Computer Ugrade

[HLDoom32768]

Alright, my uncle is wanting to upgrade his PC. He currently only has an APG 9800pro OC to the stock speeds of the XT, although as he is a big gamer (mainly FPS) he wants to upgrade his video card. He wants to move to PCI-e in this upgrade, and is thinking more along the lines of Nvidia 7600 or 7800, although he is really just looking for whatever works best for the price.

My question is not about the video card in particular though, my question is about mobo brands. Here is the email he sent me about it. The reason he was looking at the AGP/PCI-e combo was because he wanted to maybe stick with his 9800pro for a little longer, and maybe wait out till a better or cheaper card comes out, although he realizes that there MIGHT be issues with the AGP/PCI-e combo. Anyone hear of any issues an AGP/PCI-e combo? How about each of the brands? What mobo would you suggest? Thanks greatly....

This is a part of what he emailed me:

Asus A8N-E, MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum, DFI INFINITY NF4 ULTRA, ASRock

939Dual-sata2 (this one has AGP and PCIe and can upgrade to the new

socket for AMD too.) I think any of the four MB's will be good but just

wondering what others thought too. I have been leaning towards the DFI

but not sure about it's stability compared to MSI and Asus.

Thanks for your input.

Thanks any and everyone...

[nitroshift]

i'd go for the dfi mobo. reason = stable for oc.

[rendrag]

i would personally stay away from boards that mix pci-e and agp. Performance usually suffers as a result of mixing technologies like that

ASUS and DFI would be my recommendations.

[HLDoom32768]

i'd go for the dfi mobo. reason = stable for oc.

Yeah I heard that DFI is great for OC also, but also that they can have issues. Like some people's mobos die and such. You hear anything about how reliable they are for longterm?

i would personally stay away from boards that mix pci-e and agp. Performance usually suffers as a result of mixing technologies like that

ASUS and DFI would be my recommendations.

yeah I was thinking Asus or DFI also, and that the mix of PCI-e and AGP isn't a good idea, but I wasn't sure if there where any KNOWN issues from the comob...

[mentalindustrie]

The reason he was looking at the AGP/PCI-e combo was because he wanted to maybe stick with his 9800pro for a little longer, and maybe wait out till a better or cheaper card comes out, although he realizes that there MIGHT be issues with the AGP/PCI-e combo.

why doent he wait then?

why buy a new MB now if he not buying the new GFX to go with it.

personally id wait till year end for DX10 (dont give me the you end up waiting for ever for the new tech)

and to think about vista compatablity

if he is happy with what he was now wait 6 months or so for vista stuff to start coming out

[LarryAllen]

I did my build in January with the capability of overclocking in the future in mind. So I selected what at the time were supposed to be pretty good components. Now, six months later, this probably is no longer true. Based on what I’m reading, many things will be changing in the future as well. What you might wish to consider is the argument between Intel’s Duo CPU w/motherboards dedicated to its socket and the potential introduction of a new series of AMD CPU’s conceptually making use of DDR2 RAM (currently, I believe, AMD 64’s do not address DDR2 in their onboard memory controller).

All that being said; sticking w/your question, I assume you are only considering 939 motherboards. When I made my selection I whittled mobos down to just 2 – DFI and MSI. I opted for the MSI and regret it. I was lucky to have immediate success in my build but no thanks to MSI; all my thanks go to members of the forum (MSI – AMD 64 nVidia based motherboards). If you reference this forum all you have to do is a quick scan to realize that owners experience a plethora of issues – northbridge fan failures, SATA issues (the board requires 2 sets of drivers – 1 for each pair of onboard SATA ports, nVidia and Silicon Image respectively), sound problems (front audio hook-ups disabling rear audio output, etc.). Generally, a lot of build caveats. And do not ignore the PSU requirement in the build – MSI suggests 18amps on a 12V rail and this is just for the Ultra board, SLI is a different ballgame.

Anyway, if I had to do it all over again, and I probably will, I’d go with DFI.

[Scubar]

The DFI is the the best of the bunch followed by the Asus. There really isnt any point in upgrading to the AM2 socket as the performance increase is minimal.

[nitroshift]

The DFI is the the best of the bunch...

...which proves my point!

[Scubar]

Also for graphics cards in terms of Price/Performance the 7600GT is the best there is.

[ripken204]

dfi ultra-d, thats what i have and i couldnt have made a better choice... well i could have gone the sli version

and a 7600 would be the best choice, thats unless he really wants a 7900gt

[Brando569]

I have an A8N-SLI with an Nvidia Geforce 7600GT and it works really good. I'd highly recommend it. the geforce is really good for being only $180 (compared to the $300 plus you can pay for one) havent really tried to overclock it though. i suggest looking into this combo its worth it