Hi All,
My motherboard is in need of replacing due to not being PCI-E 2 (I want to upgrade by GFX card soon) and I am seeking advice please..
Here's what I'm replacing:
Abit IP35 Pro XE Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(Need something that supports existing CPU and newer ones, as well as DDR2 and DDR3 I suppose is the next thing?)
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 - (Probably looking at a Sapphire HD 5870 Vapor-X due to it being smaller length than average and runs cooler.)
Keeping my OCZ Platinum Series 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel and Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz hence the need for DDR2 still supported.
Any advice on the make/ model of mobo and points to consider appreciated.
(One question is what are the chances of me replacing the motherboard without re-installing windows 7?)
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=fFZ8oUIGmLpwNMjj
its the only i could think of on the top of my head..
but i gotta warn you, these dual memory solution boards usually gets impacted on their memory performance...
im just wondering why not stick with your current motherboard, and save up the more cash for proper upgrade, new mobo, new cpu, new memory..
the socket 775 is no longer being used when launching new cpu's, so your limited to what thats out there now..
I'm in a similar situation Albert.
I'm on the lookout for a p45 mb so I can squeeze out the last few mhz out of my Q6600. My 680i board doesn't o/c the Q6600 very well at all.
GPU wise, I'm going to stick with my 8800 GTX and save my pennies until I can afford a new system entirely.
The challenge is that the 775 boards are becoming rare. I've been looking at the ASUS P5Q Deluxe (I think that's the one) but also looking into Gigabyte boards as I think the support is far superior to ASUS.
I have googled the MB upgrade on W7 and it is possible but not full-proof. I'd backup your essentials and then give it a go.
NF
The frustrating thing is I only upgraded this system in Aug 2008 so it's not that old. The P35 Motherboard was a mistake although unlike Ninja, mine overclocks great and that was the big reason for buying it.
I think I need to get a decent DDR2 775 PCI-E 2 motherboard.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-172-GI
Seems like a decent board but the descritpions are rubbish, they seem to omit what type of PCI-E you get to avoid revealing it only supports PCI-E 1/1.1
Totally frustrating.
Or this:
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=c19zNYHCAXhCqBPq&templete=2
I might be wrong, but I thought DDR3 motherboard were backwards-compatable with DDR2?
I think your main problem is finding a decent Socket 775 board - they are being rapidly phased out.
Quote from: Tutonic;305682I might be wrong, but I thought DDR3 motherboard were backwards-compatable with DDR2?
I think your main problem is finding a decent Socket 775 board - they are being rapidly phased out.
ddr2 and ddr3 is not backwards compatible, different pin layout and notch is placed differently(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Desktop_DDR_Memory_Comparison.svg/424px-Desktop_DDR_Memory_Comparison.svg.png)
If you buy a new mobo you'll have to upgrade it again when you get a new CPU anyway. Rather than getting your new graphics and a motherboard now, it might be worth waiting and getting CPU, Mobo, Ram and graphics (essentially a whole computer). This is what I'm planning to do later in the year.
You can get DDR 2 & 3 on the same board, but socket 775 is different to the i7 sockets.
I stand corrected Kreg :)
I'd agree with Tbag's advice. I'd wait and save until you can afford to jump onto the new Intel socket 1366 architecture, you'll do much better in the long run.
Albert the 5800 series run on pcie 1 without any real problems as long as it is a full x16 which it will be. The 5700 series is the one that seems to be fussy about running on a pcie 1. There have been a few sites that have done some good reviews comparing the difference between pcie 1 and 2 x8 and x16 not huge difference until you get down to pcie x4 on pcie 2. So that motherboard will be fine if you just want some extra GFX power. I would however check before buying that they do say on the spec it will run just incase teh manufacturer has made some changes to the default spec. You can also probably squeeze some more out of your Q6600 as long as you have some good cooling.
Quote from: Ninja_Freak;305671The challenge is that the 775 boards are becoming rare. I've been looking at the ASUS P5Q Deluxe (I think that's the one) but also looking into Gigabyte boards as I think the support is far superior to ASUS.
FWIW, I have a P5Q Pro, and I had Q6600+8800GT problems with it, which turned out to be very common, but Asus did not resolve it. Some board would fail, some would not. I think it also applies to the P5Q. Just a heads up. Great board if it works though.
I've picked up a DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS PLUS on ebay. Will keep you posted on progress.
Quote from: '[BIGmagnus;305730']Albert the 5800 series run on pcie 1 without any real problems as long as it is a full x16 which it will be. The 5700 series is the one that seems to be fussy about running on a pcie 1. There have been a few sites that have done some good reviews comparing the difference between pcie 1 and 2 x8 and x16 not huge difference until you get down to pcie x4 on pcie 2. So that motherboard will be fine if you just want some extra GFX power. I would however check before buying that they do say on the spec it will run just incase teh manufacturer has made some changes to the default spec. You can also probably squeeze some more out of your Q6600 as long as you have some good cooling.
Thanks for the advice.
Wiki on PCIE types says:
The PCIe 2.0 standard doubles the per-lane throughput from the PCIe 1.0 standard's 250 MB/s to 500 MB/s. This means a 32-lane PCI connector (x32) can support throughput up to 16 GB/s aggregate. The PCIe 2.0 standard uses a base clock speed of 5.0 GHz, while the first version operates at 2.5 GHz.
And I've read a few places that even moving to a good PCIE 2 supported board can make a reasonable difference to older v2 compatible cards like my 4870 so that's my reasoning for thinking P45 might be worth a shot although, I was doing this because BFBC2 was blue screening on me but I think it was the on board sound issue I was suffering from and I managed a full hour online with no crashes by just lowering the sound quality as you guys said to Headphones rather than HiFi so perhaps my problem is solved.
I still fancy getting a 5870 but they're at Ã,£370 right now and for what I'd get for that money probably worth waiting a bit. Certainly would not upset the wife if I spent Ã,£370 on her instead :D.
In addition to the double bandwith PCIe 2.0 also offers changes, PCIe 1.0 lets the card pull 75w off the PCIe slot, where 2.0 lets the cards draw up to 150watt.. On the latest series of cards like the 58xx series and most likely the Fermi (which is rumored not to support PCIe 1.0 due to the wattage limitation on PCIe 1.0) people are starting to see a a more significant performance drop, especially on the Dual GPU cards and Sli/CF setups.
There are performance losses to be seen when dropping from x16 to x8, on older cards like Rad HD4XXX series and GTX200 its on average about 2%, so not really noticeable..
Note that PCIe 3.0 is due second Quarter of 2010, which is im not sure will be backward compatible due to some difference in pin layout and data transfers.
PCIe 3.0 slots might be able to handle PCIe 1.0/2.0 cards with some switching technology, but cards i got a feeling wont be.
The 5870's are coming down in price quite quickly. They are now getting close to launch prices.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-123-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1502
Ã,£310 inc vat. I am sure if you hunt around you will find slightly cheaper. Come Friday the prices may or may not change depending on price performance of Nvidia's new 470 and 480's.