Upgrades advices please!

[Aragor]

Hi, I'm an addicated gamer and I'm planning on upgrading a few parameters in order to run stuff adequatly. I currently have those :

Processor: Intel P4 2.4 ghz
Motherboard : Asus P4P800
Graphic card : ATI Radeon 9500 Pro
RAM : Geil 512k dual channel (PC3200)

and I was planning on buying an Nvidia 7900GT graphic card. I saw that this model was mainly made for PCI-E technology, but heard that it could also be available for AGP (which is what I got on my motherboard). I was wondering :

1- is there any downside to having the AGP version compared to the PCI-E one?
2- can anyone confirm that this graphic card (7900GT) is available in an AGP version?
3- what would be an interesting suggestion of a new motherboard (let's say from Asus) that would cost between 150 and 250$? Would I have to change my type of RAM with that motherboard? (I was already planning on adding about 1 gig so it wouldnt really matter)
4- is my processor strong enough to support A) a new (modern) motherboard that would fit the graphic card, B) the graphic card itself?

Thanks a lot for helping the newbie I am

 

[Motoxrdude]

I seriously doubt the 7900GT is out for agp. AGP is much much slower then PCI-E.

The rest that you asked comes down to compatibility. If you where to get a new motherboard, you would most likely have to get a new CPU if you want a more current/up-to-date processor.

Then for your ram, you probably could re-use it. But again, it depends on which ram your new mobo supports.

 

[Aragor]

Hum ok.

Concerning the new motherboard, any suggestion?
And I'm not sure if you meant I could/should get a new processor if I bought a new motherboard because it was necessary or simply to be up-t-date? Is it a question of compatibility or performance?

 

[elmarcorulz]

The 7900GT isnt out for AGP, but the 7800gs is, which is still a damn good card