Motherboard replacement: Upgrade or downgrade?

[Crazy Joe Davola]

Hi,

My computer (Prescott 3GHZ, 2GB RAM, saphire raidon x1950 pro) had it's MB replaced due to a malfunction.

My old MB was an ASUS P5GD1-VM. It's 915G based (onboard graphics adapter disabled), uses DDR1 and is feature heavy:2 IDE interfaces (so I can connect my cdrom and secondary HDD separately), surround exits( that I don't use), and parallel port which I use for a custom project.
The new MB that I received is the Intel DG31PR. It's G31 based, uses 800MHZ DDR2 and has the least features on an MB ever: only 1 IDE interface, no parallel port, and half the sound ports. Also it LACKS A HEATSINK ON THE SOUTH BRIDGE which seamed strange and alarming considering that both my older computer, my older MB and my newer computer all have one.

I am concerned because even though the new board uses a newer chipset and faster memory, it seams to be very low-end. I'm considering whether to ask the shop for a different MB or to stick with what they gave me. The alternative will probably be a 915p board with DDR2.
I don't overclock.

Questions:
1) Should I expect better, same or worse performance with the current MB, compared to what I had before?
2) One of the alternatives they had was a fancy Gigabye model with 915P and DDR2. Will that perform better/worse then what they gave me?
3) Is it normal/healthy for the south bridge to lack a heat sink?
4) Will putting both my secondary HDD and CDROM on the same IDE interface will serve a significant performance hit when using those drives? If so, will this only happen when using both at the same time or also when using them one at a time? (my OS HDD uses SATA.)

Thanks for reading all of this, and big thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[zCypher]

If you don't overclock and you have sufficient cooling in your case, I doubt it will be a problem. Otherwise you may want to add a heatsink? I am waiting for my G31 board which should arrive today or tomorrow, mine is an MSI. You're right about the features, it is basic. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing unless you want/use those extra features. I was going to get a P5Q but the G31 board was less than half the price, and it's not for a high end system anyway.

If you have both cdrom and hard drives on the same cable, I do believe this will only impact performance when attempting to use both at the same time. If your HD is SATA, this means you have a HD #2 on IDE + CDROM on IDE right? Hopefully someone here can confirm but I do think it's only if you access both at the same time that it might display a hit in performance.

As for MB performance... I would think that the G31 should still be quite good, but I don't know your old board so it's hard to say. All the reviews I've seen for the G31 have been positive, people have been happy with their boards.