So, my graphics card will work with the P55 board you recommended? Checking the the P55 board you recommended this was noted 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
PCI Express x16 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4_X1)*
* When the PCIEX1_2 slot is populated with an expansion card, the PCIEX4_X1 slot will operate at up to x1 mode.

Is there an other board you recommend,because I do not want problems if I ever have to update anything. Right now I am thinking to build a whole i5-750 system, including hard drive. I would just have to disk the sim 3 downloads and stuff over. Unless I could run the sata drive as a main and hook up my drive as a second and just transfere the data.

Callistra,
I may have troubles setting up a new system. I checked my XP Pro disk and it states it is an upgrade. Searching online it says I can use a windows 98 disk which I have but I am not sure. What would be your opionion on this and have you any ideas? Please help. I was really forward to buying the stuff and doing an i5 system.

I'm no Callistra and I came into this late, so I'm reading all the posts so far and let me confirm the following:
(the links are examples I copied over from Calli's list, might not be your final decision)

• You want to switch to a self-build i5-750 system:
  • getting a new CPU http://www.microcenter.com/single_p...duct_id=0317379 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115215
  • getting a new mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128425
  • getting a new case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16811129042
  • getting new DDR3 RAM - 2GB with XP? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820231134
  • getting a new SATA HDD
• reusing your PSU (power supply)
• reusing your HDDs - slave one as secondary storage?
  • Hard Disk : Maxtor (82 GB)
  • Hard Disk : ST3160212A (160 GB)
• reusing your DVD drive
• reusing your GPU (graphics card): NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
• sticking with your OS Windows XP (32-bit, right?)

I think the PCI slot is OK with your graphics card. From what I understand, the only time we'd have to worry over them is if we run a crossfire or SLI setup (ie setup 2 Radeon or Nvidia graphic cards).

For the Sims 3 - you'd need to reinstall if you're getting a new SATA HDD. But you can let it run one time, install the framework and then transfer your existing user documents and \Mods folder over.

For the OS install, I think yes, you need the Win98 to use an XP Upgrade disc. Both are bootable CD/DVD medium right (although the XP upgrade need not be, I think)?
Although, you should note that Microsoft will cease technical support for XP (SP3) in April 2014 (just means no more Windows security updates). So, if you forsee not upgrading beyond the next 4 years or longer, or can rely on public forums to self-troubleshoot as you're doing now, you should be fine. Maybe a new OS will be out by then.

If you want to switch to Win7 now, you need to add the OS and 4GB RAM costs to your budget.

I thank you for responding. I did find my windows 98 disk so I think I will be okay. I am thinking of buying a new graphics card one that is more powerful. And I was going to use my st3160212A hard drive as a storage drive, it is an IDE and Callistra said it would work. I really do not want to replace my op system, I like XP pro. And I am going with 4 gb of ram right away. Per Callistra it is easier to do up front then in the end. I hope I did not make Callistra mad by asking so many questions, but I do not want to spend money and then a year or two later have to try to update it. Like I would with an AMD system.

XP will only be able to recognize 3 out of those 4GB, but if you decide to swap to a different OS, then yes good investment. No that there is anything wrong with your current GPU, but if you have the budget, go for it. Just that now you have to check that your current PSU will be able to handle a stronger GPU power requirements. And newer and stronger GPU does not guarantee your TS3 gameplay will be smoother and trouble-free.

ps: She'll pop in when she's able...no, I don't she's mad about too many questions.

Right now I cant even run the sims3 it is laggy and when the neighborhood comes up it is black and green and then it changes to normal. That is why I had started to think to do a build. And I am not sure why my current system is running so slow. I have defragged, clean usless files and all kinds of other stuff. I was going to try to re install my game but I dont know even if that would make any sense because of the lag in my system. I ran chkdsk, it came up with no errrors,ran trogan hunter,ran virus, adware malware same thing nothing. I dont know what else to do, I am not computer genius,but if someone tells me what to do I can follow instructions. Do you have any ideas? I appreciate your help and thoughtfulness.

Oh, your bottleneck for TS3 is your single-core CPU.

Callistra and Ellacharm3d,
Okay here is the final scoop. I am going with the motherboard from newegg for the Intel system it is a P55 board for 119.99. I am getting the processor from Micro center from Ellacharm3d for 169.99 and going with the memory of 4 gb per callistra at newegg for 109.99 and of course the new case. My last thing is a hard drive which one should I get and a new power supply. My current system is going to my son, he wants it. Thank you again for you help.

The recommendations already in sticky.
You'd need to get more than those 2, if you're building a whole new system, won't you?

Not hardly. A p4 will eat Sims 3. I'm going to try to get it to run on a 1.2 ghz slight overclocked circa 2000 t-bird chip. The p4 just devours sims 3 anything other than massively complicated pathing problems which a real second core would do alot better on than a simple prefetching thread (Hyperthreading).

This problem sounds like a hypertransport problem. Hypertransport on the older AMD chips is a bit slow. Let me check his manual if dell publishes it.

Oh ya can't find your motherboard manual but you are destroying your ram speed. You need to pull the original 512k module out and just run the 2 1gb modules ganged mode. You're cruising around in the mid to high 2 gb/s memory speed range when you should be in the low 5 gb/s range.
Download a copy of everest ultimate by lavalys systems and report some of your specs.

Memory read/write speeds. HT link speeds. Pixel fillrate, texel fillrate.
Your system is fine though you could use a slight overclock to 2.4 ghz

DDR is really slow if it's not paired. DDR2 is already paired up on single modules and further pairing gives you a bit of speed but not much.