New Motherboard Needed w/AGP

[KidKool27]

Hello,

I've done some searching but am coming up disappointed with my options. Can anyone suggest/recommend the best agp motherboard on the market right now? I'm open for AMD or Intel processors. I would prefer to keep my PC2700 memory, but can replace that as well if necassary.

I have a dead motherboard and don't really want to get rid of my $200 AGP card....

Thanks ahead a time for any suggestions or help you can provide.

 

[KidKool27]

Does anyone have any experience with ASROCK?

 

[kitchenshark]

No personal experience with Asrock, but I hear they're okay generally.

 

[Taft12]

AFAIK there are no AM2 boards that support DDR (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

On the 775 side, you probably need to go ASRock since most 775 boards that support DDR and AGP are made by them (I have good experience with them myself, although others here hate their boards). The 2 I know would fit your needs are

775i65G:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=775i65G&s=n

4CoreDual-VSTA
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4CoreDual-VSTA&s=n

The second one allows for AGP or PCIe video and DDR or DDR2 memory which is pretty sweet for allowing an upgrade path.

 

[o1die]

Newegg has the biostar k8m800 with agp port and am2 support for only $38 after rebate. It's also available at a combo price with the 3600 brisbane cpu.

 

[No1sFanboy]

Anandtech did what they call a sneak peak on the ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2, this board will support you're DDR memory and AGP but still take you right up to quad core socket 775 CPU's. They are saying they will have a full review coming.

Link

 

[liquidx]

The current version will do that, it must have some differences else where.

 

[MrMr]

Asrock (ASUS) are solid mobos. Forget overclocking on the 775's (most max out at 310FSB) but can be used with a "pad mod" Older 939 Asrock Dual boards overclocked well but are close to impossible to find.

 

[madmurph]

A couple of humble offerings. Since you're intent on maintaining your old technololgy, consider this skt478 board:

http://www.directron.com/mbp4s800dx.html

You can pick up a P4 2.8g 1m 800mhz off e-bay for about $35 and use all your old stuff -- memory, gpu, etc.

Or, skt775: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247092

I've seen this last one on the Egg for $20 less, but it's not in stock. I prefer Asus over the others, just because of reliability. One of my older rigs has been running the P4S800D-X for a couple of years now, 24/7, with narry a hickup, and it'll take up to a P4 3.4e (which, when not computing, you could cook your breakfast on). Good luck, MM

 

[HA_ZEE]

You could try this combo if AMD interests you. It is a 939 socket MB ($64 USD shipped) and a 3800 X2 CPU ($69 USD plus shipping). This will outperform the P4 systems but does not offer the upgradeability that a Asrock socket 775 system motherboard has.

Motherboard:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-K8TN2F2

CPU:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3001041

 

[MrMr]

Looks good to me. But that's an OEM CPU. He'll need a HS\F for that.

I think that the Asrock is the way to go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157107 $62.
Along with the E2140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116037
$81

 

[einheriar]

I just bought the ASROCK AM2NF3 VSTA. At first boot i had huge problems.
this was due to the power supply 480 W not being strong enough (not enough juice on the 12V rail), and a bios to old for my CPU (AM2 4000+ brisbane).
But an other power supply i had 520W and the newest BIOS then everything was in order. It stays very cool and is very quiet
Though the on-board NIC was not working, i I added a PCI nic I had lying around and now it runs very nicely. with my power hungry X1950 pro 512 MB graphics card.. after having sorted the problems out, I am very happy with it (using it as my work PC, I have a different PC for gaming).

 

[joefriday]

The only thing I'll warn you about on Asrock 775 boards is that virtually none of them support S3 standby. Asrock absolutely sucks when it comes to making a BIOS with a working ACPI layer. Both the 775i65g and the Dual-VSTA series of boards will not enter S3. If that's not a big concern to you, then Asrock is what you want.

 

[liquidx]

alright, im ignorant of this, what is S3 standy? Does that mean that an Asrock board won't go into windows standby?

The new board has been updated to use SATA 3.0GB/s and has a new southbridge. Glad to see this as I just bought a new hdd that can run 3.0 and was a grumble of mine about buying the previous dualvista board. That makes me real happy with the new one now.

 

[lmimmfn]

I have an asrock939 in my other machine, great mobo, cant say a bad thing about it, OC'd my 4200+ to 2.5Ghz just changing a few settings and never had a bother with the mobo( and i like tinkering lol )

Id recommend ASRock, theyre great for stop gaps, and exactly why i bought the 939 board.

Apparently the 775 board they have has 2 sockets or DDR1 and 2 sockets for DDR2 so you should be sorted

 

[joefriday]

alright, im ignorant of this, what is S3 standy? Does that mean that an Asrock board won't go into windows standby?

It will enter Windows standby, but only the moniter and hard drives will turn off. All the fans continue to run. This is called S1 standby. S3 standby, otherwise known as "Suspend to Ram", will shut down everything expect the ram power, making the computer completely silent (even shutting off the Power supply fan) while in standby.

 

[KidKool27]

Thanks for the help folks. From the beginning it looked like asrock would be the solution. I'm going to order the board with a E6600 processor. The proc will be good enough to put into another solution moving forward. I would like to sell off and get something better, I just don't have enough money to do it right.

The S3 support doesn't really matter to me, as this box will be folding when I'm not using it.

For 291.22 bucks, it will perform much better than my 2800 barton.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157107

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003

 

[Taft12]

Cool, let us know how that works out!