I also plan to only spend 1000-1500 for a PCI-EX graphics card, and the plan is wait for Nvidia's new release in FEB and current graphic card prices will drop, and hopefully get HD3850 then.
Should meet your time frame. BTW I too got an E4500(2.2GHZ)+2G RAM![]()
sounds like a pretty good plan. been reading reviews on the HD3850, so far it sounds pretty damn awesome!
PS, the E4500 runs soooo much better than my old (and completely busted) 1.8 duo!