shadeus opened this issue on Mar 16, 2007 · 9 posts
shadeus posted Fri, 16 March 2007 at 10:42 AM
ok i've been looking at upgrading.
what do you techie guys think of this MoBo cpu mem combo?
www.partspc.com/Recommend.asp
only thing im not realy too sure on is that i have my Radeon 9800 pro video card whic is AGP i dont think this mobo has an AGP slot....
jc posted Fri, 16 March 2007 at 11:47 AM
Link didn't work for me. Anyway, my favorite resource for hardware is "Tom's Hardware":
http://www.tomshardware.com/
I usually use Intel processors and Intel motherboards. Intel and AMD take turns at each being a little better than the other. Right now, Intel is ahead. I'm specifying my next PC as:
Intel Core 2 Duo e6600 CPU and Intel D6965WH motherboard. I'm planning to wait on Vista use and go with 64 bit XP Pro in the meantime (from my current 32 bit XP Pro)..
But i'm not saying that's for everyone - it's dependent on my needs, my budget and my (mostly) positive experience with Intel motherboards.
Just to let you know my level of expertise, one of the ways i make a living is as an independent PC consultant to individuals and very small businesses, so i specify and install and maintain systems constantly - about 30 systems at the moment. I've assembled my own for decades.
But i don't spend a lot of time tracking the latest hardware these days and i find that some friends who do, plus Tom's, the manufacturer's web sites and some industry journals provide what i need for spec info.
lingrif posted Fri, 16 March 2007 at 12:11 PM
It is a 939 socket which is being phased out. I tried to pick up a faster processor for my board a while back that has a 939 and couldn't find one in stock anywhere. You might want to go with the AM2 socket. And it doesn't look like it has an AGP slot.
keenart posted Fri, 16 March 2007 at 12:29 PM
Looking over the specs; The MSI is an inexpensive board, but I have heard good things about the NEO version. However, I agree you are maxing out this board so no future upgrade.
The CPU is okay. The memory is a bit slow but you can add 4 gigs. At least go for the highest speed 400 mhz or above.
The board has everything you need, but you will have to upgrade to a new video card, a new ATI Radeon X1600 or higher should do. Make sure you get one of the recommended video cards, even if you have to go somewhere else to buy it.
You should be able to run Win XP x86 or x64. I do no know about Vista, you would have to check the mobo guide to determine if this board is ACPI compliante with Vista, or it won't run Vista.
Have them so a pretest, you do not want a doa.
jc posted Fri, 16 March 2007 at 12:45 PM
One thing that concerns me is the heat which may be dumped from a high-end display card into the case. I'd be sure that the PCI Express connector is on the opposite side of the motherboard from the CPU area. And if you can use a display card that dumps its hot air outside the case (through the attachment bracket), as a few do, so much the better.
Yes, AGP is not much supported anymore. I had to upgrade to a PCI Express display card.
My recent research resulted in me getting a BPG brand GeForce 7950 GT OC (over clocked) 256. It's a PCI Expres card, of course.
As usual, this was a compromise partly based on budget. Good prices are available on this brand and model and i'm very happy with the display card (though it is a single card type and dumps heat into the case, so that i had to install yet another fan in my current (the too hot generation) Intel Dp15GAG motherboard.
Remember that for Vue, a fast display card is not very important. It only speeds up your viewport previews somewhat - no help in getting faster render speed. So put your money into memory (meaning you need a 64 bit operating system), rather than into an ultrapower display card.
keenart posted Fri, 16 March 2007 at 12:47 PM
Looking over that board again, I see that the mobo's onboard chipset is NVidia. Usually it is better to add a Video Card that uses a similar chip set. Maybe you might consider an NVidia Card as well. Should be a 7800 or higher.
shadeus posted Fri, 16 March 2007 at 2:24 PM
what about this one?
Biostar GeFORCE 6100-M9 Motherboard
it only has 2 pci slots but 2 pci express.. can you put a pci in pci express? this one can handle 4 gigs of memory, although i dont have enough money for that since ill have to geta new video card.
keenart posted Sat, 17 March 2007 at 12:24 PM
I am not exactly sure what you mean?
There are two types of PCI bus, the old fashion 16 and 32 bit, and the Newer PCIe (Express).
The older PCI buss is slower than AGP, and the newer PCI Express is twice as fast or faster than AGP. None of these cards are interchangeable, so make sure your Video Card will fit the slot on the motherboard.
The Biostar boards are okay, I have run a few and they held up pretty good as long as you do not overclock them.
shadeus posted Sat, 17 March 2007 at 12:30 PM
what im saying is that i have about 3 pci cards. and i wasn't sure if the old pci cards can be used in the PCI express slots.