Motherboards.

[Rostum]

As I further progress into the 3D world, I am finding my P4 2.6GHZ processor to be a real pain in the butt. Obviously, it's fairly slow, so I was wondering what would be a good motherboard to get that will allow me to upgrade my CPU as well as being able to use my new AGP and DDR400 equipment?

At the moment, my motherboard only supports a really old processing chip, so 3.0GHZ would seriously cost me $400AUD, which is out of the question! Can I even get a dual core-compatible motherboard that supports AGP?

Edit:
I was thinking this for a motherboard:
Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA LGA775, VIA PT880 Ultra, DDR-400 & DDR2-667, PCI-Ex & AGP8x, SATA, RAID, LAN, 8 Chl, ATX (69420) | Techbuy Australia

And this for a processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 (2.0GHz), LGA775, 2MB Cache, 800Mhz FSB, ATX (71502) | Techbuy Australia

Edit2:
My friend was saying Quad-Core was going down in price in August. Which would be absolutely fantastic, but I doubt they'd make motherboards that supports quad-core and AGP. =\

[Samuraid]

Well, Intel is releasing the P35/G33 and X38 chipset series by Q3 of this year, so prices for everything else will likely go down.

That said, it will be harder to find a Core2 board that supports AGP. I suggest checking the reviews at multiple hardware sites (tigerdirect, newegg.com, zipzoomfly.com) and see what people suggest in that regard.

Best of luck finding a good motherboard.

[Rostum]

Ah, thanks Samuraid.

I found this one with some good reviews:
Newegg.com - ASRock 775i65G LGA 775 Intel 865G Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

What do you think? Also, I just have a standard IBM case, would it be easy to just install it? Just plug in everything? Do I need to format my HDD?

And would it be wise to get a better power supply? Something around 350w (I think I have 250w), as I have a 7900GS card and will be upgrading the CPU to dual-core 2.0GHZ.

[Samuraid]

Ah, thanks Samuraid.

I found this one with some good reviews:
Newegg.com - ASRock 775i65G LGA 775 Intel 865G Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

What do you think? Also, I just have a standard IBM case, would it be easy to just install it? Just plug in everything? Do I need to format my HDD?

And would it be wise to get a better power supply? Something around 350w (I think I have 250w), as I have a 7900GS card and will be upgrading the CPU to dual-core 2.0GHZ.

Apologies for the delayed reply.

That motherboard looks like a reasonable choice for what you need.

It's micro ATX so it should fit into just about any ATX case. Just install it, plug in all the connectors (refer to the motherboard manual for a helpful reference just to make sure).

While Windows XP is somewhat forgiving when installing a lot of new hardware, I would recommend reformatting the HDD anyway for best results. It just works out better to have a fresh start after installing a new motherboard.

Also, I'm amazed the system is stable on a 250W (peak?) power supply with a 7900GS.
You may want to get something a little larger (350W or more).

If you have the money, I strongly recommend CoolerMaster RS-450-ALCY or either of the Corsair power supply units. If you are on a budget, Silverstone and Thermaltake make some decent power supplies as well, just make sure to read the reviews. (Also: don't buy Antec power supplies, their quality control has plummeted in the last couple years)

[Rostum]

Thanks so much for the reply. I will be buying these after I move next week. I will try and convince my father (he's loaning me the money for it) to bump it up so I can get a supply unit as well.

Well the only decent PSU I could find on the website I want to buy from are these two:

Corsair 520W ATX Power Supply, 120mm fan, Dual PCI-E Graphics Card Connector, 4 x SATA (65217) | Techbuy Australia

CoolerMaster 430W eXtreme Power ATX Power Supply (51636) | Techbuy Australia

Hopefully the coolmaster one is fine, because I'd rather not spend that much on the corsair if I don't need that much power.