Hey people, here's good one for you.  I have a few (few dozen) games that can only be played with an old AGP 6800 ultra, so I need a motherboard that can use both AGP 8x and PCI express 16x.  I found two wicked-ass boards that can achieve  this.  Which of these two setups would give more gaming power.  Keep in mind I'm more interested in this pc being able to use my AGP 6800 well than my 7800gt(pci express).
 
First setup is AMD Phenom 9600:
4gb DDR2 800 ram
 
Second setup is TWO single core Opteron 256's
4gb of registered ECC DDR400 ram
 
All other specs would pretty much be the same.    
 
 
 
 
 

Oh and keep in mind that these opterons are socket 940's.    

I would hazarda guess that the Phenom setup would be quicker due to the faster RAM...

Agreed. Although I think it is a moot point because on any semi recent game, he would be so GPU limited with a 6800 Ultra that it wouldn't really matter which CPU he used.

Well, this is pretty much what I believed.  The opteron 250 are fast, but the ram they use are only half as quick.  You are kind of right about the 6800ultra, but in these cases, the CPU takes the slack of the GPU.  A faster processor will usually help provide more frames/sec when the GPU is  overwhelmed. But i'm still not 100% convinced which would provide a more powerful setup.  I am leaning towards the phenom wth ddr 800, but man, aren't opteron 256's a hell of a lot more powerful than one 9600 phenom?

Actually, you are mistaken. A faster CPU can't really make up for a slow GPU, since their workloads are totally different and are not interchangeable.
 
Anyways, definitely get the Phenom, you can use the DDR2 later in future builds. I don't see the point in investing so much money into an obsolete DDR1 platform.

bah, anyways, you're right, ddr1 is obsolete and the dual opteron setup would be more expensive in the very end.  

I myself am not much of a gamer but I still cant figure this part out at all.  " I have a few (few dozen) games that can only be played with an old AGP 6800 ultra."
 
Games do not care if the interface is AGP or pci express.
 
I really dont understand why you want build a new machine around a AGP 6800.  
 
I also cant figure out why in the world you would even consider a 2 socket system with that card or the 7800gt.
Or consider the phenom for such a system. Those older games you want to play will do best on a higher clocked dual core.  
 
If anything you would be better off using the 7800, getting a am2+ board, the ddr2 800 and high clocked x2. When the time comes later on down the road when you need more cpu power, by then the phenom should be even cheaper and peform better then the current ones. Also by that time be 45nm(HK). Even though im not actually sure if there roadmad includes a phenom shrink plus the HK.

Firstly why can't those games work on a newer card? Every game i have works on my 8800GTX, some of these games dating back 10 years!

 
Agreed. I just played HL2: Opposing force on my HD2900Pro 1GB with no problems. I also got bored once and played Decent: Destination Saturn. It came with my old Pentium 75MHz system. But let me tell you that no FPS limiters is crazy. I would tap "W" and go flyint to the end of the level. And yes you can play them on XP and Vista. Just run in compatability mode.

 
Agreed. I just played HL: Opposing force on my HD2900Pro 1GB with no problems. I also got bored once and played Decent: Destination Saturn. It came with my old Pentium 75MHz system. But let me tell you that no FPS limiters is crazy. I would tap "W" and go flyint to the end of the level. And yes you can play them on XP and Vista. Just run in compatability mode.

Maybe he's running Windows 98 and can't get newer drivers, lol.

well if hes running windows 98 you cant even get drivers from most hardware places anymore...

Why would u want an agp 6800 system over a PCIe 7800 GT?

 
Some people are really into punishing themselves...?  

 
He wants to use the 6800's blow dryer to dry his hair after a shower so he doesn't have to buy an extra one. Thats why.  

Really now?  So you guys are telling me you can play old games like... all the old need for speed games... carmageddon, test drives, descent I/II/III, doom/wolfenstein, mechwarris and all?  Sure a few will work depending on your system.  But damn if you guys can get any old game running, I'd love to see that.  And, PCIe cards do not support many of the old games.  Some will work, but most will crash and graphics will be severely off.  Unless this is just a burden of owning a 7800gt.  
 
     

sounds like a voodoo 3 might work too

have a voodoo 5500 in a pentium III 950, worked on games form 1995-1999, cant properly handle games newer than that.  man, still haven't got much for an answer yet have I?  So anyone?  Opteron 256 with ddr400 or phenom 9600 with ddrII800?    

9600 w/ DDR2 800.
 
@OP: What are you doing?!?!(with old tech). AGP, come on.... let AGP die please.

 
Have you tried DOSBOX? It works quite well for my older DOS based games. Many of the games you listed are DOS based from memory...