Need to upgrade my board

[water_otter55]

I have an old system that I'm trying to max out. What motherboard and memory would be good for the following components?

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (Socket A)
Sapphire Radeon HD3850 512MB DDR3 (AGP)

I currently have an Asus A7M266 with 1 gig of ram, but I can't get it to recognize the xp 3200+ and can't get into jumper free mode. The system runs, but it keeps telling me I have a 1.4 Gig cpu(my last one), not the new 2.2 gig cpu. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[jsc]

I do not know much about AMD systems, but I do know that many of the earlier motherboards need a BIOS update to support the later CPU's.

 

[DrgnRebrn]

I can tell you that you'll most likely spend as much, if not more on a 10-year old board than you would on upgrading to a newer CPU. AMD would still be your best bet as far as bang for your buck goes. I would recommend getting an AM2+/AM3 socket MB, and then going with an Athlon II or entry-level Phenom II CPU. You can get a hold of a MB that supports DDR2 & DDR3 memory; however I would recommend, for upgrade purposes & to maximize the life of your build, to focus more on DDR3. It may be a little more expensive than DDR2 right now, but if you get a MB that supports DDR3 exclusively, then you will gain the maximum memory support (most likely up to 16GB). You can get a good AM3 MB, 2GB DDR2 memory, and Phenom II X2 or X3 processor for less than $300 easily. The only thing you might have to add in is a PSU, but again you can pick up a reliable 400W-500W 80+ PSU for well under $100. Go with a MB with integrated graphics, either a 785G or 790GX & you will not be disappointed. Give your old system to a child, niece, or nephew for Christmas to use as a homework PC.