Hm, any other ideas? Thanks so far guys...

1. Diplomacy and politics near the level of SEV (SEV won't work for me)
2. Good AI
3. Stuff that will rebel

4. A good variety of customization for ships/vehicles

5. Large maps

6. Varied races, maybe even custom races

7. Engaging combat system

8. An odd entailment but if I have an empire that stretches half the world or half the galaxy it seems unusual to only be able to research ONE technology at a time and only have a few meager fleets of 20 ships each or a few armies with a small amount of units.

9. Interesting economy system that's not shallow.

10. If it's old, compatability with Windows 7 RC

bump

Thanks a lot Matchpro (and everyone else as well). I have a question though..If I overclock the core 2 duo you reccomended with the cheap intel mobo you also reccomended, would it provide more power than overclocking a Phenom II 920 with the asus micro atx mobo that was reccomended earlier?

EDIT: Are you sure the video card you reccomended will run ok? MANY reviewers are complaining about overheating and bad drivers...

AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HD985ZXAGHBOX - Retail

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL6D-4GBMQ - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail

XFX HD-485X-YDFC Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

ASUS M3N78-EM AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8300 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Subtotal: $522.95
After rebates: $512.95

And it'll play pretty much every game out there

Due to my 3-3.5 year old mobo finally kicking the can I'm in the market for a power supply (old one is 350w), new ram, a new vid card, a new cpu and (obviously) a new mobo. The problem is I only have 500 bucks to spend on these said parts. What are the best options available, if there are any, for decent gaming?