Time to update my comp again, and i'm pretty sure my weakest link is my mobo and cpu. I'm running a P4 2.4Ghz on a standard dell mobo that came stock with my dell purchase back in 2002.

I want to make an upgrade that will noticeably improove performance of my games (Oblivion, FEAR, HL2, etc...). I want to get a Pentium D930 w/ ECS P4M800PRO-M mobo, which i can get for a decent price, but i've been out of the CPU loop for a while and I'm wondering if this will improove my performance much over my p4 2.4Ghz. I don't want to spend too much money on this, and I don't need the best and brightest, but I DO want to notice the difference. The only other thing is that I just bought an NVIDIA 6800 Ultra AGP, and I'm not buying a new card so my new mobo has to have AGP support (getting harder and harder to find these days). Should I keep looking or will I notice the difference with the P-D930?

Just for the record, in case i'm not updating the right part of my comp:

Pentium IV 2.4Ghz
1 Gig DDR PC3200 ram
ASUS NVIDIA 6800 Ultra, AGP
3 IDE hard drives totaling about 400Gb
SoundBlaster 24 bit 5.1 channel audio

You're in a bit of a dilemma.

If you don't replace your video card now along with the motherboard, even though it's good, you're locking yourself into an AGP based motherboard.

On the other hand, if you do replace your video card, that's obviously an added expense, but you'll at least be able to go PCI-e, and have a much better upgrade path for your next video card.

You're right in needing an upgrade for the mobo, CPU, fan, but I would explore replacing the graphics card more closely. Do you have someone you can sell your 6800 Ultra to so you can recoup some of that cost?

ECS isn't exactly the pinnacle of quality, nor is any VIA based motherboard in performance when running intel processors. You're better off going with something with an Intel chipset.

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Well, i was hoping to just live it out with one last upgrade before going all out with a brand new system in two or three more years (or at least a new mobo/cpu and vid card). I'm not too picky about it, but my biggest concern in cost, which is why I'm not buying another video card. I know i screwed myself by buying AGP, but hey, live and learn right?

I just want to know if I'd see a difference with the p-d930 or if i should seek other processors/mobos in the same price range... if there are other options...

the p-d930 runs at 3.0 Ghz, so just right there i'm gaining a whole 600Hz in processor speed, right? I know most games don't benefit from the whole dual-core thing, but i figure my cpu is so old that upgrading to any semi-recent processor would benefit me. Just, how much?

Upgrading the CPU on that board would be a waste & investing in a board/CPU combo with AGP would also be a waste...especially a cheap VIA based board. Just sit tight & ride it out as long as you can.