Thanks for the info guys, I may end up trying to overclock the E5200 to 3ghz, but I don't have much experience overclocking so I'll probably wait until I feel like I need it.
I would go for the 1gb GTS250, but my budget was originally only going to let me get a 4830, but I managed to stretch it out a bit to manage the GTS250.
You don't have to overclock at all./ C2D is per clock much faster than a P4. One core on a C2D @ 2GHz is faster than one core 3GHz P4. Also those new sys requirements are difficult now because speeds are measured in GHz, while the number oif GHz oftenly don't mean anythhing anymore.
Back in 2004 an Athlon 3200+ does 2GHz, but is about as fast as a P4 3.2GHz. AMD gave the 3200+ name also to be able to measure their own cpu to a P4. So customers wouldn't be afraid to buy them because of their low clock speed.
If only cpu speed meant anything why an En an e5200 would be much faster and more expensive than a Pentium D?? e5200 runs on lower clock speed, but is certainly faster.
Lower clock speed means less heat. C2D has more efficiency.
I think it's bad to call one clock speed as minimum or recommended. They shoiuld do that per cpu type.
But Mike was right that you can't add clockspeed to each other on a dual-core or quad core
Also the amount of megabytes on a graphics card don't matter that much. It's the core speed and memory speed that matter and well a certain amount of ram. but many cards simly have too much ram.
But still we see cheap cards have enormous amounts of ram. Nvidia FX5200 with 256MB ram!! But it couldn't keep any ground with almost all other cards with 128MB. My old 6600GT 128MB would eat that FX5200 for breakfast.
Amount of megabytes are oftenly something that is given too much importance or something to 'feel' cool about. But slow cards with huge amounts of ram don't need those amounts simply because they're too slow. But well, those 512MB on bad cards are for the 'big dick factor'.
I run everything full with a HD4850 512MB and have 120+ fps.