Need some help choosing

[cesspool17]

Ok, like many I'm building a new machine but have some problems. I'm a gamer, but not hardcore(I dont need to run doom3 at 300FPS in 2048x1536 AAx8)

Right now I'm running a P4-2.4, 512MB RDRAM (yes I know, horrible) BFG 6800GT AGP.

Problem 1)

So initially I was looking to buy a new MOBO that still supports the soon to be antique AGP. Would it be better to:

A) Sell the 6800GT and upgrade to PCI-E so that I can buy a future-ready MOBO?

B) Buy an AGP MOBO, hope it lasts a year or two, then upgrade?

Problem 2)

CPU - AMD for sure
a) dual core? <--- leaning this way, possibly 3800+
b) non-dual?

Problem 3)

a) Dual channel DDR?
b) DDR2?

Any opinions would be helpful, thanks.

 

[o1die]

Get the asrock dual sataII board with the uli 1695 chipset (about $70 at newegg). It's the only board that supports both agp or pci-e video. It has limited overclocking options, so you can use regular pc3200 memory, such as pqi, or other lower priced brands. If you don't like asrock, do a search at newegg and see if they have any other uli 1695 boards yet. With this board, you can use either the single core or dual core socket 939.

 

[endyen]

Dual core is not for gaming. Games only use one core, the other one creates problems at this point. While you can expect patches to keep dual cores from crashing in game, it will be 3 years or more before there will be games that make up the clock speed difference.

 

[cesspool17]

No, I'm not going the cheap way. I didnt know there were boards with both AGP and PCI-E, thanks for the tip. I think I might go with the Single core 3800+....from what I read the 3700+ doesnt support dual channel ddr