N-Force 4 ddr400??

[Laxe]

Hey guys I'm looking to upgrade to the Abit KN8 PCI-E S939 NF4 mobo: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=251734

I've read the desciption and it says it supports DDR400 in Dual Channel which is all well and good but my RAM chips are only 3200...will they be compatible?

Also another mobo question: If I do change mobo's, will I need to re-install my OS or will it work just as well just installing the drivers that came with it?

Thanks!

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Laxe on 09/14/05 10:05 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[ChipDeath]

320 isn't a rated RAM speed... I'm guessing you either mean DDR333(166Mhz, PC2700) or Possibly DDR400 (200Mhz, PC<b>320</b>0)Either way, if it's DDR it'll probably be possible to use it, but you might need to use a divider to run it at greatly reduced speed for it to work properly.

If I do change mobo's, will I need to re-install my OS or will it work just as well just installing the drivers that came with it?

It <i>might</i> work if you just re-install the drivers, but it might not. It'll almost certainly work if you do a 'repair' install of XP on top of your current one, but even then you'll probably have a few little annoyances left lying around (last time I did that, my PC wouldn't shut itself down for instance).

The best method is still a completely new install of windows. It's nice to have a little spring clean once in a while

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[Laxe]

Thanks for the speedy reply! Yes I checked on CPU-Z and one of my RAM sticks is 3200, the other is 2700. -_- The problem with re-installing is that I've never done a fresh install before and dread formating my h/d! I'm looking to buy an OEM of XP SP2 but if it's my first time do you reckon I should get the retail box instead?

 

[ChipDeath]

No real difference between them, except you get 'phone tech support with the Retail, but pay a lot less for OEM.

Just make sure your BIOS is set to try to boot from CDROM before hard disk, insert your XP disk and follow the prompts. Pretty sure it allows you to reformat your HDD at some point in the install. Of course make sure there's nothing on the drive you need to keep first

So what OS you running now? You can probably purchase an 'upgrade' edition of windows for less, and it'll just prompt you for your original windows disk at some point to verify that it's an 'upgrade' - so a blank disk wouldn't stop it working.

Of course there are other alternatives to OEM/Retail/Upgrade, but those depend on your morals more than anything

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<pre> (\_/)
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|_____| This was bunny. He was tasty.
/\/\/\/\</pre><p>

 

[Laxe]

Ah ok. I forgot most bios allow to startup from a cd. I'm running Win 2000 atm which has been good to me thus far. My dad got me this comp ages ago and was never given the Win 2000 cd so an 'upgrade' would be out of the question.

As for 'other' means I don't believe they'll work since windows update does check certain serial codes anyway. I think I'll go with the OEM and hope for the best. More importantly I hope my bank balance holds out with all these purchases - I'm looking at £420 for everything including my new PSU I bought yesterday!