MB Needed with PCI and AGP - Recommend?

bloodline76 · 2 Apr 2007 at 12:36

I can not afford to upgrade all at once currently running with AMD 63 3400+ 754, 2gig ram and 1950pro.

I am looking to upgrade the CPU and need a MB that supports both PCI and AGP as I dont want to splash out on a new Graphics card too.

Any suggestions and experiences with these?

Thanks

Crowze · 2 Apr 2007 at 12:47

AMD 63?

I'd say the best idea value-wise is to get hold of an Asrock 939DUAL board and a 939 X2, so you'll be able to use your current memory as well as video card. There's also an Asrock board for Core2 with AGP, but personally I'd steer clear of it as the PCI-E slot is only 4X and will cripple a high-end video card.

The other alternative, and probably the most cost-effective, is to sell the parts of your old system and upgrade the whole lot.

bloodline76 · 2 Apr 2007 at 12:58

Are there any AMD versions as I prefer these?

Whats this like? Asrock 939Dual-VSTA

Darg · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:06

The performance you'd gain from going C2D would be much greater then maybe the 5% drop in benchmark results from the 4X PCI-E slot.

Asrock 775 DUAL-VSTA - £50 delivered,

E6300 - £110~ delivered.

Perfect solution for you at around £160 and you'll see a stunning increase in performance. There's no logical reason to go for the 939 over a C2D at the moment.

StevieP · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:14

The C2D and the 4CoreDual VSTA is the route I'm looking at for exactly the same type of upgrade.
I undertand the E4300 can be overclocked to match the E6300 for a lower price though - is this correct (something to do with the 9x multiplier??)

StevieP

[PeTe] · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:37

it is 800 fsb rather than 1066

meaning the multiplier is higher and fsb is lower

i havent yet seen a 4300 chip go higher than 6300 in OC

difference is purely FSB

aria do a cheap c2d mobo [asus] micro atx that supports 1066 fsb chips for around 35 notes

think it supports both ddr2 and ddr, also has an 8x agp and pci

i was thinking of going for it but i wanted sata3

just be patient cos i got a p965_s3 from OCuk for 40 notes [b grade] and it OC's my e6300 to 3.5 ghz effortlessly

tripitaka · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:39

On that motherboard it's hard to get the FSB much over 300, so you get a better overcolock with the x9 multiplier on the E4300.

Darg · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:41

Well the 9X multiplier will mean it will clock higher while you have the Asrock board as that can only reach 300~ FSB.

It's when you get a decent board down the road that you'll want your 6300 to really clock high. The 1033 over 800 FSB also means you have a much higher memory bandwidth which has been shown in several reviews of the two.

If you are planning on sticking with the Asrock board for a good long while then get the 4300. If you think you'll be changing to a better board once you have your RAM and graphics upgraded then get the 6300.

bloodline76 · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:09

Yeah but if you read about the E6300, sounds like its a clockers dream, nearly doubling in speed.

[PeTe] · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:17

well yeh it is considering the stock fsb

it isnt the first chip to OC well

my current rig is still using the mobile barton with stock volts of 1.45v @1866 mhz, I OC that to 2.5 ghz using the same volts of a normal barton xp2500

and that was the OC dream a few years back

StevieP · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:48

Does anyone know anything about the Asus board, the P5VDC-X, which says it supports both DDR & DDR2 and PCI-E & AGP??

Any better than the Asrock 4CoreDual VSTA??

StevieP

WJA96 · 2 Apr 2007 at 15:37

StevieP said:
Does anyone know anything about the Asus board, the P5VDC-X, which says it supports both DDR & DDR2 and PCI-E & AGP??

Any better than the Asrock 4CoreDual VSTA??

StevieP

Given that ASUS are ASRock's parent company, I'd say they are likely to be almost identical.

The specs on the ASUS website would tend to confirm that.

StevieP · 2 Apr 2007 at 15:45

WJA96 said:
Given that ASUS are ASRock's parent company, I'd say they are likely to be almost identical.

The specs on the ASUS website would tend to confirm that.

You learn something new every day!!!

Thanks...

Darg · 2 Apr 2007 at 16:35

The asrock has come out on top in reviews and in general use. I'd stick to that.

warren_1979 · 2 Apr 2007 at 16:57

Why do you need AGP as well? I'm in a similar situation, I can't afford a CD2 upgrade at the moment. I'm on a 754 system as well.

I was looking at the ASrock dual board as I have a 6800gt AGP, but I thought I might as well get a 8600 (PCI) when they come out. They are supposed to be decent overclockers and blow the 1950xt-x out of the water. I can't see them being much more than £100. So I plan on getting a cheap 939 mobo, cheap A64 939 CPU (seen a A64 3700 on OC for £35) and a 8600 next month sometime. Hopefully no more than £200 for a nice upgrade on my current rig.

If anyone can recommend a cheap cheap decent 939 MOBO I'd be more than grateful.

bloodline76 · 11 Apr 2007 at 13:16

Would l need new RAM for this upgrade too?

tripitaka · 11 Apr 2007 at 14:54

Nope.

the 4core has 2 slots for DDR, and 2 further slots for DDR2. You can only use one or the other though.

So you are able to use your old RAM, and upgrade it to DDR2 at a later date if you wish.