Possibly saft motherboard question.

Chris. · 30 Jul 2011 at 22:51

Looking at a few different options to bring my pc up to spec, and the main one in my mind at the moment is the mobo to run SLI with my 460.

Now, if I wanted to keep everything else in my spec below, but just get rid of my crappy Gigabyte mATX motherboard, what else would I HAVE to replace.

I'm literally dead happy with every other aspect of my PC, other than the mobo, and if possible I don't want to Format!

Any advice would be appreciated, as I've never just swapped a mobo before.

EDIT: Also, recommendations of what to replace it with would help immensely.

SeraphX · 30 Jul 2011 at 22:54

i bought one of these the other day > http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-462-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2046

it's a great board, + Bulldozer compatible, will work fine with crossfire and SLI

you would need a fresh install mind, but it would be worth it

Chris. · 31 Jul 2011 at 18:35

Actually it does seem to have good reviews, what about cooling as far as SLI is concerned, is just the onboard cooling of both cards good enough?

Also, if I just bought another copy of Win7, installed on an SSD, and then used my current as a slave, would the installed copy of windows interfere being slave or can it just be deleted upon first startup?

Never done this before, sorry lol :/

Chris. · 31 Jul 2011 at 18:42

Oh and

A: Dont seem to be able to buy my card from OCUK any more, would any 460 work in SLI?

B: Would my GX750 power supply (Coolermaster) be enough?

SeraphX · 31 Jul 2011 at 18:52

pretty sure the stock cooling will do, although the top card will always be quite a bit hotter than the bottom

as for the windows install, huh what? sorry, totally lost me there lol

i think any other 460 will work, i'm not totally savvy RE nvidia cards and SLI so might be wrong

psu, yes i think so, 460 uses two 6 pins does it not?

Chris. · 31 Jul 2011 at 19:07

Thanks.

Im pricing this up and its half the value of the pc and ive had it under a year! I may just settle for running games on lower settings cause its a bit daft to me lol.

GoogalyMoogaly · 31 Jul 2011 at 19:43

Chris. said:
my crappy Gigabyte mATX motherboard

Which board is it?
If it's the GA-880GM-UD2H (that comes with the OcUK bundle) then I have the same board and have also been contemplating replacing it.

As it happens the board I would most likely replace it with was the Asus board Seraph suggested. Except I've heard there are still teething issues with the 990 chipsets. So I'm a bit nervous in case I just swap one set of issues with another lot.

SeraphX · 31 Jul 2011 at 20:03

GoogalyMoogaly said:
Which board is it?
If it's the GA-880GM-UD2H (that comes with the OcUK bundle) then I have the same board and have also been contemplating replacing it.

As it happens the board I would most likely replace it with was the Asus board Seraph suggested. Except I've heard there are still teething issues with the 990 chipsets. So I'm a bit nervous in case I just swap one set of issues with another lot.

to be fair, i haven't noticed any issues with the board in question yet,
only thing thats bugging me senseless is the damned Uefi bios if only it could be switched back lol,

Idleman · 31 Jul 2011 at 20:59

Chris. said:
Actually it does seem to have good reviews, what about cooling as far as SLI is concerned, is just the onboard cooling of both cards good enough?

Also, if I just bought another copy of Win7, installed on an SSD, and then used my current as a slave, would the installed copy of windows interfere being slave or can it just be deleted upon first startup?

Never done this before, sorry lol :/

Just install win7 on ssd and use current hdd as secondary drive. No need to buy win 7 again.

GoogalyMoogaly · 1 Aug 2011 at 13:36

Seraph said:
to be fair, i haven't noticed any issues with the board in question yet,
only thing thats bugging me senseless is the damned Uefi bios if only it could be switched back lol,

What chip are you running it the board? Have you overclocked? How does it compare (overclocking-wise) to the AM2+/AM3 boards?

SeraphX · 1 Aug 2011 at 16:27

Phenom II 955, clocks fine, i've had it up as far as 3.8 at stock volts so far, not going any higher on air due to the high temps,
i'd say it's easily as good as my old M4A79XTD Evo board i had before, heck it's basically the same board but with sata 3, and a 900 chipset instead of 700,

lots of nice build features, the northbridge actually runs cooler than it did on my M4a board too even with overclocked cpu ram and gfx,

Chris. · 2 Aug 2011 at 16:50

GoogalyMoogaly said:
Which board is it?
If it's the GA-880GM-UD2H (that comes with the OcUK bundle) then I have the same board and have also been contemplating replacing it.

As it happens the board I would most likely replace it with was the Asus board Seraph suggested. Except I've heard there are still teething issues with the 990 chipsets. So I'm a bit nervous in case I just swap one set of issues with another lot.

Yep one in the same, was very restricted in budget and what I bought at the time was the best my money could buy.

Idleman said:
Just install win7 on ssd and use current hdd as secondary drive. No need to buy win 7 again.

Sorry I don't follow, if I have a new Mobo, wont I need another copy anyway?

Also, ive just realised as my 1055t was pre overclocked, would the same Oc profile still work on the new motherboard or will it need to be redone?

SeraphX · 2 Aug 2011 at 16:59

Chris. said:
Yep one in the same, was very restricted in budget and what I bought at the time was the best my money could buy.

Sorry I don't follow, if I have a new Mobo, wont I need another copy anyway?

Also, ive just realised as my 1055t was pre overclocked, would the same Oc profile still work on the new motherboard or will it need to be redone?

for a new motherboard you will need a re-install tbh, very slim chance of windows working without one,

and yes new board means you'll need new overclock settings because it's a different board, chances are the settings you'll need might be very different to the old ones

Chris. · 2 Aug 2011 at 17:01

Seraph said:
for a new motherboard you will need a re-install tbh, very slim chance of windows working without one,

and yes new board means you'll need new overclock settings because it's a different board, chances are the settings you'll need might be very different to the old ones

Ahh, I've never overclocked a CPU before so that will be interesting lol

SeraphX · 2 Aug 2011 at 17:06

it's not hard at all, have a look at the Phenom II Hex overclocking thread in CPU's for suggestions ideas and a general place to start

Idleman · 2 Aug 2011 at 17:29

Seraph said:
for a new motherboard you will need a re-install tbh, very slim chance of windows working without one

If you are using new SSD yes. But you can install an existing HDD without having to re-install windows. Just connected hdd to new mobo (Sabretooth P67) yesterday and windows is working fine.