Worth upgrading motherboard or not?

[Tempete]

Hi, I have an ASUS P5P800SE with AGP 4X/8X, with a Pentium D 930 @ 3.0ghz and a crappy AGP ATI 9550. I'd like a better graphic card, but theres no solutions affordable on AGP. Is it worth upgrading to ECS PF22 Extreme (1.0) Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 955X ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135004
so I can have PCI 16, 2 slots and potential crossfire. Is it worth it as in, would it be labor intensive to get someone to reassemble my computer. Also would 2 DDR 400 512 MB ram be compatible on that mobo.
Thank you for your time.

 

[DaShit]

Na the memory wouldn't work with the new mobo, the new takes DDR2....

I think it would be a good idea to get another mobo, instead of buying another AGP card, if you really want and ur on a budjet you could prolly find a nice mobo that has both integrated vid and a pci 16x slot, so u could still use ur pc without buying the new video card right away...

but diffenently i would not buy an agp card cause they are really outdated, best bet is to get a new pci 16x mobo

 

[PC eye]

Not completely outdated are AGP cards yet. Some newer Asus boards remain AGP not PCI-Express type boards so you can upgrade while still using the same video, sound, and memory for the cost of a board. For moving into a new build totally you would then choose to go with largest jump your budget would allow. That would mean building everything new. When the 2007 build takes place here all hardwares except for a new drive will be new. The old case will sit in a closet as a spare. The ATI 9550 256mb card has done a good job here without issues since replacing an MSI 128mb model. When going with a new board it will be time to buy other new hardwares along with it to get a few years out of it. Besides onboard video for gaming doesn't work. That's about 64mb maybe 128mb on some new models. Save your money for something worthwhile when the initial prices fall and grab some sales. Then put together a better system.

 

[SpeedDevil817]

having agp is like having stale food...u can eat it but it might make u sick

 

[Calibretto]

Actually the Radeon X800GTO AGP video card is a steal for the price. Only about $150.

 

[fruscai]

the most important thing that you need to consider when deciding your course of action here is what are you going to use your computer for? if you're not going for gaming and higher end video, then, until you have cash to make a complete upgrade to a pci-e board, stick with agp. There's still some good ones out there that will last you a while longer, but do know, if you want any sort of reliable performance out of your pc in coming years you need to seriously look at upgrading to pci-e

 

[Charles_Lee]

having agp is like having stale food...u can eat it but it might make u sick

true, agp cards are bit cheaper than pci-express cards
well, why do you need a crossfire?
just get a single top end video card, it might be a better idea...
um,,, and may be try to stick with agp card,
i'd say its not worth upgrading

 

[PC eye]

fruscai makes a good point on asking what are you using your computer for?! If you are not looking for the top dollar high end gaming system and want to still update from the current model card simply move up to a later model AGP card and save for the eventual new build you will want. Eventually AGP will be out. We all know that already. But there are also new Socket 939 boards that will easily run a good AGP card.

The Radeon line is ATI's high end(X1800-X1900) while NVidia cards have their's in the 7000 series(7800-7900). The 9550 256mb has worked quite well on Asus AMD cpued boards. But maybe an NVidia rather then ATI model would be better for the Intel board you have. The board here has seen three cards since the case was built along with three cpus trying to optimize it. Both the Asus and MSI GeForce FX5200 cards were strong runners then. But it wasn't the card or cpu that made the difference here. Memory and psu. A matched pair dimms developed faults and the need for a larger psu crept in. The matched of Corsair xms series 512s soon saw a pair of Kingston 1gb dimms that actually suit the board better. Are you currently having issues with graphics by any chance or just looking to upgrade?

 

[Motoxrdude]

I would upgrade your mobo. AGP is still usable yes, but there arent going to be many AGP cards, that are good, in the future. Everyone is moving on to PCI-E, so i would too. You can still use your current processor, but i think you would have to upgrade your ram if it isnt DDR2.

 

[PC eye]

There are still plenty of new boards that will run DDR400 dimms on them. PCI-E is now here to stay for some time while AGP will soon fade away altogether especially when the $500- price tags start dropping to the $80- or less seen on most remaining AGP cards even in retail stores. At this time if you don't grab a newer AGP model you will have to pay the max for having a new system built with the latest hardwares to be outdated in six months.

 

[Tempete]

thanks guys for the advice, aiming to make a "budget gaming system" I'd like to be able to play Oblivion on medium or so levels, maybe medium high. Thinking of getting a 6800 OR Higher Geforce or something, something thats <300 USD PCIE but quite capable. nah i don't need crossfire btw. Just want to enjoy the latest games in moderate conditions. Not sure but how much more grunt would I get by upgrading to DDR2 1gb ram and DD2 2gb ram, rough %ages would be nice.
Thanks for your help guys.

 

[PC eye]

You would see a little more grunt with DDR2 since it doubles the DDR rates with newer Asus model boards running at 800mhz total compared to older DDR models running at 400mhz. But even on an older Socket A board here running PC3200 DDR400 dimms newer games see less problems due to better gaming engines that include better hardware detection. You have to keep video and sound drivers updated more frequently however due to that. More importantly is finding the best hardware matches to work better together rather then pointing at one model card. Some cards will work on a certain makes and models of boards while having issues with others at times.