Upgrade Help!

[stiggyb]

Hello!

Wasnt sure if this is the right section to post but since I will more than likely be buying my components from scan in the end it could be!

I've currently just bought a new PC base

SPECS are as follows:

# Motherboard: ASUS M2V Motherboard K8M890 Full ATX
# Processor: AMD AM2 Athlon 64x2 4600 CPU
# Memory: 2GB DDR2-667
# Graphics Card: GeForce 7950GT 512mb

I'm a competitive gamer and my game of choice as of late is Counter Strike Source (hence the semi upgrade)

If any of you have played the game, maps like dust2/mill/cbble are running fine where as other maps like train/inferno/nuke im getting severe drops

I've come to the conclusion that my mobo is crap and would like to upgrade that but i havent the slightest of what i can upgrade to (something sli/nforce tickles my fancy)

OR on my current board upgrading memory to 4GB I have 2 slots left ( I THINK ?) pc came ready built and im a bit of a noob a this

SLI - what is it? 2 graphics cards is it beneficial? do they have to be both same models?

Any help is appreicated!

thanks again

[staffsMike]

For SLi you will need an SLi motherbaord obviously...luckily amd ones are quite cheap...something like this maybe..

To Sli you will get a bridge connector with your motherboard..you then put both cards in and link them via this bridge. Allows them to to run as one and double the speed in some games.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=5&subcat=806

(sorry about the link scan..was just on the site so it was quicker to find hehe)

What kind of resolution are you running this at because that setup shouldn't struggle with CS:S?

4gb of ram will do nothing for you leave that bit alone.

[stiggyb]

1024x768 @ 100hz

That board looks the nuts, will my ram work in that though? (mine being 667 ddr and the board supporting 800)

[staffsMike]

You should be well over 100fps with that rig.. Are you sure its not your internet connection lol

Yeah sorry minor oversight on the RAM..im not sure if 667 will work..hopefully someone else will know.

this one looks kool though

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=550177

or this

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=409572 ..nforce 590 which is the latest on the amd i think.

Do you know what fps you get on CS:S

[staffsMike]

Just read a bit further into your old board..

is it PCI-E 16x ...as your card is.

forget that...found it myself now lol

[stiggyb]

fps = 150-200 on some maps cbble/strike/d2 (some areas) which is fantastic

but inferno / nuke / train etc the i get averages of 70 drops to 40 :\

[Sprite]

Your 667 RAM will work fine in an 800 board.

Just a note - a sure you want SLI ? Its usually better and cheaper to buy one high end card than two mid range cards.

As for motherboard get:

Abit NFM2 nView (m-ATX but v nice board)
Asus M2N32 SLI
Asus Crosshair