Desktop upgrade questions

Currently I have a relatively new Win7 64-bit laptop which I use for work and gaming, and a pretty old WinXP desktop that I barely ever use nowadays. What I want to do is upgrade the desktop and move my gaming to that so I can devote the laptop to work.

For work I use AutoCAD 2012 and Microstation which basically require a Win7 64-bit setup with (at least) dual cores, and they work just fine on my laptop.

Gaming-wise I want to be able to use my newer Steam games and still use those old games that only ran on WinXP, so I considered doing a dual-boot setup. However, if it?s going to be affordable, I would like to get two small cases; have one for split work/gaming with Win7 64-bit and the other for WinXP. Regardless, I would rather have a smaller case than the monster Antec that I have now.

My problem is, I also want to be able to run console emulators on the WinXP comp, namely Project64 , but I don?t think the old CPU/Mobo/RAM I have can do that.

Current Desktop
CPU ? AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Mobo ? ASUS K8N
Vid Card ? Radeon 9600XT
RAM ? 1 GB DDR
Case ? Antec


I know for the desktop I?m going to have to replace EVERYTHING(except the disk-drives, etc.) but I don?t want a state-of-the-art machine. I would like to have at least a quad-core setup and a nice mobo for easy upgrade potential. I think my budget will have to be up to $700 based on what I can afford.

1) Do you guys have any ideas of what I can get for an upgrade within that budget? I?ve been seriously considering an AMD Phenom II 965, but I?m not sure.

2) Is there a way I can tweak my old Athlon 64 into making a second, ?retro gaming? kind of computer to fit inside the same budget? Or should I just stick with the dual-boot idea on one machine?

Sorry for the long post guys, and thanks!

Your desktop should be more then fine for emulation like Project64, afterall, I deal with a computer a little worse than yours and it works perfectly fine (check my profile) Im not sure if you can run all of your steam games though.

I don't have time to dedicate thinking up a rig, but if you went to Newegg.com they are pretty cool about parts and whatnot.

Though if you don't want to run into problems keep Windows XP. Windows 7 takes an iffy to some stuff.

I think xp takes like half a gig... so you want atleast 2-3 gigs on your xp compute and a video card. If the PSU is weak, you're probably going to need a new one with 550+ watts. That is if it's for current games that's coming out.

You don't need win 7 lol.
Nice gpu and ram will do.

Thanks for your responses guys! This is what I've come up with for a build:

CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core
Mobo - ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 ATX
Vid - SAPPHIRE 100328L Radeon HD 6770 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500)
Power - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W
Case - Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

What do you guys think? And should I get two of those Ripjaw RAMs and/or vid cards?