New motherboard and processor - Compatability?

Hi guys,

am currently considering a new build, and am trying to figure out which CPU/Mobo combination to buy.

was looking at a dual core processor, and i heard the Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 was a good choice. either that or the cheaper Pentium 4 945 Dual Core 3.4GHz.

at the moment the 945 is £110:
ebuyer.com - Processors & Cooling » Processors Intel » Intel Pentium 4 900 Series (LGA775) » Product details

and the E6400 is £153:
ebuyer.com - Processors & Cooling » Processors Intel » Core 2 Duo » Product details

I will be using the machine mostly for gaming, would the extra cost result in a significant performance increase?

secondly, i am looking for a new motherboard... i was looking at this ASUS P5VDC-X:
ebuyer.com - Motherboards » Motherboards Intel » Socket LGA 775 Intel » Product details

mainly because it has an AGP slot as well as PCI-E slots (i currently have an AGP 6800GT graphics card which i want to keep), also it supports DDR memory, which i may also want to move across from my old pc to save some cash (though this is less important).

would this board support both the CPU's i was looking at (they are both socket 775)? if not, does anyone know any others which would support both the CPU and the AGP card (and possibly the DDR memory)?

If your going to get that motherboard, you will have to get the Pentium 4 945, that motherboard wont support the E6400, i would reccommend getting a mobo to support the E6400, but that would mean needing to upgrade to a PCI-E graphics card and possible DDR2 ram,

The big question is what do you have now for the motherboard and CPU?

was planning on buying a new case, CPU and heatsink fan, mobo and possibly new memory modules.

and was planning to using my existing HDD (Seagate ST3250624A Barracuda 250GB 7200RPM ATA/100 16MB), CD and floppy drives, PSU (Hiper 480W Type-R), and video card (6800GT) until i can afford to upgrade it.

Are there any motherboards available that have both AGP and PCI-E slots and support the E6400? i am thinking i'd prefer the E6400 for its extra power, and probably stretch to buying new DDR2 memory if i couldn't find a compatible mobo with DDR1 memory support.

Cheers.

There are mobos that support both AGP and PCI-E but i dont think there is any to support Core 2 Duo's, i think that the PCI-E on the mobos with AGP aswell dont actually use a propor PCI-E bus or somthing, dunno, just faintly remeber seeing somthing about it, so there bad if your going to upgrade to PCI-E and get the best performance, i could be wrong tho.

OK, cheers. Now am thinking that i may get the 945 3.4Gb CPU;
ebuyer.com - Processors & Cooling » Processors Intel » Intel Pentium 4 900 Series (LGA775) » Product details

then get the Asus P5VDC-X motherboard;
ebuyer.com - Motherboards » Motherboards Intel » Socket LGA 775 Intel » Product details

so i can use my existing AGP graphics card, memory and hopefully hard drive. i currently have a Seagate ST3250624A Barracuda 250GB 7200RPM ATA/100 16MB, though it says on the specs for the mobo that it only supports ATA/133 & Serial ATA/150. does this mean that i won't be able to use my existing hard drive or are they backwards compatible?

thanks for all the help.

i think that your Barracuda should work on that motherboard as there is a slot for the IDE interface on your motherboard, hmm i am not sure though, i would of thought that the mobo would support your drive, it seems to be preety modern.

IDE and SATA interfaces are compatible with all said devices. The SATAxxx or ATAxxx is just an indicator of the maximum throughput they support. Signaling and data cabling are the same.

Right, cheers guys, thats good news.

am thinking i'll go for the Pentium 4 945 Dual Core 3.4GHz:
ebuyer.com - Processors & Cooling » Processors Intel » Intel Pentium 4 900 Series (LGA775) » Product details

along with the ASUS P5VDC-X:
ebuyer.com - Motherboards » Motherboards Intel » Socket LGA 775 Intel » Product details

so that i can save some cash by using my existing hard drive, graphics card and memory.

as a last question, was looking at some new cases. need an ATX case with space for 2 CD drives, a floppy drive and a card reader. was thinking about the Antec Solo Quiet Mini Tower Case;
ebuyer.com - Cases/PSU/Barebones » Cases » Antec » Product details

because it looks like it apparently has good quiet cooling features, and want to keep my new PC quiet.

or possibly the Asus TA-250;
ebuyer.com - Cases/PSU/Barebones » Cases » Asus » Product details

it has a PSU that i don't actually need, but its still cheaper than the Antec one.

any ideas on whether or not the Antec case would be worth the extra cash?

thanks again for all the pointers.

I think the Asus tower is the best, yea dont be using the PSU in it, you should only use decent PSU's, and usually PSU's that come with cases are cheapo crap, hmmm maybe the Antec one should be the best bet actuall, as i see it says about Noise reduction techonology, the Asus looks better though.