Ram

[shadows5631]

You could get a nice looking cheap case if you wanted as well. Cooling is a must.

That's a really nice budget machine that he posted.

 

[Krause]

Yeah, I thought so too.

 

[reflex99]

Yea, If you want to build a new rig, you can put up a thread in tech talk, and i assure that you will get 1000X more responses than you will get in this thread.

 

[dudethatrocks]

no you cannot run agp in pci. you would need to know exactly what cpu you have because it has a "socket" which allows it to fit into your motherboard. so you can get a new motherboard in order to run pci-e which would be vastly better for gaming, but the cpu probably wouldn't be the correct "socket" for your motherboard, meaning you'd need a new one. also the ram might be different as well, meaning that needs upgrading too.
pretty much you need all of your components to work together, and it all starts with the mobo.

seriously do not worry about upgrading what you currently have. just look to saving up as much money as you possibly can (including holiday season) and you can get a good rig that is great for a lot of games like CSS for maybe 400 bucks, especially if you can keep your old case/HDD/monitor/keyboard/mouse.

what i would suggest would be something like this (assuming your case is not fullsize and is a micro ATX case):
CPU
MOBO
RAM
PSU
VGA

total comes to 417.95 with a 10 dollar MIR with only the mobo and ram having shipping costs. add tax onto it and there ya go. upped the graphics to gtx because you could afford it in the 400-500 budget, especially if you wanted to go cheaper for a PSU (but i favour corsair). You can also go a bit more expensive on the mobo if needed or wanted, but that would get you where you need to be.

He could save a bunch of money if he bought something like a sempron. The majority of semprons with the AM3 socket are actually disabled athlon II x2's. If a motherboard you buy has the ACC function in the bios, and the right chipset, that other core(s) can be unlocked. Its a gamble but if your lucky, itll pay off. (just thought id bring this to your attention) As for the athlon II x2, its a great Cpu which should preform really well.

 

[ENZ0]

nice

 

[JunK]

ya i don't see what you're saying about semprons, links at all?

 

[dudethatrocks]

ya i don't see what you're saying about semprons, links at all?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Sempron_140/12.html

sorry for the late post, havent been near my computer too much recently.