Motherboard Compatibility

I need help with a question I have about the Compatiblity of my motherboard... I have a Prescott P4 HT 3.0 GHz Intel Processor that is as socket 478... And a 865P/PE/G/848P chipset with a 82801EB (ICH5) Southbridge... It is an MicroAtx... What specifications should I, when looking for a new board, keep the same... And what can I change? i.e: If I wanted to get a new board do I have to keep the southbridge and the northbridge the same, keep the northbridge the same and use a different southbridge, can I change the northbridge and keep the southbridge the same or can I change both.... Any help is greatly appreciated...

 

The only thing you gotta look for on a motherboard is a socket 478 CPU slot, and make sure the RAM you have is compatible with that motherboard. Most new motherboards now come with DDR PC3200 memory. North bridge and south bridge don't matter as far as compatibly. Keep in mind that if you don't have a stand-alone video card, you'll need to find a motherboard with integrated video.

A good place to check is http://www.newegg.com

A good one to look at may be this one

Keep in mind that this one has an AGP slot, not a PCI-Express slot. I generally like to get motherboards with 4x DDR slots for future upgrades.

If you want PCI-E, you SOL (heh) unless a place other than Newegg has one. They only have one socket 478 board with PCI-E and it's out of stock. No idea why they only have one... If you're going for AGP, though, the Gigabyte I listed above should work great.

It has: socket 478, 4x DDR slots, dual channel, AGP slot, Intel 865PE north bridge, Intel ICH5 south bridge, but it doesn't have onboard video.

 

Ok... Well I found this one... I can put it on back order and it will be out in January... Can anyone tell me if this seems to be an alright mobo... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157075#DetailSpecs

 

Asrock is a budget board made by ASUS.

One thing I don't like about that board is that it only has two RAM slots, which is typical of Micro ATX boards. (Smaller than a "normal" motherboard)

An advantage is that it has an AGP, PCI Xpres slot as well as onboard video.


Why do you want to change the motherboard?

 

The reason is is because it is a Dell Dimension 3000 and it only has three pci slots...and I just bought the computer about five months ago...when pci-express was not really on the scene... I want to be able to have an upgradable future for my computer... sounds kind of silly... But I feel that for spending as much money I did, well I spent $780 on the computer and $320 on the 19" LCD monitor and a $150 on graphics card... All together I spent about $1,300 on the thing... I wish I had just waited... And did some research before buying one...

 

I have another question? Will my processor be able to handle this new board... or even a new pci-express card? And what about the fact that this board has an AGP slot and a pci-express... Could that mean that I could have a setup with more than one card on the board?... Could I possible have one in the pci slot, one in the AGP and one in the pci-express slot?

 

The processor will work with the ASROCK, but lets go back to the beginnning.

Which parts do you want to keep and which do you want to upgrade?

How much do you want to spend?

What do you use the PC for?

Answering these precisely will get you a much better system.

 

I have Win XP Home... I use the computer mostly for gaming... I have an BFG Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 256 DDR OC Graphics card... That only is in the pci slot... I also have one that is a BFG Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 256 DDR as that that is an AGP type... but I cannot use it in this computer that I have now... because the lack of an accelerated graphics port... And I already have a XFX GeForce 6600 Extreme Gamer Edition 128MB DDR3 SLI Video Card as well... this one I just bought, because I thought that my computer already had a PCI-E slot... and I already have a 350w power supply... I already have two sticks of 256MB DDR dual channel ram... And I have an ATI Tv Tuner... So I don't really need to spend much... I suppose I could spend more on a better motherboard, but that's where my processor gets me... having a socket 478...

 

Yes, unfortunately if you want socket 478 it kinda limits your options, especially if you want PCI Xpress and MicroATX.

That board you linked is probably about as good as it's going to get.

Personally, I would sell (or keep as a backup) whatever items I had and build a decent PC. (especially if you enjoy gaming)

Building a PC around an outdated processor is never a good idea, and ideally you should start with either an Intel or AMD motherboard and build from there.

This doesn't have to mean expensive, and you can build a pretty good system for less than AUS$1000. (US$750-850)

 

No one has answered this:

 

No you can't as far as I know.

I think it's only one or the other that you can use at any one time.


Anyway, I don't see how changing the motherboard is going to improve things for you? (Unless your current one only has onboard video and you want to play games?)

 

Well the graphics card that I use right now is the BFG GeForce FX 5500 OC has only 6.4 GB/sec of memory bandwith... And the card is sitting in in a pci slot... The XFX GeForce 6600 Extreme Gamer Edition 128MB DDR3 SLI Video Card that I have is 16 GB/sec... as you see... it nearly doubles in bandwith... I just feel that for the amount of money that I spent, and by spending a little more money, I will have the system that I really did want in the first place... Thank you for all your help so far on this issue... I think I have made good decisions concerning what to get...

 

Hey!

I have a Geforce fx5500 video card which has an incompatibility with my motherboard (P4VMM2) with a AGP 4x slot.
I don't know why but when i install it, the screen turns out black with blinking characters... it doesn't work!

Maybe i need a motherboard with 4x/8x AGP slot, and that's why i'm looking for one that is compatible with the video card.

I have a Intel Celeron 1.7Gb processor with socket 478 also.

I dont have that much money to spend, and i want to find a motherboard that can be compatible with both video card and processor.

How can i be sure that buying a MB with 4x/8x or 8x AGP slot it can work!?

thanks in advance


flip

 

Hi and welcome to MajorGeeks.

You should really start another post, but your card will work with a 4x AGP motherboard.