OK basically I've not been keeping up with general compatibilities etc in pc's for the last 1 or 2 years.

My current spec is Athlon 1.33 Thunderbird, 768PC2100, Soltek DDR board (cant remember which exactly), GF2 MX400 64mb. Pretty pants yep.

First off, will a DX9 x8 AGP card such as 9800pro work in my x4 slot (AGP speeds are backwards compatible arent they?). Is it pointless to try (how much of the x8 speed do I need to utilise)? If it would work, do you think its a good plan?

Second, guess the guys who have upgraded recently will be best answering this but any one welcome. I'm pretty lost on the current combinations of board, cpu and ram needed for the new AMD's. How much am I looking at for a reasonably good upgrade (to play HL2 well for example)? What do I need to look at when checking out cpu board and ram? I'm not up to date on getting FSB speed right etc.

Also, is it worth looking at intel or should i stick to amd (given im skint).

Phew, thats a long one. As Mr C David once said "Can you fill meee innnn?". Hmmm yep....

You will have no problem getting a 9800pro running on a x4 agp mobo, the on,y differance you will notice in x4 and x8 is in tests like 3D mark, very little in "real life gaming".

as for an upgrade you can get some good amd64 mobo cpu + fan combos if you look around (puss has some site adds).

what you are looking for, for HL2 is an athlon 2400, 1gig of ram and 9800.

have a look see what your intrested in and i'll get you some prices greg :P

got me own shop now anyways

Ok cheers.

Don't really know where to start looking to be honest and what i should be looking at re. ram + cpu combinations, thats where im most confused/not clued up.

Any idea how HL2 would play on my current spec with a 9800pro?

Before it was released I was under the impression that would be a sensible upgrade to get me going, but it seems now that cpu speed is a fairly big issue and im just above the min 1.2ghz, obviously gfx card needs doing whatever. would be nice to be able to keep my 768mb ram.

recommendations on cards other than 9800 pro?

it never really bothered me upto now as I can play CS fine but I dont want to get left behind while everyone moves onto HL2 and CS:S

Well having thought about it / read about it / talked about it, I reckon im going to wait on PCI:express.

Seems silly upgrading to AGP now.

Hoping to get a PCI:e board with SLI after xmas, Athlon 64 3400 ish, and probably a 6600GT. Then eventually when I have some cash, upgrade my 768mb PC2100 to whatever I can afford.

Then if i still have some money after that, possibly get another 6600GT.

Any opinions on those plans much appreciated.

aye. one day when im not skint and theyre exceedingly cheap cakes!

looks like i wont be able to afford anything now though unless i have a particularly good christmas £-wise. doh. and my housemate just got HL2 and hasnt stopped rubbing it in.

bout 140 now.

i never meant I'd buy 2 GTs at the same time or shortly after each other. Was thinking maybe a year later when they're very cheap.

reality is im skint. very skint. it will have to be a good xmas if i upgrade.

but i do think my best option considering future upgrades is to go for nforce4 sli PCI:e m.board, athlon 64 3200 ish, and either a 6600, 6600gt, or poss 6800. sli boards are still expensive though so I'm hoping they are a lot cheaper in the new year.