Upgrade from socket-A suggestions

[Hammer*]

I am planning to upgrade my current socket-A based system. With offspring in college $$, I need to make it a progressive upgrade if possible starting with just the Motherboard and CPU. I was looking at the Asrock Alivedual-esata2 (AMD2) and 775Dual-vsta (Intel 775) motherboards. I like the idea of being able to start with the Mboard/CPU then incrementally upgrade memory, switch to PCIe GPU, etc as I can afford it and later upgrading to a better motherboard if I think its necessary. However, those boards do not seem to be available in the US anymore, at least I can’t find a retailer with them in stock. Unless I get a recommendation for another dual GPU board I will probably opt for a new CPU and entry level motherboard that supports newer CPUs, my DDR memory, and AGP. Later when I transition to a PCIe GPU I will have to switch motherboard as well. If possible the interim motherboard would support both my memory and the newer stuff so I can increment it in as well, prior to the GPU upgrade.

As far as requirements, I am no longer a daily gamer but play RTS type games a few times a week and a shooter if Ive had crappy day. I don’t get a thrill from overclocking anymore (meaning I’m ok with current AMD architecture) but would if the return as big enough.

Current System:
Mother Board - NFII ULTRA-AL
Memory - DDR SDRAM, 2 x 512 Crucial Ballistic PC3200 (I think)
CPU, socket A Athlon 2200
GPU - ATI Radeon 1650PRO (AGP)

comments and suggestions would be appreciated

 

[MiST91]

if i was you, i wouldn't buy either of them boards, the intel one was pretty good when PCI-e was still pretty new and most people still were using AGP, however times have changed and i would save uo and buy a board thats DDR2 compatable but is ready for DDR3, at a very good price and supports most intel CPUs and is very upgradable for price (about £70): Gigabyte P35C-DS3R.

I was honestly in exact same positon as you about 4 months ago (crappy old intel system with DDR1, with no money), and i was going to buy that asrock but i am so happy that i wated a little and saved up and bought a decent motherboard, processor and RAM

 

[Hammer*]

thanks, thats why I posted I haven't built or even looked at building a system since I put that one together and I am seriously out of the loop.