7800 GS OC Need MB/CPU Upgrade options

[Capt Fiero]

This may be the wrong place to post this but I wanted to build the computer around the video card. Ok my Fiancée has an older rig, she is addicted to UT2K4 and F.E.A.R. She plays online under the name FieroChick.

Her rig was top notch about oh gasp 3 years ago. AMD Barton 2500 OC to 3200 spec. Asus A7N8X board and a Ti4600 with 512mb of DDR ram.

We went out and picked up a 300gig 16mb drive, 7800GS OC another 512mb of DDR and a 22" Wide Screen LCD. We decided that the house is going to make one last AGP cycle. (we have 4 gaming rigs and 6 workstations at the house)

We built her rig so long ago I can't even remember what the socket was "socket 7 maybe" I know or at least I am pretty positive it is NOT a 939 and that kinda leaves her out in the cold for serious power upgrades.

So what do you guys think is the best route to take. I am going to build a C2D rig, but that will be my baby. We are both itching to see what UT2K7 turns out out be. (praying for AI of Fear and super graphics. but the more battle style of UT)

P.S. anyone know of any games that are NFSU2 meets UT2K4. Racing and shooting each other, upgrading vehicles.

 

[doublejack]

Well, since you bought a new vid card and are now looking at a cpu/mobo combo to work with it I have to say I would have gone to a PCI express platform. IMO, the idea behind buying a 7800GS is to salvage one last year out of a decently high end AGP system. Using that card as the basis to build a new rig around is going to result in you sinking quite a bit of money into something that's obsolete the minute you build it.

That said, the 7800GS is a fine card and can run anything out today. You'll want an Athlon64, either socket 754 or 939. I see you are in canada so I don't think you can buy from newegg. If you could they have a sweet combo deal right now for $100 that would fit the bill perfectly. It's an Athlon 3400 & a Biostar NF3 mobo. Linky
Something like that is all you need to get the most out of the 7800GS.

 

[Maviryk]

I would go with socket 939, so that if you do decide to go to PCI-E, you would be able to use the Proc and Ram again. But I'm not familiar with 939/Agp boards, so no comment there.

However I do know about Dothan rigs. If you are upgrading, you can donate your P4P800 to her, buy a Ct-479 adaptor($50), and a Pentium M Dothan 730 or 750(~$50 off of ebay), overclock them to about 2.6-2.7Ghz(with the stock Ct-479 cooler) and they'll outperform an Opteron 144(Socket 939).

My old Dothan (PM750 @ 2950Mhz with Asus P4C800-ED)+7800GS agp rig outperformed AMD 3800 + ATI x850(PCI-E) rigs all the time.

 

[stereo555]

AsRock Duel SATA2 (939) .

Cheap price , AGP and PCIE slots , decent oc'ing options in bios (but not great) ; but a rock solid board .

I LUV'd my AsRock Duel while I had it (10 months). I only recently changed boards to do future SLi . The AsRock ran my Opty 165 with ease (@ a 750 mhz oc) , and through a few AGP and PCIE transitions .
Board was rock solid , specialy with the new bios 2.0/2.2 .

I recommend it .