Platinum. Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Hello, This time last year I was looking to upgrade my PC, but unfortunately the motherboard I purchased from MicroDirect was faulty and I didn't bother to continue upgrading afterwards. Well Christmas is around the corner again and I've decided to try one more time to upgrade my PC, and this time I'm going to ask your advice. Here's a list of the components I'm buying, and if you could have a quick check for me and make sure all the components work together I'd be very grateful. Motherboard - ASRock S775 VIA PT880 Ultra ATX Audio Lan Processor - Core 2 Duo E6300 RAM - 1GB OCZ DDR2-533 Graphics Card - MSI 7900GTO Power Supply - Sansun True 450W 20/24pin ATX PSU Are all these components going to work together? Before I was going to go with an AMD system and get one of their Dual Core systems, but vAL kicked some sense into me and told me that Core2Duo's for the same price are lots better, so I've decided to go with that. The graphics card, is that going to fit in the motherboard? Does it require two PCI-E slots or just one? I've heard it's pretty big, but my case is fairly large so hopefully it should fit. The motherboard seems to be fairly good, can anybody see any downsides to it? I know that it's only got 2 RAM slots, but if I can get another 1GB DDR2-533 stick at a later date then 2GB's should be enough, shouldn't it? If anybody can see any potential problems please let me know, or can you post and give me the thumbs up that it's all going to work together? Or any other additional information you'd like to know about what's going in my next PC that I can find out for you, to check that it won't cause any problems? Next, how do I install all the new components? Do I format my hard drive before I install all the new components or afterwards? Once I install all my new components and turn on my PC, it should turn on fine and go to the BIOS, yeah? I won't need to do any "BIOS Flashing" or anything like that, which I've got no clue about? Thanks very much! Merry Christmas! (Soon...ish) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Zephyr| Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Rightio ... yes, everything that you have selected there will work with each other. May I ask what your budget is? Also, what will your needs be. People on here see a sytem like that, and then they just recommend upgrading everything to the best there is (buyign an SLI board, 4 ram slots, 8800GTX etc etc...) But what I will recommend in that system is going for the next processor up, the E6400, if thats possible. I have to go to work in a minute so I dont have time to explain, but I'm sure someone here will back me up on this. Basically this system will be a good stable one for the next year or two (with some minor upgrades). Rightio. I'm guessing you will only have 1 hard drive in this system? If so, this is what you do... (you will need your XP installation discs) First step: BACK UP EVERYTHING! When you get everything plugged in and turn your computer on, you need to enter the bios (usually del or F8 or something). When in the bios you need to find your 'boot order'. I think this is usually in advanced bios settings. When in there, you need to set your cd-rom drive for the first boot device. Then press F10 and save and exit the bios. Make sure the XP disc is in the cd rom drive and the computer will restart. When it restarts, it will say to press any key to boot from cd rom. Then the XP installation will then start. From there its pretty straigh forward. This is where you will format your drive and whatnot. When your computer reboots for the first time, you will need to enter the bios and then boot from hard drive. Now this is where you will choose your settings and whatnot (time, country, name of computer etc). If you need any help, I have sent you my xfire and MSN address to you in a PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brutuz Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 The Graphics card should fit, My 6800GS looks to be the same size, (judging from the metal plates) and my case is small as, your CPU link goes to the RAM spot, and with the Core 2 Duo, you won't have to upgrade it for a while, in fact if you could get Helium cooling you could overclock it to 5 Ghz, but I think that you wouldn't be able to get that kind of cooling anyways, I think you should wait until mid January cause the prices should lower after Christmas, At least thats what usually happens around stores (online and real) here, and for upgrading I suggest that you do EXACTLY as Zephyr says, He knows lots from what I've noticed and, well I can't be bothered to explain the XP installation, but I didn't have to format when I got my new motherboard after the old one died, I just got Windows to install over my old copy, while keeping all my files and settings such as my custom taskbar, wallpaper, etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*gta star* Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Yes my friend, everything will work with that. I have pretty much the same specs, except I have two Gb's of RAM with the top processor, latest motherboard and a really decent gfx card. However, some problems. As someone above correctly said, enter the BIOS and change some of the settings. Pretty much the HDD drive (IDE), not default, IDE ! Sometimes, this changes itself, I don't know why, but I do know that IDE is a driver that Windows can read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum. Posted November 27, 2006 Author