Motherboard - AGP + PCI-E

[martianX10]

I just recently realized after playing Vanguard in groups at 7FPS, and sometimes dropping to 3FPS, that it's been over 2 years since I've upgraded my CPU. I just recently bought a Radeon x850 PE AGP. This was around last year sometime, and I've been very happy with it. Pretty much one of the best AGP cards I could find without going to PCI-E (noting that my motherboard only has AGP support at the moment).

Now my current search is this: I'm looking for a motherboard that supports the newer lines of AMD CPU's, or at least a 64bit one, but that I can still use my AGP card in, AND be able to sometime down the road upgrade to PCI-E. I know it sounds like a lot to be looking for, but really all that is I think is a Motherboard with 64bit CPU support, and both an AGP slot and a PCI-E slot.

So my question is, what would be the downside to this idea? I've found a few motherboards that have both PCI-E and AGP, but I'm not sure if it's such a great idea. Any thoughts / suggestions? Thanks a bunch. -Suru

Current Specs (Generally)
Abit AN78X-E Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
1.5gb Ram
Radeon x850 PE AGP
Creative LIVE! Sound
120gb HDD
250gb HDD

 

[Phantom118]

I know the main downside with these boards are that you do not get the full power of a pci express slot... I know with some of the ASrock motherboards the PCI-E x16 slot is really only limited to x4... so you wouldn't get the full power of a high end PCI-E Graphics card.

 

[martianX10]

Awesome, thanks for the response.

Well the options I'm weighing are these:

o Upgrade to another AGP board, and buy yet ANOTHER motherboard when I want to go up to PCI-E.

o Buy a dual AGP / PCI-E board.

o Don't upgrade at all right now.

Question, with the AGP + PCI-Boards, do you know if the cards can work simultaneously? Maybe that would sort of balance out the loss of power a LITTLE bit. . . .naw. I don't know, kinda torn right now.

 

[Phantom118]

check out this link

NCIX FORUMS - Little known fact: AGP+PCI-E= 4 monitors - ASRock 4COREDUAL-VSTA ATX LGA775 Conroe ...

Apperently with some boards you can.

I was in your delima last month.. I just upgraded from AGP as well... I couldnt decide what to do.. so i just saved then upgraded to PCI-E

 

[martianX10]

What do you personally think about ASRock motherboards? Would you trust them or what?

 

[Phantom118]

I don't really know what to say.. The only reason I know of them is like I said, I was going to do the same thing as you... but I just went and bought another Asus.. Whatever board your intrested in, just use google and look for reviews on that board.. see what people say about it.

Newegg.com - Buy Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

Newegg has lots of reviews.

 

[Deathawk]

I have heard good things about that board, but personally, in your situation I would wait. Things are only getting cheaper.