What's best for gaming?

Well my mobo died on me yesterday. It had been having some issues for a few months, and it lasted almost 6 yrs, so I guess I can't complain. But I've been looking at the mobo/cpu combos, and I realize I have no idea as to what the latest and greatest is, or what's the best for my needs. I was thinking of getting an Intel board but man they're expensive, especially the i7s. I'm a gamer, but not hardcore like hours and hours every day. So I was hoping on getting a little advice on what might be a decent way to go. Also my previous O/S was XP. I've heard that Win8 is not good for gamers, so should I upgrade to Win7 or stay with XP??

Thanks in advance.

 

Gaming relies more on the video card than the CPU. If you need to save money, go AMD w/ a good amount of ram and a nice video card.

 

Well in that case I do have a nice card.

But since I am a little strapped for cash, I found a used mobo just like mine, in good condition. For a quick fix I just might go that route so all I have to do is swap out the mobo's.

But when I do finally upgrade, I think I will go with an Intel board.