DDR2 mobo with AGP ?

I recently upgraded to a X800 XT AGP graphics card on my aging P4 2.4 setup, and now its kinda showing up the deficiencies in the rest of the kit !
So I was going to upgrade the board and chip along with the memory and figured the most sensible option would be to go for a DDR2 board and a socket 775 P4 chip.
However, all the DDR2 mainboards I've looked at do not cater for AGP, they're all PCI Express.
I'd prefer to stick to Intel as I had a load of bother with my AMD setups a while ago (in the Thunderbird days) but could be swayed back to the dark side if the kit was right.
I don't really want to go with PCI Express just yet considering I've just splashed out on a high-end AGP VGA card.
Can anyone recommend a decent board ?

 

They dont exist JN

You can get PCIe with DDR1, but not AGP with DDR2.

 

Argh goddammit, I suspected as much !! Looks I'll just have to go for a board with DDR400 then. I really don't want to chop my VGA card in just yet, I'm still in love with it !! Shame really cos I really fancied a dual-core chip
How's it going anyway Bindi, still slogging away at UMIST ?

 

You can get some solutions along the lines you're looking for. Gigabyte, for example, offers a 915 board using either ddr1 or ddr2 and it includes a built-in pci-to-agp bridge, allowing you to operate a standard agp card. (The board also offers pci-e video support) Sorry I don't remember the model, but I think their name for the bridged socket is "G.E.A.R" I'm pretty sure there are other similar 915 boards.

Albatron offers a pci-e to agp bridge card. More accurately, an adapter, wherein you seat the adapter in the pci-e socket and the agp card in the adapter. I just looked at this on their site; it's called an "ATOP" card.

However, if you put a pencil to it, I wonder if you'd really come out ahead as opposed to just selling your AGP card at time when it's resale value will probably never be higher and taking the plunge to xpress.

 

Finished in June with a 2-2 What 'bout u JN?

The Pent-D chips arent really gamers, but the A64 X2s are moreso and all you need to do is update an nForce3 ultra mobo with a latest BIOS (you'll probably need to borrow another chip to do it though). NF3U are AGP+DDR1.

 

Hehe, a 'desmond', the drinking man's degree (same as me !) nice one ! Yep, I'm fine atm, business & family are ok & I'm off on a Solidworks course soon

Cheers for all the advice, there's a few options to go at there. Not sure about an X2 chip, they're still hellish expensive at the mo' and a bit outside my CPU budget (missus wants a new bathroom & kitchen ) Good job I hid my credit card bill when I bought the X800XT

 

HAHAHA JN under the thumb! never Missus wants, missus gets, eh?

 

go for an a64 set up you won't be dissapointed... especially in games

 

ULI is making a chipset that supports the Pentium D Smithlers IIRC that can use PCI Express and AGP at full speed, with DDR 2...

 

But will anyone actually use it? And will you be able to actually buy it? And will it be any good?

 

That is of course the series of questions that must be considered. Ultimately, your best option for a better gaming experience is an Athlon 64 based rig-but if you can afford it, An Athlon 64 X2 based rig.