2007 setup cheap upgrade

[wolfman1243]

I am running these components:

* AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor ADX6000CZBOX

* ASUS M2N32-SLI Premium Vista Edition AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

* XFX PVT84JYAJG GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Video Card

PQI POWER Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model MAD44GUOE-X2

I am wanting to upgrade to Windows 7 and have been told by Asus that the MOBO will not work. This is the only component that I have an issue with. I am also having trouble finding a board that is compatible with the processor and windows as i am not good at doing research. Can anyone help me? I need to do this as cheap as possible.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Asus actually told you that motherboard would not work with Windows 7? Other than hardware being very old and not having any driver support I have never heard of that before. I suppose with that board being a "Vista" edition, and I have never seen an OS specific motherboard before, it might not have Windows 7 drivers but generally Windows 7 and Vista are interchangeable as far as drivers go. If something is old and has a Vista driver but not one specifically for Windows 7 you can usually use the Vista driver in 7.

Try running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. It should tell you if you can run 7 or not.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=20

 

[sewalk]

Looks pretty similar to my old desktop. That Windsor 6000+ was a beast in its day but that was a few years ago. If you want to upgrade it, you're going to need to upgrade the motherboard, CPU, and RAM all at once. Boards compatible with that CPU are gettting really hard to find. What is out there is full of compromises and not something likely to provide a good gaming experience.

You can upgrade to a good mid-range Socket1155 motherboard, Pentium G8xx CPU, and 8GB of DDR3 memory for about $300. That will provide a substantial boost over what you have now and will give you multiple upgrade options down the road.

 

[wolfman1243]

All I am wanting to upgrade is the MOBO. and I have ran upgrade advisor. I do think it is the 64 bit that is the problem, but advisor won't tell me what to do. That's why I called ASUS and they said it won't work.

 

[scout_03]

could support higher processor but the max driver for it is vista and your memory is the max board could support check all specs http://ca.asus.com/en/Motherboards/AMD_AM2/M2N32SLI_Premium_Vista_Edition/

 

[sewalk]

All I am wanting to upgrade is the MOBO.

You're not going to get any value out of upgrading just the motherboard. At best, you'll get a system with only 2 DIMM sockets for your DDR2 RAM and a chipset that's not all that much of a jump beyond the 590SLI. Your CPU is the fastest commonly-available AM2 Athlon. There are a handful of boards that support AM2 _and_ AM3 CPUs by having a mix of DDR2 and DDR3 sockets. Unfortunately, you can only use one or the other on these boards and they are all very low-end boards that are a big step down in features from the M2N32.

You're stuck in what I call an "upgrade trough". There is no good upgrade path available to you using your existing CPU or RAM. Since you have to replace your motherboard, you're essentially forced to upgrade all three to get the best bang for your buck.

 

[wolfman1243]

OK, the thing that I don't really think yall are understanding is that I cannot put in enough money to upgrade all three parts. I know I essentially won't be upgrading performance, I just want to be able to install Windows 7. I am running XP now and want to upgrade due to issues with networking with my laptop. My only question is what board to get that is dependable.

 

[aqe040466]

How much is your budget for upgrading your PC?

 

[sewalk]

My only question is what board to get that is dependable.

That's my point: you're scraping the bottom of the barrel, quality-wise, buying a motherboard that will work with your AM2 CPU in 2012. The available offerings are very inexpensive ($45-75) microATX boards intended for light-duty computing. You get what you pay for at this end of the market. There's no guarantee that any or all of these boards are any better with Win7 than your current board.

I haven't encountered any real problems doing simple file sharing between my WinXP and Win7 laptops. I doubt that XP is the problem here unless you're not running SP2 or (preferably) SP3.

 

[wolfman1243]

At one point, I could print from my Windows 7 Laptop through the network to my Kodak printer that is hooked to the Desktop with XP. Also I can see the desktop with the laptop and share files that way, but cannot see the laptop with the desktop. I know the boards are inexpensive, but just not sure which ones are compatible with my processor AND Windows 7. I am wanting to do the hardware upgrade for less than $100. I would also prefer an ATX board instead of micro due to the fact that I am running a full tower case. Although I am willing to get a mid tower case if the price is right. I guess the main help I'm asking for is finding the board I need due to not being sure of which ones will work with what. Thank You for the concern of bang for buck, but that really is not the issue except for actual product quality. i.e. better brand etc.

 

[sewalk]

I found only one full-size board on Newegg that supports the Athlon64:
The ASRock A770DE+.

It doesn't seem to be totally awful but I don't have the same perception of ASRock boards that I do of Asus, MSI, and eVGA, at least in their more premium offerings. Spec-wise, it fits your requirements perfectly and on ASRock's product page, Win7 compliance is claimed. I hope this board solves your problems.

Worst case, you're only out $62 or so. Best case, you can drop a PhenomII quad or hex core CPU in it for a nice bump in CPU performance later on, but it will be a little hamstrung with DDR2 memory.

 

[wolfman1243]

Thank You. That's actually the board I had looked at, just wasn't sure it would work.

 

[wolfman1243]

Best answer selected by wolfman1243.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey