Mobo, CPU Upgrade Questions

[coremortality]

Hi everyone,

My friend and I are both currently running Athlon XP 3000+ systems and are looking to upgrade to dual core systems. We can only really afford a new mobo and cpu at the moment, and we were hoping to use our AGP 6800 GT GPU's and DDR 400 ram. I've done a little research and it looks as though our options are pretty limited as far as Mobo's are concerned. So far I've only found the ASRock 939Dual-VSTA and the ECS P4M800PRO-M (V2.0) Socket T or the PC CHIPS P23G (V3.0) Socket T as the only viable options for running AGP w/ dual core CPU's.

We've both been really happy with our AMD systems for the last 5 years and have had bad experiences with Intel based systems in the past though we are open try them again.

Which path will allow us the greatest upgrade ability? The ASRock is tempting because it will allow us to use our old GPU's and eventually buy PCI-Express cards and from there a PCI-X only mobo. However, I thought I read somewhere that AMD is going to be phasing out the 939 socket relatively soon.

We mostly use the systems for gaming but I do some graphic design and my friend does modeling in 3DS and Maya as a hobby. Any input is welcome.

-Eric

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

edit

 

[Operandi]

Save your money and do it the right way.

A good Intel Core2 or AMD AM2 board, + DDR2 RAM, and PCI-E graphics card.

 

[coremortality]

What are the advantages of Core2 vs. AM2? For the most part all I've seen is price and possibly availability. Does any one have any actual advice besides "save your money" and "don't bother?" It's much easier to buy parts at a time vs. building a whole new system at once.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: coremortality
What are the advantages of Core2 vs. AM2? For the most part all I've seen is price and possibly availability. Does any one have any actual advice besides "save your money" and "don't bother?"

Read and decide for yourself.

Originally posted by: coremortality
It's much easier to buy parts at a time vs. building a whole new system at once.

AGP and DDR1 are now legacy technology's. You can find a couple of boards for modern CPUs that will accommodate them but they reserved for the low-end and generally not very good in my opinion.

Besides you still going to GPU limited with a 6800GT in many games anyway.

 

[mshan]

You can often get a Core 2 Duo Dell desktop (E520) for around $550 + tax at Dell when they offer their coupons.

Only thing to note is that all internal connections are SATA, so if you have an IDE optical drive you want to use, you will need an adapter.


They also currently have x2 3800+ AMD machines (E521) for $299 + tax. (also only have SATA connectors)

 

[coremortality]

The SATA isn't a problem. My Current system is an Abit NF7-S 2.0 w/ Athlon XP+ 3000 Barton, 1GB Kingston HyperX Dual Channel DDR 400, 2x WD 80GB Cavier SATA, EVGA 6800 GT AGP. My friends system is quite a bit more modest.

I was hoping mostly to kind of build a system that would act as a stepping stone, allowing me to only worry about a couple pieces of hardware for the time being (CPU, Mobo) then upgrade my GPU and RAM and the my CPU and Mobo when I have the cash. Thanks again.

-Eric

 

[Skitzer]

My daughter had a Soltek nForce 2 mainboard with an XP Mobile, 9800 Pro, 40GB ATA drive and a gig of PC3200 Crucial Ballistix.
About 6 months ago I bought her an Asus 939 Dual Sata mainboard (open box Newegg $33 shipped), and an FX55 (newegg sale $139). She used her 9800 Pro until about a week ago when I bought her a used X1800XT 512MB card (from the FS Forum for $200) and a Sata 2 160GB hard drive (again a newegg sale $48). We sold her old mainboard, cpu and video card for $140.
My point is we upgraded her system a few items at a time as we could afford it and now she has a pretty nice setup.
I think you've got the right idea if you're on a tight budget.