Sli is pretty much a waste of cash imo, considering how quickly graphics
cards get updated these days.

its AGP8x, on the best 1 cpu mobo mcb.

Same gpu batch as 5900 and 5950Ultra.  Not

Snipped some from above.

These days, for gaming, 1GB of ram is a minimum imo, I'm about to upgrade to
2gb as swap file thrashing sucks, I'll likely go up to 4gb to further
eliminate the need for a swap file, HDD have, for a long time, been the main
bottleneck in any pc, but I do tend to play memory intensive games.

I just upgraded my VGA card, from a GF5900 128mb to a GF7800GS 256mb, in
oblivion, the autodetect changed me from a low to a ultra high, though it
was wrong and it runs better one setting down.

The VGA card I currentley have is considered, from what I can gather to be
the best AGP card available at the moment, though pound for pound you'll get
a  better pci-e card for less.

Your cpu is fine really, an upgrade there wont hurt but I reckon you'll get
better performance by just upgrading your memory to 1gb, and upgrading to
the best VGA card you can afford.

If you have the cash, a new pci-e mobo would definitley give you the best
'future proofing' but I did that with my last system, and the one before
that, in my experience, future proofing just doesnt work.

Also the kind of games I play tend to be long runners, not week long
affairs, so constant upgrading isn't essential for me, I'll upgrade once
every 2-3 years.

Put simply, for around £250 you can have a system improved by around 80%,
for around £600 you can have a new system that'll 'last' longer.

AMD A64 X2 4800+
Gigabyte GA K8N SLI
2 gigs PC3200 in dual channel
2 eVGA 7800GTX 256 meg ACS3 (SLI)
3 160g IDE ATA100 hd's
1 NEC double side DVD RW
XP Pro x64 & 32 bit
Onboard RealTek AC97  8 channel sound
Altec-Lansing 45s  (2 sat 1 sub woofer, old but *GOOD*!)
2 Samsung 204B  20.1" and 1 Samsung 930B 19" LCD flatpanel monitors.
Antec 550W ATX12V 2.1  dual +12v rails
All fans are 120mm 2000 rpm (except the vid cards stock cooling)

This X2 cpu was a year old in November.  This is the second mobo I've
had it in.  The first was AGP, this one is PCI-express x16.  Best damn
rig I've ever built, for everything.   Imaging, Photography, 3D progs,
Games.
I don't even need to run in SLI for playing FEAR at 1600x1200 with most
everything on and get 40+ framerates.  HL2 maxed out, everything,
1600x1200, framerates about 70ish. in single display acceleration but
NOT in SLI.    SLI isn't needed, really, so far :)  But it's avaialable,
and it adds about 30% MORE performance (speed) to full tilt FEAR, Far
Cry and HL2DM in 1600x1200.
Don't forget, these games are running in 64bits too.

*NOTHING* is OC'd.   This rig is fast and quiet.  Under full load
gaming, the CPU hits 43C, fan is at 3200.   That's just barely got it
warmed up good.

Your raptors do not help nearly as much as a full 2 gigs of even DDR400
would.  A 7800GS (AGP) would help you out some more.   A dual core
Extreme CPU would also be good.  But you'd have to change mobos, psu and
ram to use that.

My PNY FX5900-128 meg runs neck and neck with my Ati Radeon 9800 Pro
128.  WHAT is all this big hype about an ATI 9800 Pro?!?!?!   These are
both venerable but OLD cards, early stock.   The FX5900 is a lot more
stable under full 3D games loading than the 9800 Pro.  But they are both
very slow compared to a 6800GT even.  I think you can even get a 7900GS
for your AGP mobo.

All those 'system stats' don't mean a damn thing.   What matters is what
the games behave like.  If the games you play are fast and *smooth*, you
have quick response with silky smooth gameplay... THAT is the one stat
that matters.
Well, unless the "OC Clique" *IS* your game.

It was about this time a year ago that I finished building the current
iteration of my X2 rig.   I've been doing the build thing for many
years.   I've gone the OC route, I've burned out CPU's, ram, mobos, vid
cards, psu's learnig how it all works from the early days.   I
deliberately chose a different route this time.  I wanted and planned
out a fast, cool and quiet system.   I have that now.  It frikkin WORKS

about it.   With no OC'ing, this is still even now one of the baddest
game boxes around.
McG.