Radeon 9100 Pro

[3RA1N1AC]

well, it looks like that board is compatible with your current CPU & RAM, so that's good. i'm not too familiar with Intel-compatible boards, but VIA (the company that designed its chip set) is a good company. my older PC has an AMD-compatible motherboard from VIA, and it still works fine after a few years... so i don't imagine the Shuttle AV49N would give you any problems.

re: thermal paste to put on the CPU-- Arctic Silver III is the old stand-by that most people swear by. there are other brands, but Arctic Silver is good. make sure to clean the old thermal gunk off your Celeron with rubbing alcohol (and let the alchohol evaporate) before you put the new stuff on it.

as far as video cards, a Radeon 9000 or better ("PRO" models are preferable) or GeForceFX 5200 or better ("Ultra" models are preferable) would pretty much rock Counter-Strike and be able to run most newer games at decent speeds. i know i already said "don't get a Radeon 9100 PCI" and i'm recommending (at least) a 9000 AGP, but the AGP slot really makes enough of a difference that the slightly slower video chip performs much better because of the faster slot.

i'm not one of those people that would tell you to buy a bunch of expensive computer crap just because it's cool to own the latest stuff-- i honestly believe that spending around $150-$160 on a motherboard + AGP video card is a better idea (and the game performance will be much more satisfying) than spending $50-$100 on another PCI video card. it'll give you more bang for your buck, imho.

[kazaaliterock]

if i get that board no way am i gonna get pci 9100. the agp versoin is faster and cheaper too.