Share Posted November 27, 2006 Thanks for all your input guys, legends! I've taken everything you've said into consideration along with what some other people have told me over MSN, and I've changed the motherboard to the next one up. ASRock CONROEXFIRE-ESATA2 Decided to get this one instead because of the 4 RAM slots, plus it's just better in general performance so it would be better to compliment having the brilliant GFX card and brilliant processor that can implement all that power. Unfortunately that board is SATA, so I've had to order a new hard drive. One thing that's confusing me though, for memory storage it says: - 4 x Serial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5 and Intel® Matrix Storage), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions- 2 x eSerial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors (shared with 2 SATAII ports), support "Hot Plug" function - 1 x ATA100 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices) Now there's one IDE connector, that apparently supports 2 IDE devices. I need to be able to plug my hard drive and DVD drive into there, is there anything else that I'm unaware of that would require an extra IDE port? Because if the IDE connector proves fine with my hard drive and DVD drive, then I'll just send the hard drive I've purchased back to Ebuyer. Any ideas on whether I'll need it or not? Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vALKYR Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 In reply to the opening post: as I already said on countless other occasions on MSN In reply to the above post: You can try fiddling around with the cable in direction of the harddrive AND the CD/DVD Drive but you gonna need superpowers for that imho. Just get it on with the SATA Drive. I already had to push you to get DDR2 with C2D instead of old McAMDonald with DDR1-266. That's bottlenecking pure. So, to complete the whole story, get C2D, get PCI-Express x16, get DDR2-533 and get SATA2. You'll gonna need it and you will going to thank me for that later when you switch on 3DMark06 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 (edited) Sorry! for the double post. Edited November 27, 2006 by pcguytech_2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 I only have one question for you since your upgrading your system. Do you plan on viewing HD-DVD on your system on a near future? Since the PC HD-DVD Drive (Reader) will be in stores on the month of March 07. If your answer is NO! than disregard. If your answer Is YES! then read: HD-DVD PC Requirements: - You need Vista(Retail) Not Xp - New DX10 Video card with HDMI support - New specific Mobo Besides that it looks good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum. Posted November 28, 2006 Author Share Posted November 28, 2006 Eventually when Series 8 cards go down to like £150 or so and the HD DVD drive comes down in price to being about £40-50 then I'd definitely be thinking about buying one. But that shouldn't be for a year or so at least. Mobo Link # HDMI_SPDIF header, providing SPDIF audio output to HDMI VGA card, allows the system to connect HDMI Digital TV/projector/LCD devices.# 7.1 Channel with High Definition Audio # Worldwide First MB with Vista™ Premium Logo Isn't my motherboard already specific to do it? I'm not quite sure what HDMI_SPDIF does. So if I were to install Vista and get a Series 8 card, would it work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*gta star* Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Vista is supposed to be crap, I don't know whether I'll get that. I doubt a series 8 would work, you might have to wait till better cards come out or when you install Vista, read the specifications and it should tell you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Zephyr| Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 I just had a look at the motherboard your upgrading to and it supports ATI crossfire, not Nvidia SLI. I noticed that you plan on buying an Nvidia card. Now, someone will need to back me up here, because I haven't looked into chipsets and whatnot too far, but will this board support SLI? I know it will support the single card that you plan on buying, but later if you decide to go SLI you might have some problems. Someone back this up please? I might learn something new today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 I just had a look at the motherboard your upgrading to and it supports ATI crossfire, not Nvidia SLI. I noticed that you plan on buying an Nvidia card. Now, someone will need to back me up here, because I haven't looked into chipsets and whatnot too far, but will this board support SLI? I know it will support the single card that you plan on buying, but later if you decide to go SLI you might have some problems. Someone back this up please? I might learn something new today I just noticed it too! Yea he is going to need to buy an ATI card if he plans on using that mobo. Off topic: Directx10 cards are on sale at Tigerdirect.com with 768DDR3 onboard memory But very Expensive broke my bank today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 Eventually when Series 8 cards go down to like £150 or so and the HD DVD drive comes down in price to being about £40-50 then I'd definitely be thinking about buying one. But that shouldn't be for a year or so at least. Mobo Link # HDMI_SPDIF header, providing SPDIF audio output to HDMI VGA card, allows the system to connect HDMI Digital TV/projector/LCD devices.