Might get a upgrade, motherboard and processor, need advice

[Ilendil]

Well, I might get a upgrade as my current one is getting somewhat old (two years).
I plan on getting a new motherboard/processor, my current one is a Athlon XP 2100+ with a ASUS A7S333 Motherboard (D3A).
The main reasons I want a new mobo is because this current one is pretty slow, most of the programs show it running as 133MHz FSB and is capable of only 4x AGP.
My current video card, an ATI RADEON 9800 PRO, is definately bottle necked because it is capable of 8x AGP.

As there are many brands of motherboards out there I would like to ask if someone can give advice on what I should buy, I would desire a motherboard and processor that is pretty cheap but can run my video card without bottle necking it.

 

[SD_Ryoko]

I got to a point where I don't buy anything but Intel boards. I've had Gigabyte, Tyan, Asus, generic space boards, ECC, just about everything. Every one had a problem, except the Intels. I'm running three intel boards now and its beautifull.

I think my biggest complaint is, I HATE the VIA chipset. I really do. You'd be suprised how many people on tech support sites are crying about VIA chips, drivers, and compatability.

Intels are really easy to set up, they go in with no trouble at all, and the support is great. ECC is a generic intel board really, with intel chipset... they look almost exactly the same too... If you wanna go the cheap route ; there it is.

I am biased against AMD's because of the compatability problems I had here at work. We had 4 major software components that would not run on the CAD/CAM machines, and had to get additional patches & plug-ins to get them to run. Plus, the stupid thing was not compatabile with SB Live! card I ordered for it. DOH.

My 2 cents.

 

[atomaro]

Obviously if you are going AMD, then Intel is out. I like the products from Gigabyte. Never had any issues. 1 thing to point out is there really is no benefit from going to 8x AGP and 4xAGP. Tomshardware has posted articles and benchmarks on it. I'm not sure how I feal about the Via chipset. I have had VIA in my last 2 boards and never had issues...but the nforce chips are supposed to yield better performance. I would tend to stay away from ECS, you get what you pay for...a cheap board...there are better alternatives

I would get for a board either...
1. Gigabyte
2. Asus
3. MSI


my 2 cents

 

[Wargasm]

it all depends on the cash

last couple years i bin using amd with ati chipsets . tho no real or big problems i could notice the difference when i went back to intel

granted this is a kickass system i have now and if it wherent for the tax deduction i got on it i would never have bought it (44% is covered by the IRS) but damn it is stable as a rock ..

the difference between agp 4x and 8x is not much as i mentioned b4 on these forums ..


i will never use Gigabyte in my life again .. complete and total junk . and i can know coz i seen hunderds of them at the comp shop i work .. and it is complete and total junk ..
funny enuff asrock (cheap asus) is a good board for not mucho money

ati chipsets are so so if it runs it runs and amen .
SIS chipsets for the p4's are a waste of money . never seen a more worthless chipset in my life .
the intel 865 or 875 hhahaha reminds me of the good old bx 440 chipset rock damn solid ..

 

[Ilendil]

Well I can see that there are very different points of views posted but I guess AGP really doesn't matter but the FSB is really bothering me as it is shown as only 133 MHz.
I won't have any problems installing it in my computer as I've had to upgrade it more than enough times before, so any more advice on what board and processor I should get, I don't really mind if its Intel or Athlon.

 

[Unregistered]

bottom line is .
check for a mobo you think is okay price wise .
then check online for reviews.

it is my believe that there okay mobo's ou there and good ones .
it just depends on how much time u wanna fiddle around with it .

year ago i bought this syntax usa made mobo ..
dirt cheap .. took me a day to get it stable but then it was stable
after a shitloads of reboots and reinstalls and patching and trying different bios settings .

Wargy@work

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Whatava you get don't tell me My 1.6 is starting to become a dinosaur compared to the current market....sniff...

 

[Darg]

If your 1.6 is a dinosaur, what does that make my 733?

Whole reason I sorta gave up playing war3 was because TFT ran significantly slower on my comp. Any big battles resulted in lag at that crucial moment in time, resulting in me being unable to micro at all and thus losing games left right and centre.

um, to avoid me being responsible for topic straying, I am also thinking about getting a comp too in maybe 3 months or so. Thus this thread is sorta useful for me as well. I've also got my eye on a leadtek fx 5950 vivo card, but I'm not sure how long it would take before it came down to a reasonable price.

 

[Wargasm]

kinda depends ..
from what i read bout the nvidia 6800 it seems to be 50% faster then the 5950

12000 points on a normal machine without cyro cooling .
impressive ..
mpeg 2 decoder on the card
gonna be intresting what ati is gonna launch soon this may ...

shame i haven't got the money for the 6800 .. but hell buying a vidcard when it just came out is allways dumb hehhe

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Originally posted by Wargasm
from what i read bout the nvidia 6800 it seems to be 50% faster then the 5950

Man... the most ANY of the stores around here carries is the Ti4200. You don't even see those higher cards around here, you have to get them off the internet. If you wanna save some bucks you can get like a XFX GeForce FX 5700 256MB DDR AGP 8X TVO DVI for $120 - $150, and its a pretty wild card.

You'll pay at least 300 for the new 5950/6800's.

 

[Darg]

I need a card with video in as well, I figured it was about time I recorded all my vhs tapes onto my hdd.

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Ya that one gots DVI .... I'm pretty sure thats S-Video in though... that might be a problem depending how up to date your home entertainment system is.

Hey guys

If I have DVI on my nvidia at home, is there any reason I would need one of those 80$ video capture cards to record from my reciever? (or USB-IN)

Won't windows movie maker and the DVI handle it already?

 

[Darg]

I probably asked this one before, do mainstream video cards support dual LCD screens?

Can't answer your question unfortunately Ryoko.......

 

[Wargasm]

i use dual lcd's with my radeon 9800 pro .
prior to that i used the nvidia TI 4200
with the nvidia one i had a convertor for dvi to svga ..
wich worked 100%

now i have a dvi connector on the lcd and the other is hooked up to the svga .. the quallity is a little better but nothing to go ooh and waah about