New motherboard suggestion please?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

I built a rig about a year and a half ago using the Asus P4PE mobo.
I've been using a Promise ATA100 controller card with 2 IDE drives and
suddenly, as of a few days ago the BIOS won't recognize the card or
the drives. I plugged the drives into the onboard IDE interface and
the BIOS still will not see them. I then went out and got a serial ATA
drive to test with the onboard SATA interface and still nothing
recognized. Obviously something is wrong. Rather than diagnose the
MoBo I figure I'm just going to replace it (if the controller is wonky
there's nothing I can do anyway).
so, i'm looking for advice as to which MoBo to get. I still want to
use all my old hardware for now, but would like to be able to upgrade
in the future as I get the cash.
so i currently have a Pentium 4 2.8GHz CPU, IDE and/or serial drives,
1G of PC2700 memory, GF Ti4600 AGP video card (I want to get a new
video card in the next few months and am willing to pay up for a good
one), SB live audio card, standard DVDR & CDR drives, etc...
I'm on the fence about PCI Express, I want to keep my current AGP
video card for 4+ more months, but I'm a gamer and am looking to
upgrade to a good card and this will effect my decision.
so... any suggestions for good boards that will allow me to use my
current hardware (AGP vid card,PC2700 memory, P4 2.8GHZ cpu, & IDE
and Serial drives)? I'm not necessarily married to Intel over AMD, but
since I don't have the $$$ for a new CPU right now I guess I have to
stay w/ an Intel type board.
any help is greatly appreciated, BTW I currently have an Antec case w/
350W power supply if that effects any pot3ential MoBo suggestions.
Thanks!
Big

 

[JohnS]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Look at Mwave.com catalog. I prefer the Gigabyte mobos over the Asus
any day. Much more reliable. In your case, look for mobo with AGP 8X
so you can head for the ATI 9800 Pro in the near future. That will do
for gaming. If you can afford it, I advise getting a Sony dvdrw/cdrw
drive
to replace both of your cd-drives. They are only about $55. Also, dump
the IDE drives for the SATA alone, if it is big enough. That will give
you
a cool running gamer that will handle Far Cry at all high settings. The
Antec case is a must.

johns

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate incident...

> so, i'm looking for advice as to which MoBo to get. I still want to
> use all my old hardware for now, but would like to be able to upgrade
> in the future as I get the cash.

This is difficult to do in a time where just about every standardization has
been changed. New motherboards support DDR2, PCI-e, different sockets, SATA,
etc.

> so i currently have a Pentium 4 2.8GHz CPU, IDE and/or serial drives,
> 1G of PC2700 memory, GF Ti4600 AGP video card (I want to get a new
> video card in the next few months and am willing to pay up for a good
> one), SB live audio card, standard DVDR & CDR drives, etc...

Wow, except the motherboard, this sounds like my current system. I'm using a
Gigabyte GA-IRXP motherboard.

> I'm on the fence about PCI Express, I want to keep my current AGP
> video card for 4+ more months, but I'm a gamer and am looking to
> upgrade to a good card and this will effect my decision.

How about getting a cheaper, but very good PCI-e graphics card? I read the
6600GT should be coming down a bit with the introduction of the 7800GT card,
so it should be somewhere just north of $100 before long. I've already seen
some for about $150 before the release of the new card.

> so... any suggestions for good boards that will allow me to use my
> current hardware (AGP vid card,PC2700 memory, P4 2.8GHZ cpu, & IDE
> and Serial drives)? I'm not necessarily married to Intel over AMD, but
> since I don't have the $$$ for a new CPU right now I guess I have to
> stay w/ an Intel type board.

Here's what I'd do. Get another board that used the socket 478, for now.
That'll get you going and back on track. I like the Asus P4P800-E Deluxe,
but get what you want based on your budget. Then, when you're truely ready
to upgrade, get on part here and another there until you get it all, getting
things that get outdated or drops in prices at the last moments possible.
Start with a new case/power supply, get your drives, graphics card,
motherboard, memory, and CPU (in an order similar to that) a little at a
time. Then build it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"" wrote:
> I built a rig about a year and a half ago using the Asus P4PE
> mobo.
> I've been using a Promise ATA100 controller card with 2 IDE
> drives and
> suddenly, as of a few days ago the BIOS won't recognize the
> card or
> the drives. I plugged the drives into the onboard IDE
> interface and
> the BIOS still will not see them. I then went out and got a
> serial ATA
> drive to test with the onboard SATA interface and still
> nothing
> recognized. Obviously something is wrong. Rather than diagnose
> the
> MoBo I figure I'm just going to replace it (if the controller
> is wonky
> there's nothing I can do anyway).
> so, i'm looking for advice as to which MoBo to get. I still
> want to
> use all my old hardware for now, but would like to be able to
> upgrade
> in the future as I get the cash.
> so i currently have a Pentium 4 2.8GHz CPU, IDE and/or serial
> drives,
> 1G of PC2700 memory, GF Ti4600 AGP video card (I want to get a
> new
> video card in the next few months and am willing to pay up for
> a good
> one), SB live audio card, standard DVDR & CDR drives, etc...
> I'm on the fence about PCI Express, I want to keep my current
> AGP
> video card for 4+ more months, but I'm a gamer and am looking
> to
> upgrade to a good card and this will effect my decision.
> so... any suggestions for good boards that will allow me to
> use my
> current hardware (AGP vid card,PC2700 memory, P4 2.8GHZ cpu, &
> IDE
> and Serial drives)? I'm not necessarily married to Intel over
> AMD, but
> since I don't have the $$$ for a new CPU right now I guess I
> have to
> stay w/ an Intel type board.
> any help is greatly appreciated, BTW I currently have an Antec
> case w/
> 350W power supply if that effects any pot3ential MoBo
> suggestions.
> Thanks!
> Big

