Upgrade motherboard

[munky]

I recently purchased a hp pavillion computer Model a705w_b with a Intel Celeron 2.93ghz, and 256 mb pc 2700ram. When I bought the pc all i looked at was the clock speed thinking that was the deciding factor not realizing the processor played a much bigger role. Now I wish I would have built my own. Ive upgraded to 512mb ram and a GeForce 5500, but now having a halfway capable computer for some games, i want something for games like Half_life2 and Doom3.
My question is about getting a new motherbaord and cpu. Ive seen some for under 300$ bundled together, and if I can getaway with not spending much more that would be fine. Im not looking for something top of the line, just something capable of playing up-to-date games with decent speed. Im not refering to a video card at all, as that is a seperate issue. Which is better AGP, or pci-e? Ive been hearing good things about the amd 64's for gaming, so im kinda leaning towards one of those. I know nothing of chipsets also. I would also want a mother board that supports the same type of ram I have now so I can just use what I have for now, but i would also like it to support better types of ram. What motherboard should I look into?
Also, would it be as simple as uplugging all of my accessories and installing the new motherboard, the plugging everything back up, or is it more complicated than that. Sorry for all of the newbie questions, just need to be pointed in the right direction.

Thanks

 

[Bszx]

AMD > Intel..
I dont know if you want to upgrade your mobo. It can be a pain in the ass.. try a better video card if the cheapest and easiest solution...

 

[Bszx]

Also celerons are horrible fyi.. I dont know much about mobos prolly go with like an asus 80-100$ idk someone else maybe able to help ya out more if you want the task of upgrading mobo.

 

[munky]

yes, the only thing is my motherboard has no agp or pci-e slots

 

[munky]

basically i kinda want to build a pc, but use everything I already have, like the hd, cd/dvdrw, media reader, and os and software

 

[ownage]

get a A64 and mobo combo.

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Looks like we're in the same boat, munky. I'm planning on building a system too. Haven't bought anything yet. From the looks of things, everyone's been suggesting the AMD system using the Athlon 64. Then again, my eyes are also set on the FOXCONN Intel915P Chipset Motherboard and the Intel LGA 775 Pentium 4 540 3.2 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache w/ Hyper Threading combo. Lets see if we can share some ideas. I like to take a crack at Doom 3.

 

[munky]

How hard is it to install a motherboard? The furthest ive gone installing anything hardware related is ram, a hard drive and pci cards. Also, im assuming a cpu/mobo combo has the cpu installed already, correct?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Motherboard is failry easy. There are plastic standoffs and screws you attach the motherboard to the case. It comes with everything you need to install it to the case including HDD cables, mainboard drivers and other software. There's a manual so you can't go wrong plugging in audio, power, usb, reset, HDD lights, ground cables, etc. I'm not getting the mobo/CPU combo. I'm kind of picky at what I want.

 

[ownage]

AMD's are better for gaming. Intels are for multi-tasking. If you could tell us your budget for a cpu and mobo we can find you some pretty good stuff. Mobo is very easy to install.