32bit XP with 4GB RAM

[vivitron 15]

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After much to-ing and fro-ing with Asus and Corsair technical support, I have just received an RMA code from ebuyer.co.uk!

Ebuyer have stopped stocking my motherboard, so I need to choose an alternative board. The original cost was £46.27, so I would like to spend that (or thereabouts - under £50 ideally).

So, the obvious question is now: please can someone reccomend a board from those under ~£50 from: http://www.ebuyer.com/search?store=2&cat=14&subcat=658


I have:
Q6600 processor
2 graphics cards (Nvidia Geforce 8600GT; Geforce FX 5200)
a single sata dvd burner
3 HDDs (1 sata, 2 ata)
PCI-e 1x wifi card (but I also have usb cards, if pcie 1x wasnt available)
4GB of Ram (2 sticks, as above in this thread)

I currently use stereo audio out, but I would like to retain spdif and 6/8 channel for when i get a new amp.

I dont need onboard gfx (unless I can also use onboard with the gfx cards I have)


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all in all, I'm after something that will a) work with my RAM! and b) be reliable

Thanks a lot

V

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oh, and I forgot to say, I would like plenty of usb sockets, and ideally 8GB (or more) RAM support for futureproofing, and I will probably want to mildly overclock at some point in the future.

in fact, there are no motherboards < £50 that are atx on there.
and the first that will allow >4GB of RAM is: an MSI board - has anyone any experience of this?
Or should I go for the asus one link to ebuyer?
or Gigabyte?

[lynx]

Well, the Gigabyte board seems to combine the best aspects of both the other boards - 16GB max memory, 12 USB ports, 7.1 Audio
BUT it has 2 regular PCI slots and 3 PCI-E-X1 slots compared to 3 regular & 2 X1 for the other 2 boards. Depends whether that's important to you.

That said, I doubt if there's much to choose between the boards in other respects.

[vivitron 15]

Thanks Lynx

I think I'm going to opt for the MSI one - 16GB of RAM is a "nice to have", 7.1 sound will be essential when i get my new amp later this year, and im not too concerned over usb slots (can always get a hub if needs be).

I also checked out the msi site, and the RAM i have is specifically mentioned as compatible with this board.

Hopefully, I'll get this working when it arrives!

[vivitron 15]

Got the new motherboard (MSI), and popped it in this morning, and voila, without doing anything in bios, i have 2GB in XP32 and 4GB in XP64. Now just to see how to turn "memory remap" or equivalent off, and im there!

although before i try to do that, i think im going to do a fresh xp64 install and see if i can get everything up and running in there - i like the idea of a 64bit os.

Oh, and the very next thing will be to reseat my heatsink - running rather hot at the minute (30-40C on idle!)...god I hate the push in clips on heatsinks - can never get them in right first time....took me ages to get it right on the last motherboard too!

anyway, thanks to all for the advice - is it occams razor that the simplest solution is usually the best? - just send the bloody thing back and get a new one solved mine!

I've been contemplating my problem getting the heatsink in properly. Has anyone any experience of using a heatsink clip system like that one? I assume i could just remove the plastic clips from the heatsink and screw through into that thing?

My heatsink is an Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro.

Thanks again!

[battues]

Removing the clips won't do you no good unless you have something for the screws to catch on or it will never be screwed it will just keep on moving freely and the cooler won't be attached to the motherboard.
On my old pc i used a lot of plastic clips coolers. what is the problem exactly?
I found it very useful to use some kind of long stick (wood or plastic) to force the clips in (i pressed each side of the clips in one by one since my hands were to big for this place).

[clocker]

Has anyone any experience of using a heatsink clip system like that one? I assume i could just remove the plastic clips from the heatsink and screw through into that thing?

A backing plate like that is really the only way to go.
I've used nothing but since Intel decided to use those infernal pushpins.