What should I buy??

[tinkles]

All I really wanted was a new motherboard, but if I get one, I also have to get a new CPU,
Hard drive, and Video card, because nothing I have (AGP card, Socket 9 cpu, and ATA drive) is compatable with new boards. So which way do I go? I use my comp. for everything from recording music to graphic design to occasional gaming. I dont want to fork out anymore than $500 either. And I'm partial to AMD, and parts that wont be obsolete next year.

 

[mordantmonkey]

By socket 9 i assume you mean 939?
if that's the case then you should check out this board.
it is socket 939, accepts either AGP or PCI-e cards, ATA HD (most boards still do). it can also accept an X2 processor with a BIOS update.

it should be able to accomate your current hardware but also allow you to upgrade (PCI-e, SATA, X2) a little at a time.

 

[tinkles]

Sorry, I ment Socket A. Thanks for the tip.

 

[tinkles]

OK, but if I was going to buy new stuff, what would you suggest. Make the budget a little higher for video card.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Epox 9NPA $105
A64 3000+ $140
Sapphire X800GTO2 $210

Your hard drive will work, as will your ram but you may need a new power supply.

Then as you can afford to upgrade
Upgrade the PS

Upgrade the ram to 1 or 2gb of DDR400

Upgrade or add HDD

Upgrade CPU to dual core X2, opteron or whatever is available when your ready to upgrade.


You could also find the 3000+ used for around $100 which would save you some bucks, and I see the 3000+ as something you will eventually want to upgrade to dual core if recording/editing music and video are important to you. Dual core doesn't currently provide a big increase in games, but SMP games are coming soon and dual core owns multi-tasking, video and music editing, graphics rendering, etc...

 

[tinkles]

Why am I having trouble finding Epox motherboards? I live in Vancouver, but I doubt they're exclusive to America. Are they made by a different company?
I also forgot to mention that I'm partial to Nvidia.

 

[tinkles]

Epox is unavailable in Canada, apparently. I found some ads for older ones, and they were super expensive. I found a few other people from Vancouver looking for them as well.