Cpu limited games? Anything that has Simulator in the title.

Partially CPU limited games? - Strategy

One rule - Buy a GOOD PSU - a GOOD CASE - you will keep these two for years, you don't want a noisy horrible but fast computer do you?

 General rule of the thumb for value gaming - Spend twice as much on the GPU as the CPU. For example if you want a 9800gx2 - Buy a 3ghz dual core. 

If you want an 8800gt - Buy an AMD X2.

It has served me well that rule.

Best CPU for a budget? - AMD X2 4600+ Black edition! $87 on Newegg. Overclock it to hell and back with a decent cooler.

Otherwise go for the best 45nm cpu with a friendly multiplier. I haven't used many intel chips so I don't know how they overclock.

I also saw some cheap deals on the 8800gts - they are going end of life, I saw one for $160! with MIR.

How about this combo.

Nvidiachipset with intel/amd processor. 

2x either 8800gts with $100 MIR for $320-400 depending on brand.

or

2x 9600gt -$250ish

The 9600gt is great value for money in SLI - Its pretty close to the 8800gt and it costs less too! It also uses less power. The 8800gts is also great value for money, if you have two graphics cards you can produce a lot of waste heat inside your case with any graphics card. Dual slot is twice as good when you have twice the cards. This is especially good if you plan on overclocking the cpu! If your motherboards already hot from the overclocking, the extra heat may shorten its life substantually. I would recommend the 8800gts personally from a reliability stand point.

AS for the motherboard/cpu, I cant recomend anything because I know nothing about Nvidia chipsets! I hope someone else can mention something, or just look at

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/14661 for the AMD ones.

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13790 for the Intel ones.

Finally the CPU/Motherboard depends on your budget and what games you want to play.

Edit: You could always just wait, get a superior intel chipset motherboard and just get the new gtx or gts when it comes out, depending on your budget.

Ugh. My 3800x2 is starting to show it's age, especially with Quake Wars. It doesn't help that I can't overclock the thing and have it be stable at all (most people can get to 2.8 or higher, I can't get it past 2.1 without random crashes). I guess I must have a lemon CPU or a bad motherboard.

You could always upgrade to a 4600+black edition and overclock that, or maybe an X3/X4 Phenom if your motherboard can support it?

Well, the problem is that I was one of those who was screwed over by the switch to AM2 (I built my current rig at the end of 2005, with a 939 motherboard). If I had an AM2 socket I would've ditched this proc a while ago.

It's not all bad though; my previous post inspired me to take another stab at overclocking after about a year and a half of not trying it. I actually got the CPU up to 2.4ghz this time and it didn't crash in the 3DMark 06 cpu test as it has always done. I'll see if I can push it up to 2.5 or 2.6 (this is from 2.0).

edit: I'm testing it out at 2.5.  I don't think it's going to go any higher.  My processor must be a dud or something. 

2.5ghz isn't too bad, if you're CPU limited you probably increased your performance 20% or so. Is that enough to make it playable? The longer you can make it last, the better your upgrade will be for the money.

 Not totally true. You can get away with spending cheap and getting a low-end GPU as long as you have no plans of playing high-end current generation PC games. 

My 8400GS can run UT3 on meduim but I can't run Crysis. If I upgraded to the 9500GS when thats released I could probably pull off running Crysis on low but would I want to? no. Why? I can run most games. In a few years buy another low-end card for cheap and be able to run the highest end games of the years past at elast on meduim. 

If you want to live a year behind the curve it is a viable way of doing it I suppose. Buy your games and your parts when they hit end of life.

However if you're a multiplayer gamer and you want to be a part of that, its simply not an option to go that far behind unless you stick with older releases.

 Ya, which games like Counter Strike Source is still heavily played. And really UT3 is a new game, how is being about to play it without any issues behind the curve? So you wouldn't be able to play AC or Crysis. There are still tons of options available thanks to developers. Plus you could always use mid-grade cards. 9600GT and soon the 9600GSO are quite powerful.