On 12/7/2010 4:35 PM PT, Paul in Houston TX typed:

I am thinking of replacing my current motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc. to
an Intel i7 950 CPU, GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard, and new RAM. I
am still going to use my old, updated Windows XP Pro. SP3 (don't need
64-bit and newer Windows at this time since my old softwares still
work). Is this going to be OK?

My current computer specifications (primary computer) details can be
found at http://zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt ...

Thank you in advance.

YES!
Excellent system. I made a similar system a few months ago.
X58-ud3r, 6g ram, core i7 930, two 500g black caviar drives
in Raid 1 mode, nvidia GTX470 vid.
The base cpu speed is 2.93 but it is quite happy running
at 3.67. The mb says it does not support 1600 ram
but it runs great with 1600 c7 ram. Ram tends to get
flakey at 1950 mhz. System unstable past 4ghz on stock cpu fan.

You have probably read about the squeaking cpu.
Mine did it once briefly but it was due to extreme overclocking.

Squeaking? I forgot to mention that I don't do overclocking/OCIng.


BTW, the system doubles as an excellent space heater.

Ugh, this is going to be bad news since my room can go up to 90F degrees
during the heat waves since I live in a desert area.


Overall, it is the best system that I have ever made.
Oh, the mb has PS2 ports, IDE ports, and one PCI,

Crap, only one PCI slot? I have four PCI cards (three TV tuners + SB
Audigy 2 ZS). I guess I could sacrifice my old non-HD TV card and
soundcard, but I still have two left.


which the comparable ASUS did not have. Granted, those things
slow a machine down... but... Oh, no parallel port.

Bah to parallel which I don't have. I have no IDE devices in my current
quad-core system. All SATA drives now.


I had to get a PCI parallel card for my printer/fax/copier.
A usb to parallel will not work for 2 way com.

Why not buy a new printer/fax/copier instead or use it on another
computer that have parallel and network share?
--
"I once heard the survivors of a colony of ants that had been partially
obliterated by a cow's foot seriously debating the intention of the gods
towards their civilization" --Archy the Cockroach from Don Marquis'
"Archy and Mehitabel" book ("Certain Maxims of Archy" poem)
/\___/\ Phil./Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.