AGP computer. Suggestions wanted!

L

Le Hosh Hosh

n00b
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
9
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
1080p/720p media. Games. Photoshop. Everyday Use. Windows 7.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Under 400. Tax and shipping included.

3) Where do you live?
California, USA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Quad-core CPU. DDR2 RAM. AGP/PCIe Motherboard. etc.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Coolermaster Mystique 632 Case.
Sapphire HD 3850 512MB GDDR3 AGP
Corsair CMPSU-450VX 450W Power Supply

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
21in 1600x1200 LCD.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
As soon as possible.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
AGP Support

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes. Windows 7.
 
Le Hosh Hosh said:
^^; I still really want to use my old AGP card.
Click to expand...

You knew when you bought that 3850 AGP that it was the end of the road. Toss it in the bin and spend a few extra dollars on a PCIe card.

I will be incredibly amazed if you can find a board that supports quad core and AGP.
 
Le Hosh Hosh said:
I did a little research earlier. But I seem to look at it as buying with regrets.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157115

What are your opinions?
Click to expand...

Outdated and a waste for money considering that socket 775 is pretty much EOL'd. In addition, many AMD CPUs perform just as well as many C2D/C2Q based CPUs while being significantly cheaper.

For example: The $60 AMD Athlon X2 240 performs pretty close to the $120 Intel E7500. The cheapest Intel quad core CPU is the Q8200 at $150. However, the $140 Phenom II 925 that lt_shiro recommended outperforms the Q8200 while the $100 Athlon II X4 620 CPU performs pretty close to the Q8200.

In addition, there's the issue of DDR2 RAM: Prices for DDR2 RAM have jumped significantly in the last 3-4 months. In fact, DDR2 RAM costs just as much as many DDR3 RAM sets. Considering that DDR3 RAM prices will continute to get lower and lower and DDR2 Prices will get higher and higher, very little reason to get a DDR2 based setup nowadays. And then there's the prices for DDR RAM...yeesh. So basically, that motherboard, while relatively cheap, will end up costing you MORE money due to the higher RAM prices and the higher CPU costs.

Also, there's the issue of the limited CPU upgrade path for socket 775. At least socket AM3 has a significantly higher potential for a CPU upgrade path.

And finally, last but not least, that motherboard doesn't support any 45nm C2Q CPU out now (i.e the Q8200 mentioned above). Which means that you're gonna have to go used Q6600s and the like.

So from those four pieces of information alone, don't bother with that motherboard. Or any socket 775 based setup. That motherboard had its place two years ago when DDR2 prices were high and many people still having 2GB sets of DDR RAM.. But in 2009? Forget about it.

Seriously dude, just ditch the AGP card. Why continue to punish yourself like that? Why waste the money?
 
Last edited:
Yup. besides, what happens if that AGP card eventually craps out? You wouldn't want to buy another AGP card again. Also, that HD 3850 is pretty weak anyways. If you buy a Core 2 quad cpu, it will be more than a Phenom II X4 quad. As Danny mentioned also, DDR2 prices literally doubled in price. You are basically not saving money as you think.
 
If you'd like to use that Core2 AGP board, I'd suggest buying it used, along with a used Core2 or Pentium Dual Core, and again, some used DDR2.

I had a bunch of links for that board... let me see if I can find them...

enginurd said:
The following is from an old cut and paste I had... its been edited for your needs...

/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/
Just to let you know, you can still use your old AGP and DDR ram, if you're still interested. The AsRock 4CoreDual-VSTA or 4CoreDual-SATA2 supports both AGP and PCI-E, as well as DDR and DDR2. AT did some reviews on that board:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3024

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2813
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2814

Summary: The board is a good, budget stopgap solution for people who want to get more life out of their DDR and AGP stuff. DDR400 is still fine for [SOME of] today's applications, and [MOSTLY] high end NVIDIA graphics cards will be affected by the 4x speed of the 16x sized pci-e slot, but not by much (PCI-E Scaling Review) [*note, have not checked for updated data regarding PCI-E scaling... again, this info is from over a year ago].

Pair it with an E2160 or E4400 [not sure if the board supports the newer E5200 and E7200] and OC either one to 3Ghz, and you'll be all set!
$60 - Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 Socket 775 Via PT880 Pro/PT880 Ultra Chipset DDR2 667Mhz, AGP & PCI-E x16 8-Ch Audio
/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/

I've used several of these boards in the past, and much of the time they're finicky. They're not good to OC with, and its not always stable. I sold one of mine on here to a fellow forum member, but he couldn't get his system stable, while mine worked fine. It'll be hit or miss with this board. I recommended it to many people in the past, and several were very happy with it... while others, of course, weren't. Again, its only recommended if you're on a tight upgrade budget... its a stopgap solution.
Click to expand...

FYI, that particular quoted post was from 10/25/2008, lol. Its been THAT long since I last recommended that board, hehehe. Just did another search... looks like the first time I recommended that lineage of boards was back in 09-24-2006... just to give you an idea of how old that board is, lol. Unfortunately, both DDR and DDR2 prices are quite high, which would negate any savings from keeping your old AGP card.
 
I agree with everyone else, sell your agp card if you can and get yourself a decent mobo with a pci-express x16 interface and a ATI 4350 or Nvidia 8800GT video card. Also, you can't do 1080p content on a 1600x1200 LCD.
 
crazyfinx said:
... Also, you can't do 1080p content on a 1600x1200 LCD.
Click to expand...

... because...???... 1080 > 1200???? :confused: lol
o.O.gif
 
Yeah, 1920x1080 is 16:9 aspect ratio while 1600x1200 is 4:3 aspect ratio. Although he still can watch 1080P on the 21" 1600x1200 res monitor it's just that it will be downscaled.
 
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