Piers Llewellyn

It's really starting to sound like I just need to start over from scratch. Not sure what I can do yet, but with that said, here's a summary of what I have right now: ATX case with RaidMax RD-350w powersupply AOpen AK77-400N Socket A motherboard- I was once told that this was the biggest bottleneck of my system due to the board's slow bus speed, but I could be confusing something else. AMD Athlon processor- can't remember speed. One I have that's not installed in anything is an Athlon labeled AXDA1800DUT3C. Seems like the other installed processor might be more powerful, but I can't remember. 4GB RAM- I can't remember the RAM spec as they're a couple of years old. Seems like they were in the midrange of prices for what I was buying. NVIDIA NV-18 series graphics card- the only other identifier I can find on it are the characters 02948-V1 CD/DVD RW drive Maxtor ATA/100 200GB hard drive Xubuntu Sounds like the important thing to do now is get a good, fast motherboard and processor, then focus on new graphics.

Hi everyone, Hopefully this is the best place to post a question like this. I've been running SL on an Xubuntu machine that's about four years old, maybe five. I can't remember all the specs other than it's an AMD socket A processor on an ATX motherboard, 4GB ram and a 200GB hard drive. The graphics card is close to ten years old. This setup's getting a little old, and the motherboard is crippled by a rather slow bus speed. The case is actually pretty old, as an ATX case with a 350w power supply. I would like to use this case and power supply, but understand that newer boards and graphic cards may need more juice. Ok, so, what do I need to do to build a new machine? I can probably spend $300 or $350 on new parts/upgrades. The emphasis will be on speed and graphical performance. If I'm using SL or similar graphic-oriented games, I want to run the graphics in the higher settings with reasonable detail and a realistic draw distance and frame rates. I'm aware that my budget could keep me from buidling the ultimate machine, but surely I can have a nice step up for this kind of money. Any suggestions such as suggested motherboards, graphics cards, power supplies etc will be appreciated, as well as where to buy these items. I appreciate everyone's input. Thank you, Piers