Need help with hardware compatibility for new computer

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PogoP

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Hey guys,

I'm going to be upgrading my computer soon, upgrading my existing 754 pin AMD 3000+ CPU and my 768MB of RAM. I want to upgrade my CPU to an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200 AM2, and my RAM to 2 sticks of Corsair 1GB DDR2 SDRAM. Therefore, if I want to upgrade I'll have to buy a motherboard that takes AM2 pin CPU's.

I've had a look on Aria.co.uk and I think I've found what I would like, but I'm not sure if it is all compatible. For example, will that motherboard take both DDR2 SDRAM and also the AMD 64 X2 4200 AM2?

Also, I have an Nvidia 6800GT that is AGP. To my understanding, most of the newer motherboards only take PCI or PCI-E? Is that correct? I do not want to buy a new graphics card, and I was wondering if there is an AM2 compatible motherboard that also takes AGP graphics cards?

New motherboard - http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductsList.asp?Name=asus+m2v+via+k8t890

New CPU - http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductsList.asp?Name=64+X2+4200+retail+AM2

New RAM - http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductsList.asp?Name=corsair+1gb+xms2-5400

Cheers for your help.
 
There is currently only one solution that I can think of that will meet your needs. The RAM and X2 4200 will work fine in any AM2 motherboard, but the limiting factor is the AGP capability. As you say, most new motherboards have PCI and PCI-e. If I were you, I would wait and get a bit more money and upgrade to PCI-e. AGP is all but extinct and it would be worth it in the interest of upgradeability to make the move to PCI-e.

Anyhow, the only AM2 motherboard that I'm aware of that has AGP capability is the ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA. It can be had on the UK microdirect site for about 38£. Note that the chipset on this board is the nForce3, so it is 2 generations old. That is a big reason to make the move to PCI-e.

Hope that helps... cheers, mate! :cheers:
 
Thanks a lot buddy.

The only reason I'm adamant about not upgrading to PCI, is that I have upgraded my graphics card twice in the past 3/4 years, moved from an x800 to an Nvidia 6800 GT because I was having problems with ATI. I suppose I could save up and get a PCI graphics card, but that'd postpone my upgrading for a good couple of months until I can afford one.

So that motherboard you mentioned there, does that have both [edit] PCI [/edit] and AGP? If so, surely that'd be ok to buy, and if I do indeed buy a new PCI Gfx card in the future, I can keep that motherboard?
 
Erm, you can't have SLI on an AGP board. SLI is exclusive to PCI-E and as far as I know there are no mobos with nforce3 chipsets that have SLI.
 
Sorry, I didn't mean SLI *blushes*

I meant PCI, all this computer jargon is making me mix my acronyms up :p
 
:p

You mean PCI-E and yes, I agree, there are too many acronyms :D

But the answer is no, you can't have a mobo with an AGP slot AND a PCI-E slot.

If I was you I would get a PCi-E motherboard and gfx card.

At least you wouln't have to change both the gfx card and mobo in the future.
 
Ok. Well it looks like I'm going to have to upgrade my Motherboard, graphics card, RAM and CPU now then! :p

I am not really too hot on the latest graphics cards and what's good for between £100-£130. I may be able to push £150, but that depends. I have had both an ATI x800 and Nvidia Geforce 6800 GT, so if I were to get a PCI-E card, it'd have to be better than one of those two. What would you recommend for my price range?
 
The 7600GT :)

NOT THE GS VERSION.
 
PsychoFreak said:
The 7600GT :)

NOT THE GS VERSION.
Click to expand...
Truth, the GS underperforms to the GT by a wide margin.

I would wait a couple months before upgrading. Then you'll a) be moving to PCI-E, and b) effectively wait out the widespread memory voltage problems between AM2 boards and DDR2-800 memory (edit: Note that this problem can be fixed by flashing BIOS to newer versions, but DDR2-800 memory will not let the system POST on current BIOS versions).
 
Ok. Well is there a big difference between the 6800GT and the 7900GT? Just interested in the technical differences between the two. Talking PCI-E here btw, not AGP.
 
I guess you mean 7600GT as that is within your price range :p

But anyway the 7 series is current gen as opposed to the 6 series which was/is (hmm) last gen
 
I don't mind spending £200 on a graphics card, I've come to realise that I'm going to be spending a lot more than £200 on upgrading my computer :p

I'm thinking in excess of £500 to upgrade everything. £120 for 2gb of RAM, £200 for a new graphics card, £50-ish for a new motherboard (I don't want to spend lots on a flashy motherboard when a basic one does the business just as well) and another £160 for a new CPU.
 
7900gt vs 7600gt The chart at the bottom of the page shows all the resolutions.
FYI the 7600GT is similar to the 6800GT. But I think the 7600gt comes out on top more often than not (depending on the settings of course).
 
Well what are the major differences between the 7800GTX and 7900GT?
 
Ah, of course but is the 7800GTX better?
 
No, it's slower and more expensive. There's no reason AT ALL to choose a 7800gtx over a 7900gt. If I were to buy a graphics card right now, I'd buy a Sapphire X1900XT. I can get one for €339 here.
 
Would you guys recommend that I get the 7900GT 512MB over the 7900GT 256MB? What would be the differences I would see in the first compared to the latter?
 
PogoP said:
Really? There's no point in getting it at all?
Click to expand...
I doubt any slight performance advantage would be worth the extra cost. Generally you won't see any advantage anyway until you get into the higher resolutions with AA/AF like if you were going to use a large widescreen display.

If you get a highend gfx model (x1900xt, 7800gtx or whatever) replace the cooler with a quieter one. =p
They can be loud. :sniper:
 
Ok, thanks mate. I think this is my final spec for my new computer:

-AMD Athlon 64 4200 AM2
-Any pretty cheap AM2 compatible motherboard that supports PCI-E and has 4 RAM slots :p
-Nvidia 7900GT 256MB.
-2x 1gb of Corsair XMS2-5400 DDR2 SDRAM.
 
I would make sure you get a decent mobo like a MSI or ASUS one.
 
He's right. You wouldn't think so, but the quality of the motherboard can affect the performance and hardware compatability of your computer, occasionally in very serious ways. My personal rule is to never buy a motherboard priced at under $120 CAN, though I still research any board I plan on purchasing.
 
Yeah, by cheap I meant around £60 (About $127 CAN) anyway. Also, MSI or Asus are the manufacturers I was going to go for anyway :)
 
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