Hi all,i have a problem,a few weeks ago while i was at home(IN THE BRITISH ARMY AND BASED IN GERMANY)i was at my computer when all of a sudden it just died,after checking everything i found out that the mobo had died. I'am home on leave soon and was thinking about getting some new stuff,i "need" a new motherboard but was thinking what else i could upgrade to get better looks and performance,performance being my main aim. This is my rig as it stands now"amd 64 3500,abit av8pro 939"died",ati connect 3d x800 modded to xt,sound blaster live24bit,maxtor diamond max 8 80gb hd & max diamond max 8 40gb hd,thats about it, this gets me 70.546 in aquamark 3 and 12888 in 3d2003 and 6050 in 3dmark05 but i want more performance. Please post any thoughts you may have or opinions.big thanks to all those that help. ~david P.S whats the best pre built cooling case i can get,i have a budget of about £400-500 for these upgrades,thanks again

Hi Just replace the mobo, it worked ok and you rig isnt a slouch. so why change. may be change the HDD's for a single 200gig http://www.aria.co.uk pick up the 'GHz' computer mag on your way home ,wh smiths, (no really) its about as far as you can go for uber mods with style. everything else pales into insignificance. you probably have m8s who can do the paint jobs as depicted in the mag , they look beyond cool. case links etc http://www.xcase.co.uk/ http://www.kustompcs.co.uk 1step

You may want to consider an Nforce4 motherboard and a PCI-e gfx card, but I would agree to stay where you are because I don't see it getting much better than what you already have. MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!

Wow, mr. heropsycho, that sounds like an ultra-powerful system. If he can afford it, I say go for it! But because it has an nVidia chipset, I again suggest a couple GeForce FX cards. Does ati have SLI cards yet? Wait, is there such a thing as a card designed for SLI? It's a rather new configuration to me. And I think the nForce4 chipset is designed exclusively for SLI setups. BTW, if you don't know: SLI=Scan Line Interleave, meaning two graphics cards working together.

Yes, I know what SLI stands for. I also know the SLI technology derived from 3dfx technology, a company NVidia acquired after Nvidia beat the ever loving snot out of 3dfx years ago. No, Nforce4 isn't made for SLI only. In fact, there are two variations of the NForce4 motherboards that don't have SLI, and one that does. ATI doesn't have SLI. Yes, there are cards made to be able to do SLI. With that said, it doesn't mean SLI is that big a deal. You must pay a premium for an SLI board. It could be a nice way to upgrade your graphics power later, but in most cases, it only makes sense if you buy two top notch gfx cards now. For example, two 6600GT's @$200 are more powerful than a 6800 @ $400, but not by much, and you have to factor the extra money spent on the motherboard to do SLI, as well as the power supply able to feed both cards. Having an Nvidia chipset motherboard doesn't mean you get any inherent performance advantage using Nvidia instead of ATI other than SLI possibilities IF you have an SLI board. Funny how my 9800 Pro runs like a champ on my Nforce2 Ultra 400 motherboard, and beat anything Nvidia had out at the time in performance. Nice try, Nvidia Boy. MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!