Motherboard Chipset Compatibility

[Andrew Reed]

In building up a used hardware system desktop. I have an ASUS P5GVMX Motherboard and a Pentum 4 Prescott 3.62Ghz CPU and two dfferent sets of PC3200 non ECC RAM that are matchng 1GB sets and 512MB sets. What are thye compatibility factors, nvolved wth these parts beng used together. I am usng a Thermaltake420watt PSU. Thermaltake CPU cooler/heatsink. I want to run XP PRO 2005 Servor 64Bit OS. Wll these wor together and or are there concerns don't now about usng ths combination of hardware. I now that this Prescott 3.62 was the first P4 to be able to use 64Bit.

 

[GhislainG]

Look at the specs and if they have the same timings and voltage, then you shouldn't have problems. For instance, if both have timings of 3-3-3-8 at 200 Mhz and require 2.5V, then they'll work fine. Will you run XP Pro or Windows Server?

 

[Andrew Reed]

I have a copy of XP PRO SP 1 Retail Version and an XP PRO OEM 64 BIT supposedly never used both from E-BAY. With the Prescott chip beng able to run 64 Bit should I use that or stick with 32 bit? Also; can I use DDR2 PC 6400 and what settngs would I have to change to do that. I know that 64 bit will recognize up to 128Gb Ram should I take this unit up to 8Gb using 4 2Gb matched DDR2 PC6400 or DDR PC3200. I can use 3 120MM case cooling fans 1 on top roof and 2 in rear of case and a copper/liquid cpu cooler. What video card should I use?

 

[GhislainG]

Why the question about DDR2 memory? The ASUS P5GVMX supports a maximum of 4 x 1 GB modules (2 GB modules are not supported). You can't install more than 4 GB and the 915GV chipset doesn't support memory remapping, therefore you'll end up with less usable memory if you use Windows XP Pro 64-bit.

It's sort of useless to buy a very fast video card since the motherboard has one PCI-E x16 (max. 2GB/s, x4 mode). That's excellent for an office system (that was the purpose of that motherboard), but not that good for a gaming system.