Moving from AMD to Intel, What Chipset???

[escapek]

Okay, have been using the Athlon set of chips for my last few upgrades now, currently running a 2400 XP with an Epox 8RDA+ (nforce2) motherboard. Running 1 512Mb stick of Corsair XMS (I believe the PC2700 flavor) and a Geforce4 Ti4400 card. Been running this setup for close to a year now and must say it's run everything I've thrown at it flawlessly (gaming wise) and usually with all of the settings turned up (except FSAA).

Thinking of upgrading the system (Motherboard, CPU, Video and memory if necessary) and it appears to me that for the first time in a long time that going with an Intel CPU (namely the 2.6c looks attractive) makes sense from a speed/price point. My problem is that I haven't had an intel processor/motherboard combo in so long that I have no clue what the "best" motherboard chipset for the P4 2.6c would be right now. On the AMD side right now it's a no brainer, nforce2 (or possibly nforce3 but don't know if that's been released yet). What is the equivalent on the Intel side of the house?

Also, can I use my current Corsair memory in the new board? Lastly, if you were upgrading from a Geforce4 Ti4400 right now to get ready for the new wave of games, what would you go with? I'm leaning towards an ATI 9800 Pro 128mb.

Thanks! JMS

 

[Vette73]

Why do you want to upgrade if your current system is still kicking???


But if you want a Intel system you will NEED to get a Dual Ch board. So the 2 chipsets to look at are the Intel 865 and the SiS 655fx


But yea a Ati card right now is the best bet for video games. 9600pro or higher will do what you want

 

[nwfsnake]

I would keep the CPU and memory, and just do a video card upgrade. The difference between your 2400XP and a 2.6c is non-existent. You would get a little benefit from DDR, but not enough to worry about. With a 9800 pro you will be ready for HL2, D3, or anything else this next year!

 

[will889]

MSI Neo 865 and P4c 2.8 OC'ed easily to 3.2. Much faster.

 

[phpdog]

DFI Lan Party 875PRO
DFI Lan Party 875PRO rev B

I think the second one is called rev B , anyway its a newer version of the 875PRO , either get the new 875PRO ...or get the Origional 875PRO as the price will proberly drop if theres a new version out .

There pure quality boards .... made for overclockers ... you would need a 800FSB CPU to run in them, they do run the 400FSB/533FSB chips but they are a lot better with the 800FSB chip that they were designed for .

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: nwfsnake
I would keep the CPU and memory, and just do a video card upgrade. The difference between your 2400XP and a 2.6c is non-existent. You would get a little benefit from DDR, but not enough to worry about. With a 9800 pro you will be ready for HL2, D3, or anything else this next year!

The difference between a 2.6C (especially overclocked) and a 2400+ is huge - probably in the order of 20% (As long as you have fast dual channel memory).

However, I too would keep the 2400+ system and buy a 9800 Pro instead. It is a much more sensible upgrade - you will get much faster gaming performance than by doing the more costly CPU/MB/RAM upgrade.

But if you really want to go the Intel route, then nothing less than the 865PE or 875P boards will do. I'd personally recommend the Abit IS7 or IC7, respectively.

 

[airfoil]

The best board for the 2.6C would arguably be the Asus P4P800, with the 865 PE chipset. You could keep your RAM - probably buy another stick to get the benefit of the dual channel memory.

However, I dont believe upgrading from an XP 2500 will get you that much of a performance gain - I'd say its better to hold off until the next generation of procs is launched.

If you are a hard core gamer, then it would make sense to get a better VGA card and maybe look at getting a RAID 0 setup.

 

[Corporate Thug]

IS7 (865)

 

[stevennoland]

If your looking for the "best" then the 875P chipset is the best! The 865 holds a real close second (solely based on price/performance), but as time goes by, the 875P boards drop in price. I have an ABIT IC7-MAX3 board, and I love it! If $$$ is an issue, then go for the 865. If you haven't purchased anything, I would seriously consider waiting untill PCI express gets here. Also (and hopefully) SATA based CDRW and DVD drives should be here. PCI and PATA are legacy at this point. If you can wait, DO SO! I wish I had, but I started planning my new system back in March. I was one of the dummies who paid $200.00 plus for my first "Raptor". DOH! Now WD has doubled the capacity! DOH! DOH! As for your video card, again wait. Both ATI and NVIDIA are on board for AGP Express (I think that's what it's called). If you can't wait, then Ditto on the ATI 9800 Pro 128MB. Good luck. If any of the info I have stated is incorrect, then please let me know. Thanks.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: stevennoland
If your looking for the "best" then the 875P chipset is the best! The 865 holds a real close second (solely based on price/performance), but as time goes by, the 875P boards drop in price. I have an ABIT IC7-MAX3 board, and I love it! If $$$ is an issue, then go for the 865. If you haven't purchased anything, I would seriously consider waiting untill PCI express gets here. Also (and hopefully) SATA based CDRW and DVD drives should be here. PCI and PATA are legacy at this point. If you can wait, DO SO! I wish I had, but I started planning my new system back in March. I was one of the dummies who paid $200.00 plus for my first "Raptor". DOH! Now WD has doubled the capacity! DOH! DOH! As for your video card, again wait. Both ATI and NVIDIA are on board for AGP Express (I think that's what it's called). If you can't wait, then Ditto on the ATI 9800 Pro 128MB. Good luck. If any of the info I have stated is incorrect, then please let me know. Thanks.

PCI Express is still a bit off - 6 months at least. Also, "BTX" (the sucessor to the case form factor ATX) is still over a year off. You're definately safe with AGP and PCI for now - even the new generation of video cards will be either exclusively AGP or AGP and later PCI express.

As for Serial ATA, I'd definately get a board with it now.

 

[lycurgus]

Perhaps a noticable, but not a huge upgrade. Since you've said your current system still handles everything you throw at it, it's not clear what your objective is in upgrading. If you still want to upgrade for whatever reason, then 865 / 875 chipset is the way to go for P4. ASUS would be good, or even Intel if you don't plan on OC'ing.