Yes I prefer Gigabyte mobo as I own the GA-K8NXP-9 (NF4 Ultra) and it
100% great board and very fast plus great security which has
protection BIOS as well.. it so fast with FX-55 San Diego I used as I
used 3 hard drive with MD 10 300GB,250GB and 200GB SATA150... it still
so fast when boot up Xp SP2 that about few seconds..

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[JohnS]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Support of 1200 users on my subnet. 4 engineering CAD labs.

johns

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

sorry if this seems like a silly question, but if I bought a new MoBo
that supports DDR2, will my PC2700 memory work in it until I have the
$$$ to upgrade my memory?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On 11 Aug 2005 11:13:37 -0700, "johns" <johns123@moscow.com> wrote:

>I prefer the Gigabyte mobos over the Asus
>any day. Much more reliable.

And what empirical data do you have to back this statement up with?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Big,

No. DDR2 has a different number of pins than DDR and it is also keyed
differently.

"Big McLargehuge" <noone@spamme.com> wrote in message
news:1123872427.30f77f808a1a2fa8107460e3ef6dc048@teranews...
> sorry if this seems like a silly question, but if I bought a new MoBo
> that supports DDR2, will my PC2700 memory work in it until I have the
> $$$ to upgrade my memory?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 18:57:11 GMT, "GuessWho" <me@privacy.net> mumbled
something like:

>Big,
>
>No. DDR2 has a different number of pins than DDR and it is also keyed
>differently.
>
>"Big McLargehuge" <noone@spamme.com> wrote in message
>news:1123872427.30f77f808a1a2fa8107460e3ef6dc048@teranews...
>> sorry if this seems like a silly question, but if I bought a new MoBo
>> that supports DDR2, will my PC2700 memory work in it until I have the
>> $$$ to upgrade my memory?
>

Thanks very much, that's what I thought. Guess I'm going to have to
pony up for new mem as well... *sigh*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Big,

There are mobos that can use both DDR and DDR2 in different slots although I
don't think you can use both at the same time.

"Big McLargehuge" <noone@spamme.com> wrote in message
news:1123872427.30f77f808a1a2fa8107460e3ef6dc048@teranews...
> sorry if this seems like a silly question, but if I bought a new MoBo
> that supports DDR2, will my PC2700 memory work in it until I have the
> $$$ to upgrade my memory?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 14:58:29 -0400, Big McLargehuge
<noone@spamme.com> wrote:

>On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 18:57:11 GMT, "GuessWho" <me@privacy.net> mumbled
>something like:
>
>>Big,
>>
>>No. DDR2 has a different number of pins than DDR and it is also keyed
>>differently.
>>
>>"Big McLargehuge" <noone@spamme.com> wrote in message
>>news:1123872427.30f77f808a1a2fa8107460e3ef6dc048@teranews...
>>> sorry if this seems like a silly question, but if I bought a new MoBo
>>> that supports DDR2, will my PC2700 memory work in it until I have the
>>> $$$ to upgrade my memory?
>>
>
>Thanks very much, that's what I thought. Guess I'm going to have to
>pony up for new mem as well... *sigh*

.... or just buy a board that uses DDR1. On a high-cost,
high end system it might be worth paying more for DDR2. On
the typical value-grade system there are a lot of other ways
to improve performance as much or more than the difference
between DDR1 & 2.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

I'm pretty sure all your current equipment will run on an Asus P4C800-E
which has some newer features and I believe a good reputation



"Big McLargehuge" <noone@spamme.com> wrote in message
news:1123764370.920936308ca36f61851605b96f9f6298@teranews...
>I built a rig about a year and a half ago using the Asus P4PE mobo.
> I've been using a Promise ATA100 controller card with 2 IDE drives and
> suddenly, as of a few days ago the BIOS won't recognize the card or
> the drives. I plugged the drives into the onboard IDE interface and
> the BIOS still will not see them. I then went out and got a serial ATA
> drive to test with the onboard SATA interface and still nothing
> recognized. Obviously something is wrong. Rather than diagnose the
> MoBo I figure I'm just going to replace it (if the controller is wonky
> there's nothing I can do anyway).
> so, i'm looking for advice as to which MoBo to get. I still want to
> use all my old hardware for now, but would like to be able to upgrade
> in the future as I get the cash.
> so i currently have a Pentium 4 2.8GHz CPU, IDE and/or serial drives,
> 1G of PC2700 memory, GF Ti4600 AGP video card (I want to get a new
> video card in the next few months and am willing to pay up for a good
> one), SB live audio card, standard DVDR & CDR drives, etc...
> I'm on the fence about PCI Express, I want to keep my current AGP
> video card for 4+ more months, but I'm a gamer and am looking to
> upgrade to a good card and this will effect my decision.
> so... any suggestions for good boards that will allow me to use my
> current hardware (AGP vid card,PC2700 memory, P4 2.8GHZ cpu, & IDE
> and Serial drives)? I'm not necessarily married to Intel over AMD, but
> since I don't have the $$$ for a new CPU right now I guess I have to
> stay w/ an Intel type board.
> any help is greatly appreciated, BTW I currently have an Antec case w/
> 350W power supply if that effects any pot3ential MoBo suggestions.
> Thanks!
> Big

