Suggestions for a new motherboard.

[MGSolidSnake5]

Alright, I'm in search of a new motherboard, and I was curious if I could get some suggestions.

My current motherboard: ASUS A7V8X-X Socket A (Socket 462) VIA KT400 ATX AMD Motherboard
My current processor: AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 2600+ (45W) Barton 266MHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket A Processor - OEM

I would have reason to believe that my processor is fine. I don't need anything that's top of the line. I was looking into the possiblity of a new motherboard though. I was looking on NewEgg and can across this:

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe Socket A (Socket 462) NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 ATX AMD Motherboard

Now, I'm somewhat of a beginner when it comes to getting stuff like this for my computer, but I do know what I'm doing. Just a little bit of help would be nice. Oh, before I forget, I guess you'd like to know what I usually use my computer for. It's mainly for gaming. I have the ATI 9800 Pro, SoundBlaster sound card, 1GB RAM (PC 2700), all the basic stuff needed for gaming. Then I have the music and all that other crap.

I see that both motherboards are decent reviews. My question whether or not it's worth it to get a new motherboard. I like the wifi feature. It'd be nice to use with my PSP. Of course, that's not the reason I want this motherboard. Also, I don't need RAID. All the other features would be nice to have. I'll add anything about my computer later on if anyone needs to know.

I'm open to any suggestions, like if you think another motherboard would be better for me. Just as long as it's a Socket A and is AMD Athlon XP 2600+ compatible.

 

[grooge]

Doing that will only be money wasted.. wait for a while and jump in A64 era.. That would definitively worth it much more that simply upgrading for nothing as you plan to do..

 

[ts3433]

What do you think you need a new board for? Any performance difference between the VIA and NVIDIA chipsets will be negligible. If it's more overclockability you're looking for, maybe consider a used NF7-S or something. Not much point in buying more into a dead platform at this stage.

 

[imported_nitrus]

i would wait too, expect a price drop in june. i wouldent be surprised if the 2800 and the 3000 a64 models were below 100. you can also find asus MBs below 75 dollars for a64.

 

[MGSolidSnake5]

Alright, thanks for the help. Like I said, I'm kinda new to building computers. I have a sense of what I'm doing, but I'm not exactly up-to-date on all of the hardware. Now, if I do go for the AMD 64, which processor/ASUS motherboard would you suggest?

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: nitrus
i would wait too, expect a price drop in june. i wouldent be surprised if the 2800 and the 3000 a64 models were below 100. you can also find asus MBs below 75 dollars for a64.

I doubt we'll see any A64s below the $100 mark. I read somewhere that AMD doesn't want to go below that price point for their A64's. Remember when the Athlon XP 1700+ TBred B could be had for only $42-$45 shipped a couple years ago? That was a killer deal. They want to make money this time

 

[TRniTrowood]

754 AMD64 boards and CPU's are a bargain now days and are a great platform to upgrade to.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Don't even bother with a new motherboard. You're really not likely at all to see any performance increase(negligible enough). You're fine for some time. Once Dual Core A64's come out,the single cores will be cheaper and THEN you could upgrade. But for now, you're fine.

-TPG