What should I upgrade to?

[Bijo]

Sorry to barge in, but I was wondering if there's any board in existence that supported both AGP8x and PCI-E. I heard some people talking about it, but I don't really recall all that well.

Point is that I'll be upgrading some time but I'm not in a hurry anyway. And mainly, I feel no need to replace my X1600Pro AGP 512mb. Btw, can somebody explain some more that thing about the bridge thing of AGP and PCI-E? I've read something about the X1600 having something like that.

For the sake of simplicity/argument/etc.: suppose I wanna spend €500,- and keep my current video card, what hardware should be bought, that could last long enough?

Or suppose I wanna spend about €1000,- . Then what's the path to follow?

[Geezer57]

Sorry to barge in, but I was wondering if there's any board in existence that supported both AGP8x and PCI-E. I heard some people talking about it, but I don't really recall all that well.

There are a few, but none are considered gamer/enthusiast boards - they appear mostly targeted at the lower end. None that I would recommend.

Point is that I'll be upgrading some time but I'm not in a hurry anyway. And mainly, I feel no need to replace my X1600Pro AGP 512mb.

It would be nice to have some more info about your current system, and what CPU preferences you might have for your upgrade.

Btw, can somebody explain some more that thing about the bridge thing of AGP and PCI-E? I've read something about the X1600 having something like that.

See the links in the post above regarding bridge chips.

For the sake of simplicity/argument/etc.: suppose I wanna spend €500,- and keep my current video card, what hardware should be bought, that could last long enough?

I'm speculating your current processor is a single-core, using regular 184-pin DDR RAM - in which case retaining your existing AGP video card would handicap the upgrade to a Core 2 Duo processor & DDR-2 RAM. I'd plan on getting a new graphics card at the same time as the new CPU, RAM, motherboard, and power supply. At which point you might as well buy a new case and drives, so as to sell the old box and recoup some of your expenses. That would be hard to do at only €500. Better to keep the old machine intact and save some more money for later. Prices will drop in the spring.

Or suppose I wanna spend about €1000,- . Then what's the path to follow?

A lot more room to play at that level. Suggest retail Intel E4300 Core 2 Duo CPU ($178 US) with heatsink/fan, GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 mobo ($119 US), CORSAIR XMS2 2GB memory kit ($181 US after rebate), a good 650w power supply (about $130 US), and maybe a SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950XT 256MB (or better, depending on your preferences - starting at $220 US). That leaves a little left over for miscellaneous bits and currency exchange variations, but is a good place to start. Note: all prices from Newegg.com (no, they don't ship outside the U.S., but someone on your side of the Atlantic should offer similar prices).

[Bijo]

Thanks for the reply. Geezer, my processor is worse than low-end Athlon XP 1.82Ghz, and the RAM is 1.5gb DDR1 (I've forgotten the exact speed 'cause I know it's slow enough already, heh heh).