[oldmonk]

heres a thought.

I bought an asus a7n8x-x MB and athlon 2000+

I bought 512 MB of 400mhz ddr sdram.

I overclocked the processor to athlon xp 2600+ levels and have been using it this way since more than a year woithout any probs.

See for yourself what the cost difference between a 2000+ xp and a 2600+xp is!!!
You should save around 2000 bucks.

Since i am overclocking by FSB i get better speed than the stock 2600+ xp!!!

I havent tried extreme over clocking , but now at close to 2000 mhz actual speed i think i can approach 2800 + speeds !!!
But the rig is rock stable at this setting. Temps never go above 45 Degrees. thanks to my 12 cm ac fan and a few other small fans.


So now if you decide to go this way--- your budget for graphics card of 5000 gets 2000 bucks more.

You can buy a geforce fx5700 - real cool card.

Or look around on bazee etc for a cheaper card with higher config!!!

Even if youre not comfy with overclocking, a better graphics card makes for better gaming than a better processor.