Need mobo/cpu upgrade but want to keep agp card.

Ok, so here's what I've got:

WinXP
Pentium 4 2.8
6800 GT AGP
Intel D850EMV2
1gig RAM
1600x1200 lcd flatscreen monitor


I've been noticing a slowdown in FPS lately, and I'm thinking that perhaps my system is cpu limited. I want to continue to run at native lcd res of 1600x1200, and I'd like to not have to replace my vidcard - spent 400+ on the damn thing. Don't really want to upgrade but 5fps is not acceptable.

I've been trying to read up on the new cpus and mobos, and although I used to build systems regularly, today's stuff is sorta overwhelming since I haven't kept up my knowledge.

I'd like to keep the mobo/memory/cpu upgrade to $600-$700, I might go a bit higher if I have to replace the vid card too for PCI-E.

You're about to hear Conroe a lot.

I'm not sure there are any agp mobos that support Conroe though. Honestly I would ebay the 6800GT and put it towards a PCI-E 7900GT. Should be about $150 difference. Then you'll have a lot of mobo/cpu choices.

Probably not a good overclocker, but meets your needs...

http://www.asrock.com/product/775Dual-VSTA.htm

Here it is at newegg.com - pretty cheap - worth a try...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157092

Lets you keep your "old" ddr memory and AGP Card, but also has slots for PCI-Express and DDR2 when you are ready.

SUPPORTS CONROE and Allendale...

csidden said:

SUPPORTS CONROE and Allendale...

Click to expand...

I stand corrected. Although a VIA chipset for Intel is far from ideal.

The fact that it supports DDR and AGP should make it a fairly popular stopgap for those that don't want to go all out right away. In that case it's worth a try. But I'd shun it as a permanant solution.

do keep in mind that mobo with via chipset has some problems with newer 7800+agp cards from what i have read. im not completey sure but i would google for the mobo and pci-e. just to make sure if you drop in a pci-e 7800+ it will work. There was something i was reading a while back about that board. It may have been early issues since it was the first and only board IIRC that is agp/pci-e.

Here is a review at Anandtech.com that shows the performance of this Asrock board compared to other Core 2 Duo boards. It is true that this board is slower than most of the others, but not by a really wide margin. See for yourself...

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797

I've been waiting to upgrade but wanted to hang on to my 6800GT AGP card until DX10 cards had been on the market for while.

I've been feeling like my Socket A system was really becoming slow and decided to upgrade. The Asrock 775 dual board allowed me to upgrade and keep everything I owned already except the Conroe chip. I picked up a E6400 and put the system together yesterday.

So far I'm really happy with the speed. I'm still working on installing everything and downloading all of the patches, etc. but I have no regrets so far. Some other guys on the forums bought this board as well.

IMO, the $54 I spent on this board will be well worth it even if I don't get any overclocking out of it. Once the dust has settled and there are clearcut winners for mobos then I can replace this board.

Check out Anandtech's latest review http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2813&p=1 on this board. They did a comparison between memory performance on this board with DDR and DDR2. The difference is minimal when it comes to this board so it seems to be a good interim solution for upgraders.

The site will follow up with a similar comparison between AGP and PCI-E graphics cards of similar specs. I say check it out and see what you think.

I've only been set up for about a day or two now and am happy with the nice speedboost. I've only done a minor overclocking and if you're looking to do some serious overclocking then you probably should look to another board. I'm looking to do that some time in the future but wanted something right now to use by memory and AGP card.

csidden said:

http://www.asrock.com/product/775Dual-VSTA.htm

Here it is at newegg.com - pretty cheap - worth a try...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157092

Lets you keep your "old" ddr memory and AGP Card, but also has slots for PCI-Express and DDR2 when you are ready.

SUPPORTS CONROE and Allendale...

Click to expand...

Awesome info! Thank you csidden. You answered the question I was gonna ask. I am running on an old overclocked P4 @ 3.4GHz with 1GB GEIL RAM & an EVGA 6800 Ultra AGP card. The P4 is so damn slow, and i'm too damn poor to upgrade. Now that I have saved for the past month, I have $300 to spend on upgrades. Waiting to save some more $ to get a better mobo is not an option at this time.

I am thinking about getting:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

Total = $290 (Before Tax & shipping)

Since your post, are there any better mobo's out that you are aware of that support the C2D, but also support old DDR & AGP?

Thanks again man!

-MRG

MRG said:

Awesome info! Thank you csidden. You answered the question I was gonna ask. I am running on an old overclocked P4 @ 3.4GHz with 1GB GEIL RAM & an EVGA 6800 Ultra AGP card. The P4 is so damn slow, and i'm too damn poor to upgrade. Now that I have saved for the past month, I have $300 to spend on upgrades. Waiting to save some more $ to get a better mobo is not an option at this time.

I am thinking about getting:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

Since your post, are there any better mobo's out that you are aware of that support the C2D, but also support old DDR & AGP?

Thanks again man!

-MRG

Click to expand...

not unless you live in EU and can get the arsock conroei865 mobo. Its not going to be sold in the USA. the vista is the only board with ddr and agp for c2d in the USA.