Upgrade or Build/Buy New System?

[ankitpayal]

The specs on my current system: Athlon XP 1800+, 1 GB DDR PC2100 RAM, Soyo Dragon Plus mobo, Radeon 8500 LE vid card, PlexWriter 16/10/40 CD-RW, DVD-ROM drive, on-board 6-channel sound. Monitor is an archaic Dell M780 (17" CRT).

The current system is great for office-type work, listening to music, watching movies (which I do about 4x a year). I occasionally edit pictures (www.ap4e.com) and my current system is fine for it. However, it is pretty terrible for gaming and video editing.

I would like to upgrade/build/buy a new system that will enable me to play mainly these games: Flight Simulator X (my current rig can't even play FS9/2004), the upcoming Spore, Civ IV, Sid Meier's Railroads!, Children of the Nile and related city builders, Tiger Woods PGA series. I am not into WoW/Oblivion/Quake/HL or any WW II games. It should also allow me to edit and burn some home movies.

Some additional notes:
I would like my new system to last until mid-2010 with out any more upgrades at which point I will be getting rid of it.
I will be sitting about 20 inches from the monitor so, I don't think I will need a really large monitor.
I am leaning towards an NVIDIA board as I was not pleased with the ATI board.
I do have a problem keeping the temps manageable in the room, so a good cooling solution would help (would Intel be a better option than AMD with it's stock cooler?)

So, should I upgrade my current system or build/buy a new one with a budget of $1500?

 

[Rommel44]

I recomend building new rig. But with 1500USD budget dont expect that rig to perform well to 2010 - try playing some new games on 4 years old rig.

 

[dBTelos]

You can build a rig that will play games on good settings for a year or two. But you'd have to upgrade it after that if you want to keep your settings high.

 

[Baked]

You can build a really nice C2D system w/ that budget.

E6600, 2GB RAM, 1950XT Video

 

[ankitpayal]

I am not looking for the system to perform at "high" settings for games in to 2010 as Medium Low/Low would be acceptable by that time. But I understand what you mean.

I will definitely go with building a new rig but would like your thoughts on the components. Baked, I do like the E6600 and 2 GB RAM is a definite. For a video card, should I go with an NVIDIA or ATI? What's the difference between 1950XT, 7900???, and the 7950? If I decide to upgrade the video card next year for a DX 10 based one, can I get by with something cheaper for the games mentioned above? If yes, any ideas? My monitor will be a 19" or 20" LCD and my gaming resolution will not exceed 1600 x 1200 (predominantly (1280 x 1024).

Also, what mobo should I consider in this case? I am not going to be overclocking and will not have dual video cards.