help with motherboard choice
 

I want to upgrade my cpu to an XP2800+. I've double checked and found that I
can't use my current board MSI KT3 Ultra.

I want a new motherboard then, still an MSI. I figure although most of my
other components aren't bang up to date, I may as well get the most advanced
I can. (I have 4x AGP card, PC2700 RAM at the moment.)

I have a few questions about RAID. The new MSI K7N2 boards have Serial ATA
RAID. My current motherboard has two IDE hard drive connectors (with my DVD
in one) and two IDE RAID connectors, both filled each with one hard drive.
Is it just a question of changing cables? Or do I have to change hard
drives, which I don't want to do. If this is the case, do I need to ditch
the new K7N2 idea and get a board with ATA RAID? If MSI don't do one, any
other suggestions?
Needs to have five or six PCI slots, preferably 8x AGP, don't need on board
audio/lan/vga. Socket A obviously.
Thanks for your help. Please don't make it too technical, I'm not an expert!
--
Susan

I am not exactly sure what you are asking about raid. Look up DFI Lanparty
Ultra NF2 this is the board I bought because I wanted the raid functionality
built in. The DFI sounds like your current setup. Gigabyte also makes one.
"S.Boardman" wrote in message
...
I want to upgrade my cpu to an XP2800+. I've double checked and found that
I
can't use my current board MSI KT3 Ultra.

I want a new motherboard then, still an MSI. I figure although most of my
other components aren't bang up to date, I may as well get the most
advanced
I can. (I have 4x AGP card, PC2700 RAM at the moment.)

I have a few questions about RAID. The new MSI K7N2 boards have Serial ATA
RAID. My current motherboard has two IDE hard drive connectors (with my
DVD
in one) and two IDE RAID connectors, both filled each with one hard drive.
Is it just a question of changing cables? Or do I have to change hard
drives, which I don't want to do. If this is the case, do I need to ditch
the new K7N2 idea and get a board with ATA RAID? If MSI don't do one, any
other suggestions?
Needs to have five or six PCI slots, preferably 8x AGP, don't need on
board
audio/lan/vga. Socket A obviously.
Thanks for your help. Please don't make it too technical, I'm not an
expert!
--
Susan

try the GA-7N400 pro2

S.Boardman wrote:
I want to upgrade my cpu to an XP2800+. I've double checked and found
that I can't use my current board MSI KT3 Ultra.

I'd be surprised, check he

http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.html

I want a new motherboard then, still an MSI. I figure although most of my
other components aren't bang up to date, I may as well get the most
advanced I can. (I have 4x AGP card, PC2700 RAM at the moment.)

Go nForce. MSI do a couple.

I have a few questions about RAID. The new MSI K7N2 boards have Serial ATA
RAID. My current motherboard has two IDE hard drive connectors (with my
DVD in one) and two IDE RAID connectors, both filled each with one hard
drive. Is it just a question of changing cables? Or do I have to change
hard drives, which I don't want to do. If this is the case, do I need to
ditch the new K7N2 idea and get a board with ATA RAID? If MSI don't do
one, any other suggestions?

You'll need some PATA - SATA adapters

Needs to have five or six PCI slots, preferably 8x AGP, don't need on
board audio/lan/vga. Socket A obviously.

Hmm. Onboard != bad, and if you're tight on PCI slots...

Ben
--
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

"Ben Pope" wrote in message
...
S.Boardman wrote:
I want to upgrade my cpu to an XP2800+. I've double checked and found
that I can't use my current board MSI KT3 Ultra.

I'd be surprised, check he

http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.html

I wasn't thinking about overclocking... I looked at
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/suppor...detail.php?UID
=11



I want a new motherboard then, still an MSI. I figure although most of
my
other components aren't bang up to date, I may as well get the most
advanced I can. (I have 4x AGP card, PC2700 RAM at the moment.)

Go nForce. MSI do a couple.

That's what I was hoping to use, it's backwards compatible, right?


I have a few questions about RAID. The new MSI K7N2 boards have Serial
ATA
RAID. My current motherboard has two IDE hard drive connectors (with my
DVD in one) and two IDE RAID connectors, both filled each with one hard
drive. Is it just a question of changing cables? Or do I have to change
hard drives, which I don't want to do. If this is the case, do I need to
ditch the new K7N2 idea and get a board with ATA RAID? If MSI don't do
one, any other suggestions?

You'll need some PATA - SATA adapters

Didn't know about these? Can you expand?


Needs to have five or six PCI slots, preferably 8x AGP, don't need on
board audio/lan/vga. Socket A obviously.

