Depressing

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UrineMachine

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 21, 2001
Messages
267
So, I am not into PCs as much as I used to be, but I still play games and like to have decently modern hardware. I bought the GF2 Ultra when it first came out, had the Voodoo3500TV also, etc. I bought an ATI X800 Pro when they first hit the market - the X800 I still use but is AGP.

So I am flirting with the notion of upgrading my PC - I just got a Coolermaster Mini R120 water thinger because I want something quieter than my Alpha PAL8045 with loud fan. So, I started looking at options, and I have none! AGP is dead. DDR is dead. Socket A is dead. Everything is new - so rather than do my incremental upgrading like I usually do, I need to save up enough money to buy all new hardware - this is not fun.

Current system:
Athlon XP 3200+
1.5GB DDR
250GB ATA HD
X800 Pro
NEC DVDRW Dual Layer
Epox 8RDA3+ Motherboard
Coolermaster R120 watercooler

None of that is usable any more, other than the cooler and HD, right?

So... is there an affordable option out there that can get me into dual core and 64 bit while also increasing video performance while not killing my wallet? The way I look at it so far is that I need to spend at least $1000 to modernize my setup.

Shit.
 
Asrock 775 Dual VSTA mobo.

It'll let you get into dual cores - from P4 805D to e6300 - e6800s.
It runs quite well with DDR ram, and also has slots for DDR2.
It has AGP and PCI-E slots, so you can start with what you have and migrate up (warning, the PCI-E is limited to 4X so anything faster than a 7900GT is probably a waste, and it's not 8800GTx compatible). And it has two PATA connectors, unlike most conroe boards.

It however isn't exactly a super overclocker. It'll let you turn it up a little, but not alot.

But it's cheap, and a heck of a way to migrate up one piece at a time.

Good review over at Toms.

EDIT - review at Anands. Compares DDR to DDR2 on this board, graphics performance with a 7600gs board. Shows very little difference in fps between DDR 333 / 400 and DDR2 533 / 667. Reviews with 7900 series cards seem to indicate reasonable performance.

Review also at www.ocworkbench.com. Apparently they've just come out with a new one that supports the quadcores too.
 
markintosh13 said:
Asrock 775 Dual VSTA mobo.

It'll let you get into dual cores - from P4 805D to e6300 - e6800s.
It runs quite well with DDR ram, and also has slots for DDR2.
It has AGP and PCI-E slots, so you can start with what you have and migrate up (warning, the PCI-E is limited to 4X so anything faster than a 7900GT is probably a waste, and it's not 8800GTx compatible).

It however isn't exactly a super overclocker. It'll let you turn it up a little, but not alot.

But it's cheap, and a heck of a way to migrate up one piece at a time.

Good review over at Toms.
Click to expand...

Actually I just saw the NF-M2 which is Micro ATX with onboard video... is there something in the AMD platform with onboard video but not MicroATX?
 
They have a bunch of mobos.

Lots of reviews on them over at ocw.

Why would you be interested in onboard video though? Thought you wanted to improve your video...

This would let you migrate everything except your cpu - you could reuse your ram, pata devices, video - then upgrade over to something else - mostly video - when you had the cash.
 
markintosh13 said:
They have a bunch of mobos.

Lots of reviews on them over at ocw.

Why would you be interested in onboard video though? Thought you wanted to improve your video...

This would let you migrate everything except your cpu - you could reuse your ram, pata devices, video - then upgrade over to something else - mostly video - when you had the cash.
Click to expand...

Well because I'd like a real modern Mobo and use onboard than get a shakey mobo (no pci-e 16x) and use AGP - you know? I just dumped like $2500 on my car so I don't have the cash to do it all righ tnow.
 
Shrug. Asrock is the Asus budget brand.

The difference between a 7900GT TOP in a 16x PCI-E and the same card in the 775 Dual VSTA's 4X slot in FEAR was 81fps (x16) to 79fps (x4). The diff in 3Dmark was something like 5300 for the x16 and 4977 for the x4. Big deal. If you're thinking of integrated graphics, then you're probably not going to be dropping a 8800GTX into your next build. But that slot would work fine for a $135 7900GS.

There ain't no onboard that is going to come even close to that. Or your existing X800.

No sense going to dual core if you going to hold it back with video. Might was well keep what you've got. The Anand reviews were really very positive.

And I'm very happy with their previous dual - the 939 Dual SataII. Went from an AGP 6600GT to a 7600GT PCI-E to a 7900GS PCI-E.

But if you want to replace your ram, the cpu, the video and the mobo all in one go, it's your dime.
 
markintosh13 said:
Shrug. Asrock is the Asus budget brand.

The difference between a 7900GT TOP in a 16x PCI-E and the same card in the 775 Dual VSTA's 4X slot in FEAR was 81fps (x16) to 79fps (x4). The diff in 3Dmark was something like 5300 for the x16 and 4977 for the x4. Big deal. If you're thinking of integrated graphics, then you're probably not going to be dropping a 8800GTX into your next build. But that slot would work fine for a $135 7900GS.

There ain't no onboard that is going to come even close to that. Or your existing X800.

No sense going to dual core if you going to hold it back with video. Might was well keep what you've got. The Anand reviews were really very positive.

And I'm very happy with their previous dual - the 939 Dual SataII. Went from an AGP 6600GT to a 7600GT PCI-E to a 7900GS PCI-E.

But if you want to replace your ram, the cpu, the video and the mobo all in one go, it's your dime.
Click to expand...


I may try the Asrock 775 Dual VSTA for shits. Is the 805D the one that can be pushed insanely high? So if I went with my DDR ram, an 805D, and an AGP card, I could reap the benefits of dual core, and then do DDR2 and PCI-E later?
 
Tom's has a guide where they used an Asrock 775 Wins board to push an 805 D up to 4 ghz.

The 775 Dual VSTA according to some threads over at Anands has taken an 805 D up to 3 - 3.36 ghz, but with overclocking it could very well be your ram that holds you back, and volt mods may be required to get the most out of the cpus.

If insanely high is your goal, then you'd be better off with another board, but that will also require quality DDR2 ram, etc.

I think their only other Dual mobo (with AGP and PCI-E) is the 939 Dual VSTA - which would support the harder and harder to find (and more and more expensive) socket 939 X2 Athlons. It's an updated version of the mobo I'm currently using. But for what they want for a 939 X2 these days, I'd rather not - I'd rather bite the bullet and go to a Conroe - where the cheapest chip running at stock is going to give me the same performance as the most expensive 939 X2 cpu.

The trade off is going to be - money for a total build or reduced overclocking capability in exchange for a flexible upgrade path.
 
Hers another very viable solution. Have you taken a look at the Asrock 939 Dual SATA2. I have two of them I bought because of the AGP issue as well and they are both great motherboards. There are a few motherboards with both AGP and PCI-E video slots but there is usually a tradeoff when it comes to video performance. This is not the case with the Asrocks, they perform excellently with either because they use no form of emulation to communicate with the AGP slot which other boards do. I highly recommend these boards to customers looking to bridge the AGP PCI-E problem. later when one can afford it you can swap the AGP card out and replace it with PCI-E if you so choose.

Good luck with the upgrade.
 
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