[Question]New cpu upgrade

[Carlez_1]

I've had my stationary comp for about 4 years now, the only thing i've replaced is the gpu, a geforce 7300 into a 8600gt, and added a gig of ram. Now i'm starting to see that i'm not up to date with my hardware as the games of two years ago are playable on very low to medium gfx and settings. I've come to the conclusion that i want to upgrade into something better, but at the same time not spend too much money.

Current setup as follows:

Motherboard: MSI Neo-F, chipset nForce 550, socket am2 and built-in 7.1 soundcard(working flawlessly)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2 GHz
RAM: 2x Corsair 512MB 333Mhz, 2x Kingston 512MB 400Mhz, total 2GB

GPU: Nvidia geForce 8600GT 256MB
Storage: 2x 230GB Harddrives, partitioned into four pieces; 30 GB windows, 30 GB Ubuntu, 2x 200 GB ntfs storage

What i'm looking to upgrade for the moment is mainly my cpu and thus probably my mobo, unless the cpu i want goes into the AM2. I'm not prepared to pay any more than 150 euro for it, but i probably won't purchase anything until i get some more money after the summer so i'm considering a mid to high range cpu that has a possibility to lower in pricing over the next couple o' months. What would you guys recommend in those areas?

I will mostly use it for gaming on already established games like pr, crysis, oblivion and the source games but if anyone has a tip or a hunch that a perticular model or brand will be beneficial in the future i'm open to that as well. I'm not going to upgrade the cpu again in the next couple of years so i would like a long-term solution

If anyone knows anything useful or know where i can learn more, then please share your knowledge. I currently have no idea of what's hip and cool in the hardware market at all

[Gix]

For a more long term solution I'd say you would have to replace both CPU, Mobo and Memory. Your motherboard is rather outdated so it will not support later CPUs, nor will your memory keep up with the newer CPUs. However the price would go way above $150 for the newest parts.

To stick with your budget the best CPU I can find, supported by your mobo and in stock is an Athlon 64 X2 5600+ at Webhallen

I could give you a better option including new CPU, mobo and memory but it will stretch your budget a little bit (to around 1700 kr).

[Carlez_1]

well in that case i'm up for raising the roof. That was just the general pricing of the cpu i was thinking about, if i'll upgrade all three components i'm ready to pay a bit more

I don't know if i need more RAM as i'm running xp, but i could definitely use some faster sticks