Topic: Any Motherboard Recommendations?

[noelmcg]

Hi all,

I bought a Dell Dimension 2400 about two years ago just for some general internet browsing, photo editing/printing, etc. and so far it's served it's purpose fairly well.  Howerver, I would like to be able to play some of the latest games and that's just not possible with the integrated graphics on the motherboard.  There is no AGP slot so I tried a PCI graphics card - this was only marginally better than the onboard graphics and is not very stable.

After doing a little bit of research on graphics cards I would like to replace my motherboard with one with a PCIe x16 graphics slot.  Firstly, is this possible and if so has anybody got any recommendations on which one I should go for?  I would like to be able to use my existing memory (512mb 184 pin DIMM), existing chip (Pentium 4 3.06ghz), USB ports, DVD/CD writers, etc.  and thought that if I just changed the motherboard and bought a new graphics card that it should work out cheaper than buying a new system.

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

[Sandra]

Hi Noel and

I am not sure if you will find any PCI-e enabled mobos without DDR 2 so you may have to stick with one that has an 8 x AGP slot and get a decent AGP card.

I have been thinking of getting a new mobo and looking at the PCI-e ones but I would be going for DDR2 if I got one.

512mb of ram isnt very much for todays pcs, especially when gaming and is relatively cheap now so I wouldnt worry too much about using your existing ram, it may have problems in a new mobo anyway.
By all means use your existing cpu, thats as fast as you should need, and the hard drives and cd/dvd drives etc.

For really serious gaming it appears that SLI is the way to go with 2 x  PCIee 16 x cards linked so it may be worth considering looking at those.
I think that you can run with one and link another at a later date if cash is short at the moment, check the compatability though of which will work alone and still link to a second one later  

[noelmcg]

Thanks for the reply Sandra, however after doing a bit more research I think my Pentium chip is a socket 478 type and I can't find any motherboards that support this type and have PCI express capability.  So, it looks like I'm going to have to invest in the following:

Mobo
Processor
Graphics Card
Memory

If I discover anything else that I need I'd be as well off buying a complete new system!!

[Sandra]

I meant to ask if it was a 478 or type 775  

Just get yourself a new 478 mobo with an AGP slot, a decent 8 x AGP card and another stick of 512mb ram and you should be fine