}{'lo! I have a question (don't we all ). Im THINKING about uprading one of my MACHINES from this motherboard :

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=20&MODEL=MS-6309+Ver5.0

with a 1.2 ghz celeron processor, TO an AMD Sempron 3100+ / 256K Cache / 1600MHz FSB / Socket 754 / Processor wich runs at 1.8 ghz.

Is this worth it? The improvement in bus speed is huge but the proc frequency isnt that big a differance. And whats all this about hyper transport?

I'll probably be going with a motherboard similar in specs to the one I have ALREADY except with an AGP 8x slot instead of 4x, the improved bus/ram etc.

The main reason I want to go with this particular socket is 'cause later on I can upgrade to 64 bit proc without having to change mobo/ram (just flash the BIOS).

Whats your take on this? How much of an improvement will I gain?What is it you use a computer for?Budget gaming/school/graphic design (paint shop pro and maya PLE).

all of those it runs fair at this time. I'm not realy looking for whether or not it will do what I want it to do but whether it will do it significantly better than what I have now. Bus speed and the hyper transport are my main head-scratchers. I just want to know if that will make it significantly faster than what I have now.The intel celron in my option is rubbish. cheepo cpu and is slow compare to a pent 2.....upgrade to amd....nice mobo Thnx. Oh another question I have; is there any chipset (as in northbridge) that you feel is superior to the others?The Abit NF8 is a great Socket 754 mobo, and if you want to eventually get a PCI-Express videocard later, try the MSI K8N NEO3-F Socket 754. You won't be dissapointed in either one. And it's quiet too, since the Socket 754 Northbridge is fanless Cool thnx for the SUGGESTIONS. Too bad they dont have a mobo that has both an agp and a PCIx slot on it. I recently got a new AGP graphics card and dont want to have to shell out the cash to get a PCIx graphics card when my AGP works just fine. However I'm trying to make this a forward compatible mobo (HENCE the socket 754) so i suppose I should think about the whole pcix fiasco...Realy wish they had a cross over mobo, 1 pcix and 1 agp 8x slot ...One of my client's has a mobo and he had something i never saw before: A PCI-Express adapter with an AGP card in it! Blew me away! I asked him if i could run some benchmarks on his card, and unfortunately the card does NOT run any faster, it's just for being able to seat the card there, furthermore he told me it cost MORE than the mobo itself. So if it was ME, I would definately go with PCI-Express mobo, as there are cheap entry-level vidcards that outperform their AGP counterparts. Cheers and goodluck, keep us posted on how your decision turns out !!!