Dire fps!

[Conjon]

Hey i'd just like some advice on bumping up my fps for smoother gameplay. I play Counter Strike Source but with an average of 50-100 fps my game doesnt run too well.

First off I run with:

Abit SG-80DC (socket 775)
Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz
512mb ram DDR (planning to bump up to 2gb soon)
nvidia 7300gt 256mb (AGP, my motherboard doesnt have any pci-e slots which limits my choice)

I was thinking of upgrading my ram to 2gb and then my gfx card to a 7600gs nvidia 256mb, but im not sure if it'll make that much difference. I've been told to upgrade to upgrade to core2 duo cpu, but i want your opinion first

Can anyone help me improve my fps for smoother gameplay the cheapest way possible? (small budget =/)
thanks.

 

[mopar man]

Sorry, but how the **** do you consider that not well?

That aside, have you tried lowering the quality? If its on low (god forbid), then try using Caseys Config. Search Counter-Strike Source Problems on this forum, and find my topic.

 

[Conjon]

well after playing several aim maps which give good fps, and then playing more popular maps the fps drops to around 50 and it so much harder to play with, people can get up to 200 + fps on these maps, i was just seeing if i could spend a little more to get 100.

I use low gfx on game yeah, atm i've just reformatted and i'll try an fps config.

 

[mopar man]

Well, yeah, I believe the Processor would give more of a boost, but maybe someone like Rage_3k_Moiz will come and tell us his opinion.

 

[Conjon]

my motherboard doesnt support core2 duo so thats out of the question untill I start fresh :S

 

[mopar man]

Hmm.... IDK which I would do then. The Ram really needs to be addressed, also.

 

[MrGaribaldi]

There are a couple of good gpus available with AGP, though it depends on how much money you're willing to spend on it.
For about 160$ you can get ATI X1950 Pro, which will outperform the 7600GS in most, if not all, games.
Going up to 220$, you can get a ATI HD3850, which again is even better, though I'm not sure how much use you'd get from it with your cpu. (In new games, you could add more shaders/increase graphics settings, but with CS I'm unsure)

But with the 7600GS costing as little as 85$, I'm not sure what to recommend... You will got a lot more mileage from the 1950/3850, but since you'll need to change to PCI-Express when you upgrade next, it might not be worth it.
How long until you plan to upgrade your entire machine?

 

[Conjon]

6 months time about I think i'll wait, thanks anyway

 

[MrGaribaldi]

By all means, I think that waiting 6 months is the sensible solution in this case...