# 7.1 Channel with High Definition Audio # Worldwide First MB with Vista™ Premium Logo Isn't my motherboard already specific to do it? I'm not quite sure what HDMI_SPDIF does. So if I were to install Vista and get a Series 8 card, would it work? What this does is that it allows you to connect external Multi-Media devices that are HDMI compatible. It's like the DVI port but instead it's a HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) Because it's uncompressed and not compressed like DVI. HDMI is what HDTV and is all about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum. Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 The motherboard does support nVidia cars, jesus you guys you got me worried there! Look, it's a list of compatible cards for it: Click NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT LEADTEK WinFast PX7800 GT TDH 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX LEADTEK WinFast PX7800 GTX TDH 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS MSI NX6800GS-TD256E 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS MSI NX7300GS-TD256E 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce PCX5750 MSI PCX 5750-TD128E 77.72 NVIDIA GeForce 6200TC Sparkle GeFORCE 6200TC 77.72 And thanks for your information on the HDMI port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Zephyr| Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 The motherboard does support nVidia cars, jesus you guys you got me worried there! Look, it's a list of compatible cards for it: Click NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT LEADTEK WinFast PX7800 GT TDH 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX LEADTEK WinFast PX7800 GTX TDH 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS MSI NX6800GS-TD256E 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS MSI NX7300GS-TD256E 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E 84.21 NVIDIA GeForce PCX5750 MSI PCX 5750-TD128E 77.72 NVIDIA GeForce 6200TC Sparkle GeFORCE 6200TC 77.72 And thanks for your information on the HDMI port. Yes it will support Nvidia SINGLE CARD But if you choose to go SLI this board WILL NOT support it. It supports ATI Crossfire not Nvidia SLI ... ... I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 Before you buy an Nvidia Card make sure you do some research you don't want to get screwed with a useless card. You mobo has a chipset which has to work with an ATi Card.It might support nvidia but you'll be missing the whole point of getting this super mobo with all it's great power. What I mean is ATI Crossfire is a physics technology made epecially for ATI Graphics Cards which differs from Nvidias scheme of things and in theory they will not work good together. You can use any card you like but you'll loose features that you would get with ATI's certified Crossfire Graphics Card. These cards Are certified to operate correctly with your mobo: Crossfire Cards An other reason why I believe you would have problems with an Nvidia Card, Drivers they would not act right with the Mobo's Crossfire Software which you would have to install regardless what card you buy. I could be wrong. But it would be best to speak to someone in Arock Customer Tech service before spending your hard earn money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vALKYR Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 Before you buy an Nvidia Card make sure you do some research you don't want to get screwed with a useless card. You mobo has a chipset which has to work with an ATi Card.It might support nvidia but you'll be missing the whole point of getting this super mobo with all it's great power. What I mean is ATI Crossfire is a physics technology made epecially for ATI Graphics Cards which differs from Nvidias scheme of things and in theory they will not work good together. You can use any card you like but you'll loose features that you would get with ATI's certified Crossfire Graphics Card. These cards Are certified to operate correctly with your mobo: Crossfire Cards An other reason why I believe you would have problems with an Nvidia Card, Drivers they would not act right with the Mobo's Crossfire Software which you would have to install regardless what card you buy. I could be wrong. But it would be best to speak to someone in Arock Customer Tech service before spending your hard earn money. o rly? To my knowledge, and I am really no stranger to IT and Electronics (uni) the CrossFire Ready Line stands for the electronics connecting the the 2 slots in case of a 2x card line up. Since he's 1) not using 2 slots but only one and 2) CrossFire is and will be only about 2 cards and 3) the compatible VGA Card list states lots of NVIDIA Cards, you are telling fairy tales. And your stuff about ATI Technology and NVIDIA Technology and all that funny stuff... I repeat: This CrossFire Stuff is ONLY ... ONLY about 2 ATi Cards together of which one is a Crossfire Card. If you want to use one single ATi Card, XGI Volari Card, NVIDIA Card whatever ... this CrossFire Technology will not even move his lazy ass. kthx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 Before you buy an Nvidia Card make sure you do some research you don't want to get screwed with a useless card. You mobo has a chipset which has to work with an ATi Card.It might support nvidia but you'll be missing the whole point of getting this super mobo with all it's great power. What I mean is ATI Crossfire is a physics technology made epecially for ATI Graphics Cards which differs from Nvidias scheme of things and in theory they will not work good together. You can use