I'm giving up...I think I just killed my 3rd motherboard in 6 months!

[SiliGoose]

It happens to all of us, doesn't it? Geez!

I won't bore you guys with the details but basically I get no video signal (and therefore the bios won't load). Tried 2 different video cards...tried clearing the CMOS...tried crossing my fingers while rubbing a rabbits foot...nothing is working.

I've dropped at least $4k into this beast since July...my wife isn't going to let me play with you guys anymore.

I hate this part of the hobby...why do I keep doing this?




-Sili

[Lex]

Geeze Silly, what's up with this? What Mobo is it? You just bought it not that long ago, right? Warranty? So many questions, so few answers. But it sucks, big time.

Lex

[Bing Fung]

Sili, maybe all these boards toasting-up should have your checking your electrical power coming in to the house... or your PC's Power Supply?

Maybe you need a power conditioner?

That's a bummer, sorry to hear




Bing

[Trevor Schell]

Sorry to hear about the MB's..
It sure can be frustrating and expensive.
Time to buy a Dell.




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[SiliGoose]

Screw giving up!! Just installed my new Abit KR7A. Fast and the easiest install I've ever done.

Not getting memory scores as good as the Soltek but I'm still feeling out the Bios.




-Sili

[Jariten]

Hummm why wander in waters of weird manufacturers?

Why not buy ASUS, MSI ?EPoX maybe...?


:roll:

[SiliGoose]

Wierd? Abit? I don't think so.

I take it Abit doesn't have a large presence in Japan? In the US I'd rank the AMD motherboard manufacturers as follows:

1. Asus
2. Abit
3. MSI
4. Gigabyte

Then after that, Epox Iwill, and FIC all sort of blend into one. There's a pretty huge gap between #2 and #3.

Abit has done a great job of marketing themselves toward the enthusiast market.




-Sili

[Lex]

Congrats Sili! Hope you have good luck with your abit board. Mine was a problem, but that doesn't mean they all are.

IMO, the board that is the most under rated is IWILL. IWILL was very solid for me, giving that PC to my daughter.

Lex

[Bing Fung]

Abit should be it top spot for enthusiasts, and as a premiere Mobo. What I personnally like about Abit's are that none of their highend AMD boards come with built in sound. :LOL:

I would say Asus is the Benz and Abit is the Bimmer :LOL:

Lex, who will? :LOL:




Bing

[SiliGoose]

none of their highend AMD boards come with built in sound.

One of my favorite aspects. Don't waste my time with crap I don't want. nVidia should learn to understand that point.




-Sili

[Andrew Pratt]

I agree who uses the built in sound on these boards anyway? I'd rather they gave me another Dimm slot or something useful

[Lex]

Actually guys, built on sound does give you something, a free PCI slot. As someone who is one slot short of a full deck on my Tyan, I am coming to appreciate built on sound and even video, unless it's my flagship system. Now, my Tyan is external everything, but for the Abit gone bad system, I installed the Asus with on board sound and video (ge-force 2), and that's just fine and dandy with me, just means, I don't have to buy those cards and gives me lots of free PCIs.

Bing, IWILLLLLLLLLLLL

Lex

[Bing Fung]

Lex, what will? Are you willing to do something... :LOL: :LOL:




Bing

[Chip]

Hey guy's,

i'm planning on upgrading my DELL 450 PII. I'm thinking of going with the Abit BD7 Raid, Pentium4 2 GiG processor (Norwood), IBM Desk Star 60 GiG HD, one stick Crucial-512 meg DDR2100. This board seems to get good reviews? Is it a good board? 8O




Chip Engle


"Concrete ain't a spectator sport"


<a href="http://www.htguide.com/bilder/index.cfm?fuseaction=arkivbilder&userid=0&selected userid=336" target="_blank">My HT

[Bing Fung]

Chip, if you have decided to stay on the Intel path, the Abit sounds like a very good board, especially if you are going to RAID the drives. Abit make a very tweakable board and I highly recommend their products. They were the ones to usher in the jumperless bios design and their Soft Menu Bios is the best in the business. I have owned 3 Abit's and have worked on many. I must admit that I'm a bit biased towards Abit prodcuts and recommend then as a first choice product. I find I always compare other MB's to a simular Abit when comparision shopping.

Judging from the reviews I have read, I don't think you'll go wrong adding it to your short list of boards

Here is a Review of the Abit BD7-R




Bing

[Andrew Pratt]

As someone who is one slot short of a full deck

Glad you said that Doug not me

Chip why go with the P4 and not an AMD Athlon?

[Lex]

Mentioning Pentium here is like walking into the Gateway store and asking for a Dell, it's just frowned upon, lol.

haha Bing and Andrew. Be sure to check your Moderator status l8er on, haha, might be busted back to buck private

Be very careful trying to upgrade major vendor systems with generic parts Chip. At least were it me, I might just start fresh...


Lex

[Chip]

"Judging from the reviews I have read, I don't think you'll go wrong adding it to your short list of boards"


Thanks Bing!


"Chip why go with the P4 and not an AMD Athlon?"



Hey Andrew..

ehh, i dunno? i guess because this is my first computer and have had it for three years now.. I never had an AMD. Any reason to not go with the new Norwood?


"Be very careful trying to upgrade major vendor systems with generic parts Chip. At least were it me, I might just start fresh..."


