Tricky upgrade path

[mcai7et2]

I have currently have a socket 478 system with an AGP GeForce 6600. Over the next few months I want to upgrade this in stages to a dual core system with a heftier processor (currently got a 3GHz celeron) and something like a X1900 or 7900GT with a possibility of SLI/XFire in the far future.

My problem is that in order to make this relatively painless, I want to do it in bits and pieces, but replacing the CPU would require a new motherboard and for that to support a future upgrade, it would have to be PCIe which would mean a new graphics card straight away.

My thoughts are, to initially get a Pentium D 805 (I want to water cool this for 3.8 to 4GHz) and an AGP/PCIe motherboard (ASUS do one). This would allow me to keep using my DDR ram and graphics card but would give an upgrade path to a single PCIe card without spending too much in the short term. Then once I get bored with that, I can upgrade to SLI and all I need to chuck is a £40 motherboard and 1Gb of ram.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Cheers

Ed

PS. My last round of upgrades got me a very nice Thermaltake case and 580W Hiper PSU, so I am sorted there

 

[Energize]

Forget pentium, you want one of the new Intel Conroe processors they are much faster than anything Amd have, youll need to get a lga775 mobo though.

 

[hp7909]

{snip} and an AGP/PCIe motherboard (ASUS do one). This would allow me to keep using my DDR ram and graphics card but would give an upgrade path to a single PCIe card without spending too much in the short term. {snip}

ASUS P5VDC-X, I presume? See this

& you've not considered AMD route? You get to keep RAM & GFX which I'm sure will turn out to be cheaper + faster than the Intel

e.g.:

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM) £161.95
• Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-002-AK) £36.95
• Subtotal £198.90
• VAT £34.81
• Total £233.71