Hey everyone, my radeon 9800 just died and now im going to build a new PC. I cant afford a new pc from the get go so i ned to buy it slowly. Im already going to buy a 8800gt, but i need a motherboard that will compliment it well. I have about $150 that i want to spend. I want it to beable to have Sli pci express 2.0 and DDR 2 and 3 compliant. I have looked around the web and i have come here completly confused an what to buy. Please help.

What CPU are you getting, Intel or AMD? How are you using the machine?  What's your budget for the CPU and mobo?   I wouldn't would worry about DDR3, way too expensive and will drive up the price of the mobo.  I would even  think about DDR3 until the Intel Nehalem come out, i.e., next build

AMD is better for bargin basement, AM2+ should be very furture proof, as I've heard AM3 will be backward compatable with it.  
dual cores are cheap
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103774
single cores are cheaper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103196
 
SLI is a waste of money and is only good if you want top top of the line. by the time you decide to upgrade to a 2nd card, it will be cheaper to buy a middle of the pack next gen card that will outperform your SLI. I'm looking for a new MoBo, and I planned on taking my 7900gs with me, so I considered SLI. for the price of another 7900gs, I can get better results out of say a single ATI 3850.
 
Think of it this way. in general for a 50% incrase in purchase price you get twice the performance out of the graphics card. SLI gives about a 50% increase in performance (at most resolutions) with more than twice the cash outlay (you need 2 cards, better mobo, better PSU, more electricity, better cooling)

I am currently going to use my P4 untill i get enough cash together to buy a better CPU. Ok, so sli and ddr3 is out of the question, wnat about Pci express 2.0 is that worth the extra money?

 PCIe 2.0 shouldn't run up the price.   Would really help to know how you'll use it, overall, and if you want AMD or Intel.  I know you are buying one piece at a time but the over all budget would help to insure best bang for he buck and usage is important to know where to put the money, video/photo editing more into CPU, gaming more into video card.  Need everythig, e.g., case/PSU, OS, hdd, etc?

Well I have 2 7200 rpm drives that equal 250 mb, thats enough for me. Os is fine and i got a 400W PSU. All im looking is buying a mobo and a vid card. Im going to use it to play video games and do schoolwork. I have been suffering with my 9800 pro for a while and its now broke so its time to move on.

Look at the gigabyte ga-P35-DS3L for <$90. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128059 it will run your P4 now, and the E8400 later.  Spend the extra on the vga card if you are gaming.  
 
DDR3 is uneconomic, and SLI is only good to extend the top of the line vga cards.  Pcie-2.0 is a capability that will not be taxed by any vga card  currently available.

Just a double ck, Your P4 Proc is a "LGA 775" and not the older "Socket 478"

@ retiredchief:  Good point.
 
@op: While we are at it, what mobo do you now have?  Let's not assume anything.
Does it have an agp slot or a pcie slot?
Are the hard drives ide or sata?  Are there more than two ide devices?
What memory do you now have?

agh 478 i guess i have to spring for a cpu
 the mobo that i have has 2 sata, agp x8 , 2 ide devices

As far as I know, there are no 8800 vga cards that use agp either.    
 
It sounds to me that you need to make a plan for a new build.

Oh yeah, i know that there are  bascially no agp left, thats why i need a some good advice for a mobo. now i know that i need a cpu aswell because my P4 is not a 775.

If you are dying to get a new graphic card for running your PC (since your old 9800 already blown out to heaven ^^), then try to look for any cheap AGP card available on your market. Better save your money first, since there are about many new product launch by this year I believe.  
 
In my place here we still have like ATI's or NVIDIA's AGP for less then 80$, hopefully you will also find one.
 
Why I'm suggesting to get cheap AGP card and save your money first are:
1. You should put a lot of investment since you should replace processor and mobos as well. I assume you will also have to replace RAM (are you using DDR2 or DDR1?).
2. In the current situation is better wait for couple of months: chipset X48 are about to launch from Intel, AM2+ socket mobo's start to launch from AMD with chipset 770/790X/790FX but still not yet convincing enought to buy. ATi and NVIDIA are about to launch a new graphic card I believe  
 
All of these things makes quiet complicated for your situation, so better wait than sorry
 
However if you are really can not wait for an upgrade, AMD 790X chipset seems the better choice for you, I believe we can mobos + Athlon 64x2 combination for less then 250$ or even under 200$ if you get lower Athlon speed. But for VGA will be better to get ATi AMD as well. 3870 are good choice and have a competitive performance to 8800GT with less price (less than 200$ soon).
 
For SLI, you don't really need it unles you are planning to build multi GPU system. Which again if you are planning for multi GPU, then you have to spend some extra money. You can really see multi GPU benefit if you are running in 1900+ reso or 21"+ monitor. I'm using 19" monitor, with 1440 resolutions with HD3870 and I can play all latest game with max setting (except for Gears of War and Crysis, I prefer to scale it down to medium due to a little bit lag).
 
If you can tell us more detail of what you are up to do with your PC (e.g for gaming, or for graphic designs, or whatever), and also your current system and your budget we can tell you more details
 
GL anyway

Well if hes running a 478 p4, hes gonna need new ram along with his new processor, unless he wants to buy one of those hybrid boards that support the older p4, but have a pci express slot, and also have 2 slot for the older ram he has, and 2 slot for new ram. But that is only if you dont want to build a whole new comp.

Well i hope to use my system for gaming and other basic stuff. So how long should i wait till i try to build my new system? what VGA card should i buy?

That question comes down to one simple reply, can you afford to build a new pc right now, or do you need to make due until the point where you can afford it, a decent gaming pc is going to run you anywhere from 600 bucks to 7000 depending on what you want.

all i want to spend is around $600 - $700 I already have a case, monitor, keyboard, mouse and PSU. Plus i have 1 gig ddr2 ram

That just leaves you a cpu, mobo, another stick of ram, videocard and you have a new comp, you could upgrade now no problem, and i would. I know someone is going to say, wait for the next big thing, someone always does, but for what you want to do and your budget, i dont see a reason to not upgrade now. As far as your video card, well if your going to get a card, your going to go pci express, as for the best one for you, depends, what games do you play? If you dont play anything that is just friggin intense, such as crysis, you could go with nvidias new offering the 9600 gt, or a 3850 from amd. If you dont mind spending a few bucks more, go with a 8800 gt. Personally im a nvidia fan, but thats cuz nvidia has never done me wrong, lol.

yeh i already decided that i would buy the 8800, but what mobo should i get. there are so many choices out there and i have been out of the PC scene for years. Also whats a good CPU. I have a 3.2 ghz and if i get a duo that is 2.2 will the system preform slower?

I guarntee if you get a core 2 duo, you will be blown away from your p4, i personally went with the q6660 just because it gives me a bit of future proofing i.e. i shouldnt have to upgrade my processor for at least 3 years. Depends on how much you want to pay though. Let us know how much you want to spend. As far a mobo goes, i use the GA-P35-DS3L because it will take the new 45 nm cpu's with a bios flash, core 2 duo without a problem, and 775 p4's and ran me 99 bones.

@OP: LGA775 will die at the end of this year or 2009 because of Nehalm, which requires new CPU, motherboard, PSU(?, not sure main 24 pin could change) and new RAM.