advice on MOtherboards> - Tech Support Forums

cylis · March 23rd, 2003, 06:55 PM

hello and thanks for reading in...

need some advice on motherboards...i'm getting a motherboard as a present for my b-day and was wondering if you guys could recommend something smooth, fast and ofcouse soild....(need for gaming)

currently i have a pcchips M810L with AMD processor 1.24 ghz and running xp...i also have a geforce4 mx 440 that hates my xp or my mobo( don't know which) , so would like to use that which is just collecting dust right now on the new mobo...

some ppl suggested soyo dragon and asus A7n8... with my little know about of computer any input would be appreciated

also the processor and memory(384 sd) i currently have...would they still be usable when i get a new motherboard?

thanks
cylis

twistedbrntucker · March 23rd, 2003, 07:11 PM

I,for one,prefer MSI mainboards. I just built my first from ground up using MSI K7N2G-ILSR with Athlon XP2200+. It has nVidia Soundstorm 5.1 with optical and digital coax out.Hey, everyone has their preferences. I love it so far!!

cylis · March 23rd, 2003, 07:14 PM

true true... have to do some research on MSI boards...don't know a thing about them...

thanks for the reply

Kuasimodem · March 23rd, 2003, 10:17 PM

I just built a system for a customer with an ECS K7S5A Pro motherboard and like the board

Since you said that you would like to still use the SDRAM that you presently have, and the 1.2Ghz Athlon, this board would be perfect. Along with supporting the original Athlons, it will support all the way up to the fastest T-bred XP CPUs. You can also later ditch the SDRAM and go to DDR when the pocket cash permits

Your G4 440MX should like this board also.

The only thing to watch for is to make sure that you have a quality power supply, this board can be a bit picky at times

cylis · March 23rd, 2003, 10:29 PM

if you buy CPUs from an online site...how do you install them?

i have a case with a 300 power supply... what kinda of case do you have?

zidane182 · March 23rd, 2003, 10:42 PM

install the cpu by lifting the bar on the side of the ZIF(zero insertion force) socket. Next, place the cpu in the slots and make sure you have the pins lined up. After that push the bar down. After that put thermal compound on the die or use a thermal pad and mount the heat sink fan.

Kuasimodem · March 23rd, 2003, 10:44 PM

I used an Aopen case with an Aopen 300W PSU, with two CD drives, 2 case fans,1 hard drive and a Radeon9000 Pro, it's running nice and stable.

I buy only OEM CPUs from NewEgg, just follow the installation instructions that come with the motherboard, in the manual. As for the thermal compound, I use Arctic Silver III on all CPUs, applied as per their instructions.