any card you like but you'll loose features that you would get with ATI's certified Crossfire Graphics Card. These cards Are certified to operate correctly with your mobo: Crossfire Cards An other reason why I believe you would have problems with an Nvidia Card, Drivers they would not act right with the Mobo's Crossfire Software which you would have to install regardless what card you buy. I could be wrong. But it would be best to speak to someone in Arock Customer Tech service before spending your hard earn money. o rly? To my knowledge, and I am really no stranger to IT and Electronics (uni) the CrossFire Ready Line stands for the electronics connecting the the 2 slots in case of a 2x card line up. Since he's 1) not using 2 slots but only one and 2) CrossFire is and will be only about 2 cards and 3) the compatible VGA Card list states lots of NVIDIA Cards, you are telling fairy tales. And your stuff about ATI Technology and NVIDIA Technology and all that funny stuff... I repeat: This CrossFire Stuff is ONLY ... ONLY about 2 ATi Cards together of which one is a Crossfire Card. If you want to use one single ATi Card, XGI Volari Card, NVIDIA Card whatever ... this CrossFire Technology will not even move his lazy ass. kthx. This is an old post but it prooves my point. Here And as for your comments I'm not even going to waste my time. As for the original poster go ahead buy the Nvidia Card Let us know how it goes when you install it. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vALKYR Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 Before you buy an Nvidia Card make sure you do some research you don't want to get screwed with a useless card. You mobo has a chipset which has to work with an ATi Card.It might support nvidia but you'll be missing the whole point of getting this super mobo with all it's great power. What I mean is ATI Crossfire is a physics technology made epecially for ATI Graphics Cards which differs from Nvidias scheme of things and in theory they will not work good together. You can use any card you like but you'll loose features that you would get with ATI's certified Crossfire Graphics Card. These cards Are certified to operate correctly with your mobo: Crossfire Cards An other reason why I believe you would have problems with an Nvidia Card, Drivers they would not act right with the Mobo's Crossfire Software which you would have to install regardless what card you buy. I could be wrong. But it would be best to speak to someone in Arock Customer Tech service before spending your hard earn money. o rly? To my knowledge, and I am really no stranger to IT and Electronics (uni) the CrossFire Ready Line stands for the electronics connecting the the 2 slots in case of a 2x card line up. Since he's 1) not using 2 slots but only one and 2) CrossFire is and will be only about 2 cards and 3) the compatible VGA Card list states lots of NVIDIA Cards, you are telling fairy tales. And your stuff about ATI Technology and NVIDIA Technology and all that funny stuff... I repeat: This CrossFire Stuff is ONLY ... ONLY about 2 ATi Cards together of which one is a Crossfire Card. If you want to use one single ATi Card, XGI Volari Card, NVIDIA Card whatever ... this CrossFire Technology will not even move his lazy ass. kthx. This is an old post but it prooves my point. Here And as for your comments I'm not even going to waste my time. As for the original poster go ahead buy the Nvidia Card Let us know how it goes when you install it. Good luck! Ok, let me get this straight, you're trying to prove the point that NVIDIA Cards don't work on ATi CrossFire Boards or what? Well, if you want to use SLI, then you're right. But since Platty here is going for a single 7900GTO, that story ain't going ahead. Next up, this very same review you linked me to prove your point uses the following card to test this Asus CrossFire Motherboard: Video Card Geforce 7800GTX 256Mb PCIe I suggest going right here because your name doesn't really fit your intelligence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tornado Rex Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 @valk From what I got from his post he was saying "go ahead and get nvidia if you want, but you may want to think about getting an SLI mobo if you're going to go nvidia" Which is what I agree with. If you're going to get a crossfire motherboard, get an ATI card. You may not plan to ever use the crossfire, but if you do decide to in the future you'll only have to buy one card instead of two. If I misinterpreted the post though, then what I said was what I meant. If you want an Nvidia card, get an SLI motherboard. If you want an ATI card, get a crossfire motherboard. ~ Proud Supporter of the Child's Play Charity! | GTANET + Child's Play ~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vALKYR Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 I'll be surprised if platty gets ANOTHER 7900GTO, not to mention the card is a limited edition and it's already as we speak out of stock virtually everywhere. *ahem* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*gta star* Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 Platty, wouldn't a 7600 GT do ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vALKYR Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 Platty, wouldn't a 7600 GT do ? No he really needs a limited 1/2 flagship NVIDIA Model in his PC. Especially with a granny-type C2D Processor, oh yeah, rock on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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