Help finding the perfect mobo for my situation.

I was looking at the ASUS M4A785-M which is great cuz it supports up to 16gb ddr2 but it only has one IDE and no ddr3.

I do not like your plan.

1) a 8gb kit of ddr2(2 x 4gb) will cost $130.
A similar 8gb kit of ddr3 will cost $45.

DDR2 ram will fetch a decent price on e-bay if you decide to change.

2) ide hard drives are slow compared to sata drives.

3) If you really need ide support, and your selected motherboard does not have it, then you can get a ide add in card

What will you do with the pc?

In general, the best cpu processing will come from a sandy bridge cpu.

Good info, thanx.

I was hoping i could find one that has both DDR2 and DDR3 so that when it comes time to upgrade, I can just get DDR3 instead of the more expensive DDR2.

Also, the reason I want to continue using my IDE devices is because I do not want to spend more money than necessary right now. All of my hardware works fine, so why would I throw it all away and buy new SATA stuff just because its faster? I don't need it, im happy with the IDE devices.

So, im looking to spend about $100 and get a new mobo with cpu that has both DDR2 and DDR3 and IDE support.

mobos that had support for ddr2&3 are long since obsolete. ddr3 is mainstream now. $100 for mobo & CPU is not very realistic unless you can find something used.
-Bruce

If all of your hardware works fine, then why do you want to change anything?

I believe that there were some P55 motherboards that were made during the transition from ddr2 to ddr3 that had slots for both types of ram. They were premium priced.
Also, those motherboards required 1.8v ddr3 ram which will fry the current generation of cpu's. Not a good option, I think.

You do not mention what your cpu requirements are.

I would guess that even the cheapest sandy bridge duo cpu will perform better than your current cpu.
The G530 is $57.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
You can buy this motherboard with two pata 133 channels for $104:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

8gb of ram will be $40 or so. You can probably sell your old ddr2 ram on ebay for that.

You can get added ide controllers for pci slots at $35.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If you really want a mobo and cpu for $100, look on e-bay.

Ok thx for the new info!

The reason I'm only looking to upgrade my mobo/cpu is because i currently am stuck with 32bit and I want 64bit so that I can take full advantage of the RAM i have available.

That is my biggest annoyance right now, that I have RAM that I cant use.

So im looking for the most inexpensive way to get into 64bit computing.

BUT after reading all this info it seems like doing a quick inexpensive upgrade is almost impossible.

I guess I may as well go all the way and get new ram, mobo/cpu, and all sata devices.

And if thats the case, then ill be much better off just buying a whole new PC, lol.

I totally agree 100% with @geofelt (+1) and would have given the same advice.

Frankly, the cheapest solution is to purchase a 'pre-built' system. Anything currently manufactured today is going to be considerably faster, and most all Dell, Gateway, HP, etc will be bundled with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. If you have older IDE then my biggest concern is failure of old components. Most components are good 3-5 years with reasonable reliability, and after that your risks of failures spiral way up.

The down side of 'pre-built' system is OC and cherry-picking components. HDD prices because of flood are through the roof.

I still have no idea of what your pc configuration is now.

If you have 4gb of ram, most likely all you need is an upgrade to windows 7 64 bit. Should cost $100 or so.
Download and run the windows upgrade advisor to see if you have any glaring incompatibilities.
Be aware that you will need to re-install most apps. The data files will be ok.

@geofelt

i have a 32bit pentium 4, 4gb of ram, ide hdd, dvdrw, pci georce vdo card.

u can run 64bit windows 7 on a 32bit cpu?

thx guys/gals.

Intel Pentium 4 after 'Prescott' {90nm lithography} have a 64-bit instruction set, but often the controller chips are 32-bit. IF either the CPU <or> Controllers are 32-bit then you're stuck to the 32-bit addressing limits <4GB of RAM (3.1GB~3.5GB usable).

Q - What exact CPU?
Q - What exact MOBO?

Use CPU-z to identify (CPU & Mainboard tab) -> http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

All but the very oldest obsolete cpu's are capable of running windows 7 64 bit.

Regardless, buy the windows 7 home premium upgrade kit. It costs about the same as oem, but is considered retail. That gives you ms support and motherboard transferability. It also comes with both a 32 bit and a 64 bit dvd, so you are covered regardless.

If, you have two or three pc's you need to upgrade, look for the family pack which goes for $135 with three licenses.

@jaquith ya im stuck to 32bit bro, i know this for a fact, already did my research. thx for the tip though.

anyhow, i think i already mentioned this but if not, here it goes, I already have windows 7 32bit, the only reason for this whole post was to find a mobo/cpu that i could upgrade to so that i could use all my RAM.

thx for the help everybody but it seems like what im looking for doesnt exist and its much smarter to just go with a new PC. thx again.

IMO - it's time to put to rest the older DDR2 and go with the newer and faster DDR3 which is very cheap. Otherwise your options, if any, are severely limited and no longer make for a good investment; i.e. it's time to start from scratch. BTW - HDD's are for the next few months (3~5) will be ridiculous ~300% (3X) their normal prices. So unless you're in a pinch hold-off.

why are HDD prices gonna be so high? Pardon my ignorance...

Massive flooding in Thailand -> http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/storage/display/2011112214... so it's a Supply & Demand thing. $60 7200 RPM 1TB HDD's now $150.