Old 6800U (AGP) + new PCIe/AGP motherboard: Keep or u/g video card?

[Bannor]

Hey all - It's been a while since I've been on top of newer hardware (for about 1-2 years) which is largely why I was hoping to glean someone's advice.

All the hardware in my sig is current, including the recently deceased MSI NEO-FIS2R motherboard. Of course I'm freaked, what with having spent $500 for my PNY Verto 6800 Ultra (the one of the first to occupy 2 IO slots) and AGP having been an antiquated architecture for over a year. Looking at new MBD/CPU scenario's, the best I can afford is an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice) and likely a $80-$100 MBD (meaning I'd have to make a new video card purchase).

I was amazed and scared to find a manufacturer who has created a motherboard that posesses a 16X PCIe slot as well as an AGP (XGP) slot, speaking of the Biostar TForce4U motherboard. I've come to learn the XGP slot only supports up to 4X speeds, but seeing how most AGP cards don't take advantage of speeds higher than 4X I'm not as concerned with this.

My questions to whoever's been willing to read through all of this is:
1) Keeping in mind the obvious perks of PCIe over AGP, is there an nVidia video card in the $150 range (or anything below $400 for that matter) that will give me comparable or better performance than my beloved 6800U? (Note: I've had quirky video performance but have been unable to discern if it's because of the 6800U or the MBD and RAM.)
2) Keeping in mind the obvious improvements in the newer AMD motherboard architecture (and the fact that it's not Intel ;-), is the difference in performance between the P4 2.8GHz 800FSB and AMD's 3200+ (pre- & post-OC'd) significant enough to warrant blowing $300 for a new MBD/CPU? Or am I just better off keeping all the same hardware and simply looking for another AGP motherboard to hold me over till the next motherboard/CPU generation leap is made?

Thanks in advance for any and all input on this, as well as keeping the flames to a low regarding the incredible size of my post. I'm just really freaked, split on green and have to act fast >.<;;

 

[disk11]

1. In the ~$150 range, it'd would be tough, the best you can do is a 7600 GT. In the $400 range, the 7900 GT would wallop your 6800 for $300.

2. If you get a good OC (~2.7 ghz) you will give yourself a very nice CPU upgrade.

I personally think you should wait on a major upgrade with Intel and AMD putting out new stuff soon. It may limit what parts for socket 939 PCs will have should you decide you want a CPU or RAM upgrade in a year or two.

If you get the right P4 board, you might be able to OC your CPU more and hold off on upgrading until it really gets long in the tooth.

 

[muddocktor]

If you are in the US, I would recommend that you get the Asrock Dual SATA2 mobo , which not only has a fully functional PCI-e slot but also has a fully functional AGP8X slot and it's cheap too. It's a bit limited in it's voltage options in bios but it is also easy to vmod too. I have one in a dedictated F@H number cruncher and you can't beat it for the price. You can get that board and use your present vid card, then later you can upgrade to a PCI-e card at your convenience. It is also capable of running high HTT numbers too, so you can get the most out of your overclock and memory bandwidth. You can even run both an AGP card and a PCI-e vid card at the same time, but it's not in SLI mode or anything, just multi monitor support.

EDIT: I see that you are running a P4 that the mobo died on; I assume that's a socket 478 board. You could also just replace the mobo for around $90 with an Asus P4P800SE board . I have one of those too and it's also a very nice board.

 

[harryinny3]

I would also get the asrock duel. Im running one and have had Zero issues useing AGP at first then switching to a PCIexpress vidio card. Not one issue yet. Great price and the ability to use the next generation of AMD processor Useing an expansion card.

Yes you will see a great difference Between your Intel and the AMD in my opinion. I seen MAjor difference in BF2 going from a 2.8 Intel to an AMD 3700+

Hope this helps.

Harry