Lexman!

wassupp ma brotha I had some provider issues thats why you haven't seen me around. They are resolved, DSL here sucks, i'm back with @home and cable service.
Anyway, I was thinking of relplacing the guts which, would be cheaper.. I'd really only be using the DELL box. My 19" Sony Trinitron monitor still works great.. I have the Altec Lancing ADA 880 surround package too. No good? 8O Maybe i'll try to configure a new DELL without the monitor and speakers again and see where i wind up price wise. Thanks pal..

Chip




Chip Engle


"Concrete ain't a spectator sport"


<a href="http://www.htguide.com/bilder/index.cfm?fuseaction=arkivbilder&userid=0&selected userid=336" target="_blank">My HT

[Bing Fung]

Chip, cases with a P4 ready power supply can be had for relatively cheap. It would probally be your best alternative to start with a new box, as PC makers such as Dell, Compaq..etc usually have proprietry design layouts that don't house or hold standard ATA configurations.

The AMD vs Intel is raised, for AMD solutions provide the best performance for cost (bang for buck). The 2 Ghz Northwood is comparable to the AMD 1900+ or 2000+ XP, chip, yet the AMD''s are a lot cheaper for the CPU. $462 for the 2000+ XP vs $708 for the 2Ghz P4, in cnd dollars.




Bing

[Chip]

Thanks again Bing... very helpful.




Chip Engle


"Concrete ain't a spectator sport"


<a href="http://www.htguide.com/bilder/index.cfm?fuseaction=arkivbilder&userid=0&selected userid=336" target="_blank">My HT

[Lex]

Another option to save is to stay back 1 or 2 generations on CPU speed. What this means is a 1.6 or 1.7 vs. a 2 ghz speed CPU. The savings are substantial I would think.

Also Chip, consider a bare bones special from someone like www.advanceddesignky.com that's where I got 2 bare bones specials that worked out good.

Lex

[Andrew Pratt]

Agreed I would avoid the very fastest CPU since they are always a substantial $$$ over the one below it and to be honest when we're talking about speeds inexcess of 1.5 gig we're not talking about a lot of gain....how much more power do you really need? Anyway the Intel vs AMD thing basically boils down to two things..what applications are you wanting to run and is price a factor? If you want to video editing etc the Intels are slightly faster for nearly everything else the AMD's are faster...now if you bring in money into the equaltion dollar for dollar the AMD's are going to offer A LOT more bang for the buck given then price premium Intel adds to their CPUs. Also if you go intel and don't use RAMBUS their performace suffers quite a bit so all in all the AMDs are a better buy

[Lex]

Finally Andrew agrees with me on something, lol. well said.

Lex

[Chip]

Andrew,

I basically do email and digital photo's with Image Expert.. I also run Microsoft Office 2000. I want a responsive computer. I also, at some point want to buy a digital flat panel display. I would need a video card with DVI support? Is this right?

Chip




Chip Engle


"Concrete ain't a spectator sport"


<a href="http://www.htguide.com/bilder/index.cfm?fuseaction=arkivbilder&userid=0&selected userid=336" target="_blank">My HT

[Bing Fung]

Chip, either an Intel or AMD will suit your purpose fine. It's just Intels cost much more, however the 16A 1.6's of intels have been Overclocking to 2.1 Ghz.... Very impressive and would really qualify as most bang for buck if your into OC'ing. 8)

You don't necessarily need a card that has DVI out to connect to a flat panel, however it would be best as it does not require the digital to analog conversion. It's digital all the way with DVI. Most flat panels come with at minimal an analog RGB input (standard VGA connector). A lot of them are now comming with RGB analog and DVI as well. Do know though, that most Photo editors and graphic artists will use a CRT display for the truer color rendition and image luminosity accuracy. That doesn't mean a LCD is unsuitable, just not the correct application for working pros.




Bing

[Chip]

Bing,

My DELL 450 is my first computer so, i haven't done any overclocking. I'd like to overclock my next one for the cool factor 8) ... nothing heavy, just a little to say it's overclocked, lol...
Two of my favorite sites are Hard OCP & Sharky's Machine. I've had them bookmarked for a couple years now. Not being a pro, i'd want to go ahead eventually and get a flat panel as long as the images would at least look as good as my three year old 19" Trinitron (.26).

Chip




Chip Engle


"Concrete ain't a spectator sport"


<a href="http://www.htguide.com/bilder/index.cfm?fuseaction=arkivbilder&userid=0&selected userid=336" target="_blank">My HT

[Andrew Pratt]

Well if OC'ing is in your future AMD is the way to go since they are generally easier to OC then intels...besides if you do happen to damage a CPU (unlikely) its far better to toast a $100 chip then a $300 one right!

[Bing Fung]

Chip, that P4 rig your contemplating should OC well. Intel's tend to allow more front side bus (FSB) overclocking than AMD's and that is where you get the most performance gains. It is less stable than multiplier OC'ing, just don't over do it and you'll be fine.

Certainly an 19" LCD will look nice, I don't think you'll be dissapointed. The only limitation I can see is most LCD's are limited to 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolutions. If you don't operate higgher than that you'll be OK. For me I run at 1600x1200 so a LCD equivelent for me would have to be a Silicon Graphics flat panel or simular.... Big bucks

Sharky's and Hard OCP are great sites. I would have to say Hard OCP is my favorite PC site in general, Kyle and Steve put the goods on things, much the same way that I think

Have fun with your new project!




Bing