looking for new motherboard while still keeping some of my current parts

here is my current computer although atm it has 2gb of ram, geforce fx 5500 oc video card, and a new Antec - EarthWatts 500-Watt ATX CPU Power Supply. other than those 3 upgrades everything else is factory shipped.

its a couple of years old and and besides gaming, i have been using it for minor upgrades so i could understand how to do stuff like that myself. now i've been wanting a higher end video card but my current motherboard doesn't support pci-e. are there any motherboards out there that would allow me to keep those current 3 upgrades while giving me pci-e? hard drive is obviously not a problem since i can easily store it to an external.

 

I did a bit of research on the motherboard built into the T5026 and it's called an "Augsburg D915GAG" (more info here http://www.e4allupgraders.info/dir1/motherboards/socket775/D915GAG.shtml) and it seems that some have a PCIe video slot, and some don't. The T5026 actually has decent specs especially now that you've added the 2gb RAM. Dump the chump of a video card and upgrade to something better and you'd have a pretty decent PC on your hands....

EDIT- I just read your post for a 2nd time... you do NOT have the PCIe That stinks. Keep in mind that if you install a new motherboard, at the very least you will need to do a repair install of your OS; for best results you'll want to reformat and reload clean.... XP doesn't like it when a motherboard is swapped out and tends to crash/not boot.... so you're looking for a motherboard with PCIe, socket 775, DDR400 memory slots, in a MATX form factor, preferably with 2 IDE channels (I'm assuming your HD is IDE/ATA and not SATA; if it is SATA then no worries). This may be difficult as most new boards do not support DDR (they're all DDR2) and most boards nowadays have only a single IDE/ATA header, with multiple SATA headers. So this may present a problem. I have replaced motherboards in EMachines recently and I had to move the DVD drive into the lower bay and get a longer IDE cable so the DVD could share the same cable and IDE port as the hard drive...

 

well i was expecting that something to meet such picky specs would be hard to come by. ram is pretty cheap so its nothing major if i have to get new ram to match a motherboard with pci-e.

i guessed based on the size of the factory tower and my new power source (assuming their size determines what motherboard to get) what would be a good choice?

 

You could always do something like this:
http://www.xpcgear.com/775dualvsta.html

This board has AGP and PCI-E so you can upgrade later. It also supports DDR400 and DDR2 667. You may need an adapter for the PSU - Motherboard connection, but that's pretty cheap off a site like newegg.

It seems like a waste to upgrade your motherboard if you are not going to upgrade your video card. I don't know if I fully understand your intentions here. Is your current motherboard not working or insufficient for some reason?

 

if i was unclear that was my bad.

what i am trying to do is upgrade my video card. my current one is regular pci and everything new requires express which i do not have. so i need a new motherboard in order to compensate for this.

 

Are you looking to upgrade to DDR2 as well? Or do you want to keep your current memory? There are a handful of PCI-E / DDR motherboards out there from when PCI-E first released. I'd recommend upgrading your memory as well, it's not too expensive.

What's your budget?

 

is guess a range for a motherboard would be $150-$250 possibly $300. unless DDR2 is a major performance upgrade from DDR then yes i would prefer to keep my current ram.

 

DDR2 isn't a huge performance increase, but it isn't an expensive one and as such you'd probably be better off upgrading your memory and your motherboard. Otherwise you'll just be swapping a dated motherboard for another dated motherboard. A motherboard that runs DDR memory is running a very old chipset. If you're willing to spend roughly $200 on a motherboard, I would recommend spending a little less on the board and just upgrading your memory. I know it's tough to throw something you paid for away, but alas that is the game with computers.

The intel P35 chipset is a good value. It supports Quad Cores, Core 2 Duo, Pentium and even Celeron processors. Purchasing one of these will allow you to upgrade your processor in the future without having to replace your motherboard again. Replacing a motherboard is enough work as it is. Not only in the labor and time to swap it out, but you'll also end up formatting your harddrive to reinstall new drivers. If you need to upgrade your processor in a year or two you'll be grateful you spent the money on a motherboard that allows for upgradability now, especially considering how cheap memory is these days.

As far as motherboards go, this is a very good board and extremely popular. A lot of people have picked up this series of boards and rant and rave about them. The Gigabyte P35 series is a great buy. The DS3L is extremely popular for its features and $90 price tag.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

This Abit board currently has a rebate which makes its final price a steal at $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127031

For memory, I think Corsair makes the best. For $28 this is a steal. 2GB kit DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590

This puts you at only roughly $100 for your upgrade give or take depending on shipping and which motherboard you select. Hopefully with these suggestions you won't feel too bad about throwing away your DDR memory.

 

thanks for the suggestions. as you said no one likes to throw something away for another upgrade but i have no problem doing so. with the motherboards you suggested would i have to get a new processor for those. my current one is the factory shipped one that came with the computer. would those motherboards fit inside my current tower?

would replacing a motherboard have a domino effect and make me have to get new things like a hard drive, cd/dvd drives, etc.?

 

Typically not. Older CD/DVD drives are IDE, and all motherboards have IDE connectors for such. Some newer motherboards don't make it easy to hook up the older PATA(IDE) harddrives though. Luckily, the link in your original post shows that your harddrive is a SATA. So unless you've added an IDE you shouldn't have any problems. Looking at your power supply on newegg, if it's the same model they have there you shouldn't have an issue hooking it up to a new motherboard.

The only thing that wouldn't work is your video card if it is AGP. You would have to upgrade your video card now as well.

 

ya the only things that are different that the factory specs are the 2gig ram, antec 500w power supply, and the geforce 5500 fx video card.

so now it looks like im settling with based on your suggestions
motherboard
ram

would that motherboard be ok with my current processor?

 

The P35 chipset supports the Pentium 4 processor.

 

what work is there in replacing a motherboard? would i have to reload an OS? reformat a hard drive?

 

just a quick question regarding the recommendation of the motherboard

"Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L"

how come there is only 1 ebay uk selling this board?? Is it like really really new or am i missing something here as there seems to be more sellers selling the P31 board.

I'm actually looking for a new mobo myself and this is why i ask....

 

You should format the harddrive and reinstall the OS. You can try a windows repair, but to get the best performance and most stable system you really should format and reinstall the OS from scratch.

 

Try the GA-EP35-DS3R and GA-EP35-DS3L, etc... Gigabyte is revamping their line with more energy efficient models.