New Motherboard Advice Required Cheers!

[strocky]

My current PC (built around May 05)


Asus A8N-SLI Motherboard
AMD 64 Bit 3500+ CPU (Single Core)
2 x 1GB PC3200U DDR-200 RAM


Recently I bought an ATI RX1950 512Mb Graphics Card and I need to upgrade my motherboard to a crossfire compatible one.

What is the cheapest option to upgrade and is my memory/processor upto the job or am I better getting new RAM & CPU at the same time as a new MB?

Your opinions please!

 

[strocky]

Your post isn't clear.

Do you intend to make a crossfire system?

I would think you'd do a lot better with a low end conroe and some DDR2 in a new motherboard.

I've got an old Nvidia GT6600 graphics card in the kit above, but the motherboard is'nt compatible with my RX1950 ATI.

So I need to replace the motherboard.

The question(s) I'm asking is


a) What's the best motherboard to buy if I stick with my existing CPU/RAM (with the best upgrade potential in the future)

b) Or is it worth spending extra on a new CPU/Memory package at the moment?


I'd like to play the latest games (although high res is'nt really an issue, so not that bothered if the new motherboard can only take ONE crossfire video card rather than TWO combined)

Not really bothered about overclocking tbh, however that would be a bonus!

Hope that helps make it clearer!

 

[strocky]

I think what you have here is a graphics card that will always be waiting for your CPU.
If you can find a board I feel you are going to be limited.

If you look on these forums at the build threads, people on a budget seem to be going with....

Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
(£96.34) £81.99

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit
(£64.61) £54.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
(£105.74) £89.99

Don't forget tho that the ATI RX1950 draws a fair bit of power, so you need a half decent PSU.
It's then a case of better cooler to overclock it well, and this is an overclockers forum

Also try checking your CPU agianst a low end Conroe here.

Thanks for the advice, the PSU is a Hiper 500W job, is that powerful enough?

Looking at your link, I would approx be doubling my current speed as an average on the benchmarks

 

[strocky]

I would have thought that would have been OK.

The blurb states...

450-Watt power supply or greater, 30 Amps on 12 volt rail recommended (assumes fully loaded system)
PCI Express compliant power supply required. Connect directly to the power supply with a 6 pin PCI Express power connector


Let us know how you get on

Will do, thanks for the advice again!

 

[strocky]

There are no issues at all using an ATI video card in an nVidia motherboard, or vice versa, it's only when looking to use multiple cards you have to match them up. You should be able to drop the new card in and use it without issue (after cleanly removing the old drivers, of course).

When I put the ATI in my current Motherboard, the PC would'nt boot, and beeped an error code

 

[strocky]

yeah, i've had that card running in that board before... i would get the card tested in another machine if i were you

Will try it again. Tried it 3 or 4 times the last time to make sure it was seated right, but when the PC booted all I got was a continous beeping error.

I'll have a look at the BIOS setup to see if there's something not setup quite right

 

[strocky]

Hmmm this seems to have gone sour.

My bad I guess for not asking you what problems you was having with the ATI card.
I suppose you have tried restore defaults / clear CMOS etc?

Don't worry, I have'nt bought any new kit yet

Also my bad for not googling to see why the ATI Card was'nt working with my ASUS board

I'll clear my BIOS and try a re-install and let you know the outcome.

Cheers!

 

[strocky]

Right, I cleared my BIOS to default settings and installed the ATI 1950 Card.

The PC does'nt even get to the BIOS splash screen, it just continously beeps every 3 seconds.

Sounds like the card is goosed, it's under warranty, so I'll send it back!

 

[strocky]

Check here for the beep code.

You'll need to find your BIOS.

I trust you have all the power lines in the card?

noted ...

Only bad things about this card is it's size and power requirements (6 pin PCI express plug). Everything else (quality of produced graphics, audible sound, PRICE) easily outweigh the disadvantages though.

Have you plugged in the additional power connector to the card?

do'h

Lost the instruction manual, just had a rummage in the box and found a power connector

Cheers bud

 

[strocky]

right lads, finally got the ATI card working (I had a 6 pin connector spare off the PSU).

Thanks for all your help, saved me from spending £300 on a new MB/RAM/CPU