upgrading from k7s5a pro to P4M800PRO-M

External Since: Dec 27, 2007 Posts: 5

Hello I would like to upgrade my motherboard to a newer model does
anyone know if this model would work with a quad 775 cpu? or any other
models that would do this easily? I have a agp card and a couple of
ide hds too. thanks.

External Since: Oct 09, 2004 Posts: 2479

joe wrote:
> Hello I would like to upgrade my motherboard to a newer model does
> anyone know if this model would work with a quad 775 cpu? or any other
> models that would do this easily? I have a agp card and a couple of
> ide hds too. thanks.

Take a look around the Asrock site. For example, this one seems to
have a real AGP slot. The PCI Express slot is a bit of a letdown,
as I think it is PCI Express x16 in size, but is only wired for
x4 lanes. That is the problem with Asrock, is some of their boards
use "tricks". What you don't want, is one of their boards where
the AGP slot was a "trick" one. Some of the AGP slots are called
"AGI", and that means it is a trick one. So have a shop around
the Asrock site, and you may find a decent compromise board.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4CoreDual-VSTA&s=775

Also note that VIA is getting out of the chipset business, so
all those VIA type motherboards will no longer be in production.
If you can't find the board at retail, you might have to go
to Ebay. For example, Newegg is selling some customer returns
here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157107R

The customers here, don't seem to be too happy with the 4CoreDual-VSTA.
So maybe it is better to just dump the AGP card and get a
PCI Express board instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813157107

If you want something to run a Q6600, try this one for $67. It
is made by Gigabyte.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078

That one has integrated graphics, so for the first few days you
could use the integrated graphics. Until you could afford a PCI Express
graphics card. As you can see in the picture here, a motherboard cannot get
more minimal than this - it only has two RAM slots. And the
chips don't have any fans for cooling. (The G31 could probably
use some cooling.)

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-128-078-05.jpg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078

"Just a few gripes one no fan on Northbridge heatsinks get very
very hot when o/c'd"

HTH,
Paul