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On 12 Aug 2005 10:26:45 -0700, "johns" <johns123@moscow.com> wrote:

>Support of 1200 users on my subnet. 4 engineering CAD labs.
>
>johns

Well, *thousands* of people on the internet choose Asus over Gigabyte
- there must be a reason. Speaking for myself, I choose Abit and Asus
and both are rock solid for me. Maybe I'll try a Gigabyte mb one of
these days though.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

> Well, *thousands* of people on the internet choose Asus over Gigabyte
> - there must be a reason. Speaking for myself, I choose Abit and Asus
> and both are rock solid for me. Maybe I'll try a Gigabyte mb one of
> these days though.

I remember a few years back, where Gigabyte won all kinds of Tom's Hardware
comparisons, and released a comparison winning board called the GA-8IRXP
that boasted 1.85 volts OC for the CPU. Unfortunately, any attempt at
manually changing the vcore resulted in an unstable system after BIOS F3.
Even setting the vcore adjustment to 'manual' without actually changing the
vcore rendered it unstable. This went on for something like a year and a
half. What did they finally do to fix it after 6 BIOS revisions? They
limited the the vcore adjustment to 1.75 volts. They must have done
something else, as you can now adjust the vcore manually, but they still
went back on the promise of 1.85 volts. The main reason the board was
popular was because of the extra wattage claimed. It was an overclockers
dream, supposedly. This fiasco really alienated many owners of the board and
left a bad taste in their mouths. Gigabyte has been a lot quieter on the
scene since. I own that board and couldn't overclock until they fixed it. I
couldn't get above the need for 1.7 volts for overclocking my P4, so the
need for anything higher was not there. The board's been rock solid other
than that, though.

Personally, I've built systems using Soyo, Gigabyte, Asus, and MSI boards.
The Soyo was just an okay board, as it wasn't a top-end DRAGON model, but a
low-end DRAGON. The other 3 brands were pretty solid, aside from the
overclocking issue that really didn't affect me much at all, once it was
resolved. Seemed as if I got fewer features for the money on the Asus. I
felt like I was paying for their reputation.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 08:26:23 -0400, "Ruel Smith"
<NoWay@NoWhere.com> wrote:

>> Well, *thousands* of people on the internet choose Asus over Gigabyte
>> - there must be a reason. Speaking for myself, I choose Abit and Asus
>> and both are rock solid for me. Maybe I'll try a Gigabyte mb one of
>> these days though.
>
>I remember a few years back, where Gigabyte won all kinds of Tom's Hardware
>comparisons,

<snip>

I recall a few years prior, Tom's Hardware also gave some
pretty good reviews for Gigabyte Socket 370 boards. Inital
reviews for a couple days' testing looked fine, but long
term the economized capacitors they used, started failing.

There's one of the problems with Gigabyte vs Asus, Gigabyte
generally cuts an extra corner or two in the build quality.
They're certainly better than the likes of PCChips but do
seem to have a slightly lower budget/board than Asus.

As for problems on any particular board, certainly both have
had a few, just like other brands.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

> I recall a few years prior, Tom's Hardware also gave some
> pretty good reviews for Gigabyte Socket 370 boards. Inital
> reviews for a couple days' testing looked fine, but long
> term the economized capacitors they used, started failing.
>
> There's one of the problems with Gigabyte vs Asus, Gigabyte
> generally cuts an extra corner or two in the build quality.
> They're certainly better than the likes of PCChips but do
> seem to have a slightly lower budget/board than Asus.
>
> As for problems on any particular board, certainly both have
> had a few, just like other brands.

Howdy Kony. IIRC, about 3yrs or so ago there was a rash of bad caps that
crossed several brand names including Asus and Abit. It seems that many MB
manufacturers had a common supplier. Most were leaky caps that caused all
kinds of strange problems after a few months use. I always try and use Asus
boards in my customer builds unless they are wanting really budget systems.
The main reason is that I just rarely have a problem with them, and if I do
my supplier makes it right immediately and keeps me on schedule. I don't
keep a large inventory since my shop is very small and I don't take on any
more than I want to. This makes reliability a must for me. I also use Asus
on my own systems exclusively for the same reasons.

Ed

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

http://www.microlandcomputer.com/ssdept.asp?dept_id=002-007-001

there are alot of motherboards listed there you might one that you want.