Your Opinions Please

[WxMan]

I'm really impressed with the wealth of knowledge in this forum. You all helped me out 3 years ago when I built my current system, and I'm looking forward to your advice again.

My current specs:
Antec ATX Case with 400W Allied power supply and 3 case fans
Intel P4 2.8 ghz cpu
Asus P4PE motherboard with onboard LAN and sound
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro- Video Card with Catalyst 4.5 driver
1gb MB DDR- 2700 memory (2 512 mb sticks)
100 GB Western Digital HD
10GB Maxtor HD


I'm looking to upgrade my system mainly because of an issue I'm having with my video card. Also the AGP slot on the moboard maxes out at 4X, so my initial thought was to get a new board to support an PCI Express card.

Although the Missus has given me 'carte blanche' to upgrade, I fear that poking the bear with an immediate $1200 bill is not advisable. I want to do this in stages while using the machine. To that end I researched motherboards that will allow me to do that and have found one that will be on the market soon.

http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/products/desktop/bdb/dg965ry/feature/index.htm

I'm assuming that my present CPU will work but may need an adapter. Is this a correct assumption? Will my old CPU work with the memory bus required? Will I be able to use my current hard drives which are EIDE?

These are my initial questions. I would like to thank you in advance for any opinions, advice, insights or alternative suggestions.

[Krusty]

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First piece of advice: AVOID Intel brand motherboards. Sure they're fine at first but very limited capabilities, esp. in the BIOS. If you like overclocking, forget it (Intel doesn't allow it).

If you can find a board with the same capabilities but from another (well known) manufacturer I say go with it.

If you're going PCIe for 3D, you don't need one with integrated video. Sometimes there are issues with onboard graphics interfering (sometimes).

[mipoikel]

Originally posted by Krusty
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First piece of advice: AVOID Intel brand motherboards. Sure they're fine at first but very limited capabilities, esp. in the BIOS. If you like overclocking, forget it (Intel doesn't allow it).

 

Dear Krusty, better stay in basics...Intel mobos are very stable and really good for basic user.

[Skuzzy]

You bave a lot of options there.  It all depends on how much you want to spend.

Your current motherboard, with an upgraded BIOS (version 1006) will support 200Mhz FSB speeds and Northwood CPU's.  The AGP slot also supports AGP8X speeds.  The 9800Pro was the first ATI card to support AGP8X, if I recall correctly.

However, with the 478 pin CPU socket, you are stuck using a Prescott (unless you can find a 3Ghz Norhwood).  The Prescott is the worst Pentium 4 CPU Intel every released.  Avoid it at all costs.

If you want to stay Intel, make sure to get a motherboard which supports the new Conroe CPU.  The ASUS PW5-DH Deluxe has been getting good reviews.  Of course, if you replace the motherboard, you will be looking at replacing the RAM (DDR2 RAM required) and the video card (PCI Express slot) as well.

The Conroe E6800 is not clock locked, allowing you to set the bus multiplier.  Just FYI for those into overclocking.