Hmm. Onboard != bad, and if you're tight on PCI slots...

I *don't* need the onboard stuff. I have six slots at the moment, one vacant
next to the vga card, two others with extra USB slots, D-bracket, etc.
--
Susan

S.Boardman wrote:
"Ben Pope" wrote in message
...

http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.html

I wasn't thinking about overclocking... I looked at

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/suppor...detail.php?UID
=11

I wasn't either. Part of that that site details ways of getting your board
to work with a CPU that is not specifically supported.

Go nForce. MSI do a couple.

That's what I was hoping to use, it's backwards compatible, right?

With what?

You'll need some PATA - SATA adapters

Didn't know about these? Can you expand?

Adaptors that allow you to use parallel ATA drives on a Serial ATA
controller. Be sure to get ones that support optical drives (ATAPI,
presumably) if you want that (which is not what you've described, but worth
mentioning)

Needs to have five or six PCI slots, preferably 8x AGP, don't need on
board audio/lan/vga. Socket A obviously.

Hmm. Onboard != bad, and if you're tight on PCI slots...

I *don't* need the onboard stuff. I have six slots at the moment, one
vacant next to the vga card, two others with extra USB slots, D-bracket,
etc.

Fine...

Just pointing out that if a board is ideal for you, and, for example, has
onboard LAN but not enough PCI slots for you, you might be able to cope.

Ben
--
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

"Ben Pope" wrote in message
...
S.Boardman wrote:
[snip]

Go nForce. MSI do a couple.

That's what I was hoping to use, it's backwards compatible, right?

With what?

FSB333, AGPx4, all the stuff that I use now with the KT3 Ultra.


You'll need some PATA - SATA adapters

Didn't know about these? Can you expand?

Adaptors that allow you to use parallel ATA drives on a Serial ATA
controller. Be sure to get ones that support optical drives (ATAPI,
presumably) if you want that (which is not what you've described, but
worth
mentioning)

This looks like it will solve the problem, then... I can use the old IDE
RAID drives on a new SATA RAID motherboard, is that right?
In this case, would the MSI K7N2 Delta-FISR be a good choice? I picked it
as it's an MSI nForce2 board, has SATA RAID, and in a vain attempt to future
proof, 400MHz FSB.
--
Susan

S.Boardman wrote:
"Ben Pope" wrote in message
...
With what?

FSB333, AGPx4, all the stuff that I use now with the KT3 Ultra.

FSB from 100 to 200MHz, AGP 2x to 8x (I think... not the 3V signalling,
which was the first AGP spec.)

Adaptors that allow you to use parallel ATA drives on a Serial ATA
controller. Be sure to get ones that support optical drives (ATAPI,
presumably) if you want that (which is not what you've described, but
worth mentioning)

This looks like it will solve the problem, then... I can use the old IDE
RAID drives on a new SATA RAID motherboard, is that right?
In this case, would the MSI K7N2 Delta-FISR be a good choice? I picked it
as it's an MSI nForce2 board, has SATA RAID, and in a vain attempt to
future proof, 400MHz FSB.

Hehe... future proof until about now. Anything newer will be 64bit and a
completely different socket. The current Barton core is probably maxed
out... with a die shrink they may extend the 200FSB processors a bit.

Check the price of the convertors before you dive in... They're not simple
passive devices, I think they're about £15/drive, but yes, they will allow
your P-ATA drives to run off the SATA interface... whether or not you can
keep your existing RAID partition, I don't know.

Ben
--
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 19:45:21 +0100, "S.Boardman"
wrote:


"Ben Pope" wrote in message
...
S.Boardman wrote:
I want to upgrade my cpu to an XP2800+. I've double checked and found
that I can't use my current board MSI KT3 Ultra.

I'd be surprised, check he

http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.html

I wasn't thinking about overclocking... I looked at
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/suppor...detail.php?UID
=11

The issue on some KT333 boards, possibly that one also, is that at
166MHz (DDR333) FSB, the AGP is out of spec at 83MHz. This is not
"necessarily" a problem. If it were me, I'd buy the CPU, try it in
your present board. If you're expecting to play 3D games then run
them, see if your video card is happy at 83MHz... most are.


Dave

"Ben Pope" wrote in message
...
snip!

Check the price of the convertors before you dive in... They're not
simple
passive devices, I think they're about £15/drive, but yes, they will allow
your P-ATA drives to run off the SATA interface... whether or not you can
keep your existing RAID partition, I don't know.

Ben
Just when I thought I had it sorted *anguish* I don't mind paying the £15
for each cable. I don't wan't to mess up the hard drives, though. Please can
you explain this?
--
Susan