Caught between too many technologies

[AdmiralSenn]

Okay, I'm looking to upgrade my computer in the next few months.

Here's what I've got:

Socket 478 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4 (non-HT, don't know the core but it's from a Dell from about 2000, I think)
A complete piece of crap excuse for an MSI motherboard... MSI-6730 (the second in a row with bad ram slots and other showstopping problems)
Nvidia/BFG FX5500 OC (AGP 4/8x) - 256 DDR
1 gig pc3200 corsair
old, old, old SB Live! 5.1 sound card
some generic 350w PSU

Ideally, I'd like to buy a new motherboard that has AGP and PCI-e, and is a socket 478. That'd save me the most money.

However, since I know that's a pipe dream and will probably never happen, my alternative is to use a board like the ASRock hybrid with a Socket 939 processor (model TBD). I know there's that one adapter for AGP cards to fit in PCI-E, but I'd rather not.

Looking up the ASRock motherboard (http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20051014/the_500_gaming_machine-02.html), I don't see good things in the NewEgg reviews, and my friend recommends against it as well due to the chipset giving people lots of grief (he works at a computer store selling and repairing all kinds of computers). Does anyone who has one have a really convincing argument to prove these naysayers wrong? Or is it really a touchy motherboard?

Now, there's no way I'll be able to afford a motherboard, processor AND graphics card anytime soon - that's why I'd like to keep the card I have, since it's not TOO old.

Any ideas? If I have to switch sockets, I'd rather make a complete switch to AMD since I won't have to go through this again in six months..

Thanks in advance.

 

[o1die]

Biostar makes the T-6100 ($75 at newegg) with 4 memory slots and built in pci-e video and a separate pci-e slot. You can start out with the built in video, and add a separate card later when you're ready.

 

[AdmiralSenn]

Thanks, but the whole problem is that I want to keep using my AGP card...

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to buy another AGP socket 478 motherboard for now, and then do all three at some other time.

 

[mpjesse]

http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/productdetails.asp?item=13-128-307&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=Motherboards

This board has all the crap you're looking for with the exception of PCI-E. But PCI-E is really only good for 1 thing right now: video cards. If you want to keep your AGP card, then it shouldn't be a big deal.
Additionally it supports Athlon X2 processors- a big plus.

I'd stay away from the ASRock mobo- it gets horrible benchmark scores. As for stability- I have no clue. But anything that tries to combine AGP and PCI-E is doomed for failure.

-mpjesse

 

[Crashman]

Loser! AGP and PCI-Express co-exist peacefully with the ULi M1695/M1567 chipset combination. Read my platform review at SysOpt from last spring, it explains WHY!

Basically, AGP and PCI-Express couldn't be combined. So they did them separately. The Northbridge gets PCI-Express, the Southbridge gets AGP, and the AGP controller is ported directly to the CPU THROUGH the northbridge via HyperTransport.

That is to say, both devices use hypertransport, the AGP slot doesn't actually need to use the northbridge, there's no AGP to PCI-Express conversion here.

But as far as I know AsRock's board sucks, like other AsRock boards.

 

[Rugger]

Have you seen any other good options? :?: I've been looking, but haven't seen any of the other boards hit the streets...

 

[Crashman]

No, these boards haven't hit the streets. Chaintech's board was put on hold long ago, it still doesn't have a release date. So it looks like the chipset, which is already dated, will be completely irrelavent before it even gets a chance to compete.