vista 6 gigs of ram is manditory, 8 to 16 is what I recommend. and DONT GO with the DDR3 yet, DDR2 1400 Mhz is dirt cheap and you can get the 4 gig modules for the price of a 2 gig ddr3 module. Your GT 9800 is great, I have 2 of them dueled out on my system. Make sure you have at least a 750 whatt power supply and Sata Cables on all hardware.

Use the top level [ultimate] O/S

Vista or newer O/S will release the potential of the dual cores and extended memory

64bit O/S will utilize greater memory, 64bit is backward compatible with 32bit software

Upgrade to minimum 4GB RAM for 32bit O/S and minimum 6GB RAM for 64bit O/S

Upgrade to Gigabyte GV-N250ZL-1GI GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256bit GDDR3 graphic card

or

XFX GX285XZWBF GeForce GTX285 1GB Black Edition graphics card

Use 3.0GB's HDD

That's alright ......... but ............ if you want to really blow the socks off people - go with this:

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/alienware-aurora-alx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Or this!!!

he is using XP at present, the main cause of his slow speed might be using fast and slow ram together.

He will keep using XP for a while but will get a 1 Tb disk and Win 7 shortly.

The system you listed is fine. I would stick with the 32 bit system (almost all games will see no benefit from 64 bit). I would go with 4GB of ram and your graphics card will do just fine. I do recomend a 500 watt power supply. If, by chance you need more power just add a second graphics card in SLI mode, especially if you have larger than a 22" monitor. I have been a gamer for a long time and have quite a bit of experience. My system:

mirco - Q9450 overclocked to 3.6GHz

Graphics- Two 8800gt in SLI

Ram - 4GB 1066 Corsair Dominator ram

Power supply 850watt SLI certified

HD -Two 350GB Hitachi drives RAID 0 Stripped

almost all games will see no benefit from 64 bit

Eh? all most all games will benefit from greater RAM utilization which is available from 64bit.

by chance you need more power just add a second graphics card in SLI mode, especially if you have larger than a 22" monitor

If he adds a second card in SLI mode he'll need at least a 700 watt PSU

Thanks for the noting the error. You are right on the power supply for two cards at least 700watt supply is needed.

As far as the ram goes I have yet to see a game that will play any faster or any better with more ram. I must admit, though, that the only games I play are FPS's

Using a 32bit system you'll not realize any improvement with more RAM mainly because of the O/S limitations. A 32bit system is restricted to max of 3GB's but this is misleading because it represents total system memory, in effect you subtract the virtual memory from 3GB.

With the memory utilization potentiality increased within a 64bit system enabling more RAM about 6GB's minimum then virtual memory can increase to about a minimum 5120MB up from about a maximum 2048MB on the 32bit system.

I just delivered a 8-core system with 12GB DDR3 1333, think about it—over 12000MB of virtual

Smooth move, and there's room in this build to upgrade processor,memory and media capabilities later.

Optical speeds are not long in the future so not over doing it now pays your stingy arm well...

These youngsters are clever. He priced the stuff with a CPU fan which is not needed. Now I am going with a 750watt power supply.

The prices he got on the DDR3 is reasonable (only slightly more than DDR2's . (The pricing structure in SA is not always logical)

I'd need to know what make/model of case is to be used before signing off on not using a CPU fan. These are the best value of power supply available most anywhere and not exotic...

The CPU fan is packed and priced with the CPU. (the quote I approved contained 2 CPU fans - clever kid )

Depending on the case air flow patterns and case fan configuration auxiliary CPU fan(s) maybe helpful...

Hi bwire

SA (area) get rather hot (38 deg C) and we do need good cooling.

I will watch the gauges and fit additional cooling whenever necessary.

The 9800GT is a good card. I would definately recommend more RAM though, especially if using a 64bit OS. 64bit systems can also take benefit of directx 10.x

My gaming rig is:

Antec P182 case

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 P45 MOBO

EVGA GeForce 9800GTX+ 512MB

Lian Li 750W PS

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz

DDR2 1066 8GBs

Dual 500GB SATA HDs

1TB eSATA HD

20" widescreen LCD

...and don't forget the arctic silver!

Okay, here the run down on my newest gaming PC...

Thermalake V9 BE ATX W/ dual oversized 230mm ultra-silent fans

SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM, SLI crossfire 80+ modular active

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX

Intel core i7-950 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad

Mushkin 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600

XFX GX285XZWBF GeForce GTX 285 1GB BE 512bit

Seagate 1TB SATA 3GB/s

LG Black 6X Blu-ray Disc burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA

MS Vista Ultimate 64bit

Dual 24" Synaps wide screen

Mechanical gaming keyboard

Wired mouse

Very nice. Have you tried OC'ing the micro yet? You should be able to get 3.6 out of it with out too much trouble.

Easily but I don't see a need

Thanks

How do you like the GTX285? I considered it when shopping for my hardware, but couldn't justify the added cost when the 9800GTX was already overkill for the games I play.

Color is great I've no complaint.

I used it because the system will also be supporting a fairly generous home theater

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/9592/Build-Your-Own-Computer-Part-1

This sucker screams. Overclocking the FSB from 333 to 450 MHz with a 9x multiplier makes a huge difference. The 3GHz processor now runs at 4GHz and the RAM is very fast. XP64 boots in 23 seconds. 3DMark @ 46,700.

I'll be putting up more benchmarks next week.