Motherboard question...

[BSC14]

I want to start upgrading my pc.

The thing is I wanted to upgrade my CPU and MB first (around July) and my Video Card around Christmas. My video card is a Ati 9800 so I'll need a AGP slot, at the same time I want to be able to upgrade to a PCI-E videocard around Christmas.

So are there any good motherboards that support both AGP and PCI-E?

MY PC:
P4 2.4c GHZ, ABIT IS7-E, 1GB PC 3200, ATI 9800

Thanks guys!

EDIT: BTW I have seen this one.

THIS MB!

^ Don't know if it's any good.

 

[modedepe]

I think ECS made one that had both. ECS is of course not a very good manufacturer.

A search at newegg just now turned up one other board made by Biostar. Though it's for A64, I'm not sure if you're looking to stick with P4.

Edit: Yeah, that's the ECS board I was talking about. A lot of ECS boards are pretty flakey, though some have had ok experiences with them.

 

[mwmorph]

biostar has one nf4 board with agp and pcie support for something like $112 on newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-249&depa=1
if you're gonna game, go amd64.

 

[aatf510]

Boards with both AGP and PCI-E do not popular chipsets like Intel 915,925, and none of the large mobo manufactor will likely to make them. It might end-up causing you a lot of trouble. Newer AGP is not quite dead yet, so I think you will be fine with a AGP mobo for now.

 

[BSC14]

Thanks guys! You always answer my questions.

Anyway my plan is to go AMD because I do game. Probably AMD64 3500 or higher depending on how much it goes down in price by July.

I can use my ram with this MB and CPU right?

Is this a good MB? Sorry, I'm new to hardware but I'm trying to learn.

BIOSTAR "NF4UL-A9" NVIDIA NForce4 Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU

Thanks again!

 

[BSC14]

Should I just stick with AGP?

 

[ts3433]

All the AGP/PCIe mobos I've seen run the AGP slot off the PCI bus. Performance is badly crippled.

If you want to keep your current 9800, go ahead and keep AGP, but don't set your decisions in stone till when you're going to build (July). If you decide to upgrade your graphics, you'll probably want PCIe.

 

[BSC14]

I guess the best option is to buy a new case, cpu, gpu and MB at the same time. Damn I was trying not to have an buy a whole new pc at once but I see no other way to do it.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
biostar has one nf4 board with agp and pcie support for something like $112 on newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-249&depa=1
if you're gonna game, go amd64.

That boards AGP is piggybacking off the old PCI 32 bus and is not even a true 1x agp slot. So go ahead and forget about that one.

VIA will be releasing a chipset in a few months that will alow for the operation of AGP 8x and PCI-e at the same time. If you paired up a 6800 agp with a 6800PCI-e it is rumored that sli will still work.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: BSC14
Should I just stick with AGP?

No, abandon SHIP! Your 9800 won't be able to keep up with the pace of future games. Go with PCI-e a 16 pipe x800xl can be had for as little as $250.

 

[aatf510]

AGP x800xl has come out already.

 

[andy nowotny]

i don't like the mb has agp and pci-e

 

[Machine350]

IMHO, I would save up until you can get a pci-e mobo, pci-e vid card, and athlon 64. That 9800 pro is still a pretty good card right now. There's no sense in going with an agp mobo when everything will be pci-e in the next six months. Hold off awhile, save up, then go for broke, that way you won't be kicking yourself around christmas time.