Which mobo for AMD 64 3200+?

[snash00ter]

I have a P4 s478 on Gigabyte SIS478FX mobo and i am thinking to upgrade to an Athlon 64 3200+ (s939). My problem is that i have an AGP video card (Geforce 6600GT) so all new mobos came with a PCIe slot...Do you suggest me not to upgrade or if yes, which mobo with PCIe or AGP slot for this CPU? (i have around 450 EURO)

Thanks in advance.

 

[DonNagual]

How about this board?

It has BOTH an AGP8x slot, so you can use your current video card in it, plus it has a PCI-e16x slot, so when you want to upgrade down the road you can!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

 

[snash00ter]

I have read that this mobo supports only 1.5V video cards...ALSO i have heard that the video card performance is quiet slow with this board..is this happening because supports 1.5V based cards? i am not sure about it...

 

[kirock]

I like your choice of cards, but the AGP version is becoming out of date with the arrival of the X2 faster PCI-E bus. Also if you go with an SLI /PCI-E mobo you can upgrade in the future to SLI mode (2 video cards, GeF6600 -7800GTX). Do you think you could get a rebate on your 6600GT AGP and buy the same as a PCI-E?

If you want to stay with the AGP video card, then most nForce3 chipset mobos will be AGP. A good example is the ASUS K8N-E Deluxe.(socket 754!! NOT 939).

.8V is the voltage requirement of new 8x AGP cards utilizing AGP specification 3.0. Motherboards supporting 8x AGP support both 1.5V AGP 2.0 compliant cards (AGP 4x) and newer .8V AGP 3.0 compliant cards (AGP 8x). The keying for AGP 3.0 cards is identical to that of AGP 2.0 cards to retain backward compatibility. A motherboard that supports 8x AGP should work fine with a 1.5V (AGP 4x video card), and a motherboard that supports 1.5V (AGP 4x) video cards should work ok with a .8V video card (AGP 8x), however in the later example the video card would only work at the fastest speed the motherboard supports (AGP 4x).

So yes the above board is sadly only 1.5V.

 

[DonNagual]

ORIGINAL: Snash00ter
I have read that this mobo supports only 1.5V video cards...ALSO i have heard that the video card performance is quiet slow with this board..is this happening because supports 1.5V based cards? i am not sure about it...

"Those looking to upgrade older systems will also love the fact that the 939Dual-SATA2 even fully supports 8x AGP videocards. AGP performance with the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 should be pretty clear by looking at the benchmarks."

It fully supports 8x cards. It is the OLDER (3.0v) cards that will not work on that board.

Here is a comparison of how the board's AGP8x slot compares with the big boys. Note: it is being compared against the TOP OF THE LINE in PCI-e16x, and holds it's own, quite well.

It looses but not by much. For that incredible price, and the fact that it can be upgraded to PCI-e16x, looks like a good board. I have never owned one, so can't say for sure of course.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1860&page=12

Also, one other interesting part of this motherboard, is that it will be compatible with the not yet release M2 socket AMD processors (due sometime next year). As far as I know, it is the ONLY board currently out that can say that.

 

[snash00ter]

i am thinking to buy the ASUS A8N-SLI DELUXE, which means that i sicrifice my 6600GT and buy the 6600GT PCIe version.., any comments for this mobo?

 

[DonNagual]

It is the motherboard I own, and a very good one.

But you're probably better off going for the premium version, as I believe it is the same price these days. Asus sent out thousands of the deluxe boards with faulty chipset fans. Not a big deal to replace, but a bit of a pain as it means completely taking out your motherboard in order to do it. The premium board on the other hand does not have this problem as it's chipset is cooled by heatpipes instead.

Anther thing to consider, I have also seen many people recommending simply the A8N-SLI board. Not the deluxe and not the premium. It has all the same parts, the only difference is the number of SATA it can support and the number of network ports.

Most people don't need the extra features of the deluxe/premium models. I am FAR from using all the extra toys that came with my A8N-SLI deluxe board.

 

[snash00ter]

yea, sometimes the extra toys gives the product, high price but 4 most of us are useless..anyway i am gonna check the A8N-SLI board, but to be serious, i am on a dilemma..my system
(P4 Northwood 3.00Ghz, Gigabyte SiS648FX mobo, 1.25GB DDR RAM, Gorce 6600GT AGP8x) is capable to handle most applications today, with no problems..so why upgrade? and also i have heard that new CPUs are coming in the market...

 

[DonNagual]

If that is your current system, I'd have to agree with you. No real urgency for a new computer. That one is just fine for today's games.... even the newer games should run fine on mid settings.

I would upgrade in a year or so personally. No hurry at all, unless you are a computer freak who likes the latest and greatest just for the sake of having it.

 

[snash00ter]

Anyway, thanks 4 your reply!

 

[mailpup]

In answer to your original question, I recently built a PC using this motherboard: MSI K8N Neo2-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 Ultra ATX. It has an AGP slot and I installed an Athlon 64 3200+ Venice cpu. It costs about $80 USD. This fits the criteria in your first post.

 

[snash00ter]

Thanks, for your reply mailpup, but i am thinking to upgrade my mobo and buy some with PCIe installed..so i needn't to upgrade again soon..thats my problem, i do not know which mobo , at the beginning i wanted to buy an AGP based mobo...