Help building a new system!!

[Rheassi]

After the first of the year hubby is building me a new computer.. Right now I have over 15000 files in my downloads directory and it takes about 20 minutes for the game to load when I start it LOL.. I also run slow on some lots and have a LOT of lag when building large houses.

I would like some suggestions from other who have a similar amount of content installed on their system specs and how well their games run. I can not say no to downloads LOL. Its very addictive!!!

Currently my system setup is:

Time of this report: 12/10/2008, 21:09:16
   
   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.080814-1233)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: NVIDIA
       System Model: AWRDACPI
               BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+,  MMX,  3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
             Memory: 2048MB RAM
          Page File: 1135MB used, 2804MB available
        Windows Dir: D:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

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Thanks!

Rheassi

[jamesabrown1]

Hi Rheassi,
 
I currently get very good performance but am using VISTA and have 4gb of RAM. You probably also will want at least 512mb of dedicated memory on the graphics card. I only have about half as many downloads as you, but even so, my XP machine has inferior performance but only has 256mb on graphics card, 2gb of RAM, and a single processor. Needless to say, I do my playing on the VISTA machine. Hope that helps some.

[VampyrMuffinMan]

This applies to most things in life.  How fast can you afford to go?  As far as operating system, stick with XP and get pro if you can.  You're current OS will work fine, though.  Don't worry about the x64 version, it's really only given me problems trying to work with it (software compatibility and driver issues).  I have the same processor as you in my system and it rarely gets taxed for long.  On that note, I think you should really look more into a higher end main board (Something you can upgrade the processor is a plus) and a good video/graphics card.  Memory is easy and fairly cheap, so you can plan to upgrade from what you buy for the build.  I'm not financially in the market for a new system, but a recent glance whet my appetite to shop a bit.  If you're on a budget, a quick fix is to move to a SATA HD and your page file seems a little light.  I have two SATA drives and set the page file to the second drive.  That single move bumped up the performance a bit.  So here is a recommendation (AMD based, I don't know how Intel is lately):

(After a quick search)
MSI DKA790GX Platinum Motherboard
AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad Core Processor 2.20GHz  (bundled @ <$300)
Nice big CPU fan/heatsink  ($20-50+)
4 GB of dual channel DDR II @ 1066MHz ( <$70)
250 GB SATA Hard Drive 7200RPM and 16MB cache (<$70)
Case...up to you...  I've been re-using my old cases for a while.
Monitor...  A nice 22" wide-screen would be nice, (<$200) or two!

Video cards are the difficult point.  Again, what can you afford.  The motherboard above has built-on video (ATI Radeon HD3300) and 2 PCIe ports, so you can see how it runs and expand later.  I'm not up to date at all when it comes to this subject, so hopefully someone else will chime in with a suggestion or two.  I could use the advice, too, for when I am looking to replace this rig.

Hope this helps!