mobo upgrade question

[polydiol]

hey guys

I was hoping for some input here - my current system is as follows:

asus a7v133
amd tbird 1333
512mb pc 133
nvidia fx 5200

I'm a gamer and I intend to start upgrading my system, I don't want to blow a ton of cash just yet and I intend to upgrade slowly as prices fall and what I was going to upgrade first was my motherboard and RAM. I want to stick with AMD and will use my current TBIRD 1333 for a few more mos till I get a new Athlon XP cpu.

I primarily use my comp for molecular modeling and gaming and I would appreciate some recommendations for a motherboard for an amd based system.

thank you.

 

[HvyMtl]

short term or long term gains?
how much you want to spend?
ok, things to think about -
1. video card - you could prolly get a major boost in performance by upgrading your vid card to at least 9600/5700 levels (see hardocp's info on 9600pro/5700u test - go ati it seems) By keeping the vid card you have you will not notice much performance boost (prolly zero boost) by just upgrading your motherboard and memory... a standard 9600 could help out a lot - around $100 or if you'd like something a bit more powerful 9600Pro for around $135 and up or a 9800se for $147 and up OR Nvidia 5700 starting at $139, 5700Ultra starting at $145, or the 5900XT starting at $185...
2. motherboards can be very cheap for the athlon XP right now. The leading perfomer in chipsets is the nVidia Nforce 2 Ultra 400 and its price range runs from a mere $59 to $156.99 at newegg.com
The good thing is this chipset overclocks well (even the cheap boards mine o/c's and it is a $66) The lower end boards will have poorer quality sound, no sata, and no gigabyte lan, nor dual lan, but should meet your needs (and wallet) well.
3. Memory - again performance boost with memory & board change will be minimal - but my recommendation - go with 2x256mb as the nf2 ultra 400 has dual memory bus and you will need matching sticks in size brand and model # - luckily this chipset is very compatible with memory. I'd recommend pc3200 (as the board supports 400mhz cpus - the memory will match well with your future cpu upgrade) under $50 a stick ...
4. cpu- your cpu is ok speed, but what I have found with the newer graphics cards they scale dramatically in performance with the faster cpu's so look at spending a little $$$ on the cpu if you can... $49 bucks gets you a 1900+ to run with... $10 +/- for a decent cooler

So as you can see the prolly the video card may be the best/cheapest way to get a performance boost...