performance upgrade?

right now i have a 2400+ xp with 512 ddr and a geforce 4 mx (onboard) (my geforce 4200 ti burned out )

I'm thinking of upgrading to a 64 3200 with a gig of memory and a 6600gt.. how much of a performance boost would i be gettin and what video card would have the best longevity

You'd be getting an enormous performance increase. I can't really be more speceific than that.

The 6600GT is a good choice IMO, but if you want the card that will last the longest (I'm assuming you mean the capabilities of the card rather than lifespan), obviously you'll want a 7800GTX.

Yeah but 500 dollars for a card is nuts.. im looking to spend around 500-600 total.. which MB should i get with the 3200 64?

Yes, well, you did ask.

I have an Abit AV8 and am very pleased with it.

A couple more questions... sorry im looking for a large lcd 19 - 21 that is good for gaming and is priced well. Is pcix that much better than agp? what is the diff between san diego and venice and manchester

Well I'm no expert on monitors and I wouldn't use LCDs by choice, but in general you'd wanna look for something with a very low response time.

It's abbreviated PCI-E as PCI-X is something different entirely. One isn't better than the other as of yet, but if you want to be able to upgrade your video card without upgrading your mobo in a year or so, I'd recommend going with PCI-E.

Here (http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2418&p=3)'s a good page from an article about the different cores.

Thanks its gonna be fucking really expensive to upgrade. I remember i could buy a mid top end comp for 500 bucks now i gotta lay out a grand on one

No problem.

I never remember being able to by a mid performance complete system for $500. Prices may have changed a bit, but not that much. :P

i gotta drop a grand on a comp it looks like

If you are buying a new monitor then yes...ram cpu gpu and mobo for a mid end system will cost you roughly $500..thats how much I spent for mine.