I need help

[Wyrm]

Anyone with a quick bit of advice? I am on a budget here.

Quick search on Newegg found they have 1 MB listed that still has an AGP slot: link. Not the 865 you were looking for, but it has a PCIe slot in case you decide to upgrade from AGP to PCIe sometime in the future. As for being able to run all your old drives, it's got 2 PATA (aka the old IDE stuff) ports (aka 4 devices) and 2 SATA ports, so unless you have more than 4 PATA devices to connect, it should work for you. Also Core 2 compatable, which gives you another future upgrade path.

Only concerns about that one is there seem to be a few shipping DOA, and the PCIe slot is only 4x, which is kinda pointless since every graphics card these days is 16x.

Another thing worth considering is buying a newer MB with integrated graphics. The modern IGP boards will probably work better than the AGP card you have and aren't really all that much more expensive (they're $70-90). The downside to that would be you'd need new memory (DDR2 is insanely cheap - under $25 for a 2GB kit) and a SATA hard drive (also cheap - $50 will get you 250GB at 7200RPM or 500GB at 5400RPM). Although that's also where it gets a bit complicated since modern boards only have 1 PATA slot (aka 2 devices). The trick here is to get your system up and running on the new HD (prob need to have the CD drives hooked up), then copy everything from the old HDs onto the new one (assuming you have space, not sure how big those old ones are), then take them out and put the optical drives on the PATA. Of course, the other option is to buy a $20 SATA DVD drive, but that is another expense.

Basically, if you're looking for a new MB and processor anyway, getting an AGP compatable board with a cheap Core 2 will cost roughly $120 and buying the new board, CPU, memory and SATA HD would be in the neighborhood of $240. So basically double the price, but you'd also be able to sell the parts you won't need from the old system (the memory and graphics card) for some money back. Also, the newer board with integrated graphics will have a lower power requirement than a system using a discrete graphics card, which lowers your power bill, and is also something worth considering.

Your choice, just thought I'd throw a couple other options out there.

Of course, any upgrade could prove pointless if your copy of Windows isn't retail and won't transfer to a new MB...

AGP info confuses me:

AGP Connector / AGP 3.0 / (4X & 8X Speed 1.5 and 0.8 Volt Only)

That's just something to tell you that they don't want you putting an older card in there. In other words, it won't run a 1x or 2x card, but your 8x will be fine.