Stuck between two choices. - Page 2

The_YongGrand · 13th Sep 2006, 08:32 AM

Hmm... the onboard is still alive? Quite strange. In fact, for my board in the 1st rig in my signature, I can able to shut down the onboard graphics without any problems upon installing a PCIE card.

Exactly when did you purchase the combo? I thought the P4 630 was about 100 pounds back in late 2005?

And I'm sure you might have done the installing of the processor - is there any videos or any pictures to show the detailed installation of it? Want to get the combo Pentium 4, but I'm not experienced in dealing Intel boards.

edit: I checked the forums and other boards - some of them told that the Radeon Express 200 is quite so-so in terms of the quality... but I've seen HP and Compaq intergrating these in their computers as well?

TheApprentice · 13th Sep 2006, 05:30 PM

Hi
Apologies, I got back late last night (or should I say early this morning

). I just logged in now...
Yeah, it's strange that I can't get full performance from my 7300. Maybe I'm assuming the wrong thing and the onboard graphics has gone to sleep, maybe the 7300 is faulty?
I am in touch with Foxconn at the moment about another issue (secondary IDE channel problems) so I will get back to them on that one.
I followed the motherboard manual instructions for putting the 630 in, no probs. I seem to be running both hyperthreads at a full 3GHz quite smoothly. I will install 3d-mark and let you know the results, that should uncover a few things I hope.
Yeah the 630 was expensive... I paid about 116 pounds for it back in June, couldn't resist it

I agree that the Radeon Express does have some good reviews, although they do seem to be leaning towards the Athlon 64 very heavily. They apparently have modified the X300 core for their integrated graphics architecture.
I found a great little review of the X200 series chipset here:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2269&p=2
I will post back when I hear from Foxconn to let you know what they say.
l8r

The_YongGrand · 13th Sep 2006, 06:39 PM

Thanks.

The 630 is darn expensive, and really darn good too. The cache is 2 times more than the 531, but I don't really mind that since this is my last upgrade and it's for the whole home use only.

I don't know what's the performance of the 531, do you have any friends who happen to have the processor? I wanna compare it to my Sempron.

And apparently Foxconn once manufactures motherboard which is for Intel right? That means most Intel motherboards are manufactured by Foxconn. The quality should be very very good. Is it?

edit: Okay - if I couldn't find the Foxconn 915 chipset board in my place - probably it is already extinct. The nearest I could get the Radeon chipsets ones, but I'm really doubtful about the chipset. I hope it's good for my most games and good for any home use. And I don't do overclocking here.

TheApprentice · 14th Sep 2006, 08:18 AM

Hi
Another l8 night so this will be a brief post, more tomorrow when I am fully awake (I HATE shift-work...)
Yeah seems like Foxconn have dropped the 915 chipset, although I only had a quick scan I couldn't find one anywhere

. They are not bad boards for the price (despite my own problems with this one I've got), although their tech support could be a tad better, more on that later...
Intel actually make complete motherboards as well as chipsets but I haven't actually played with one so I don't know how good they are (yet

I don't know of anyone who has a 531, but I can sure ask around for you, no probs. Maybe try Toms Hardware Guide (www.tomshardware.com) to see if they have reviewed any.
I will have to chesk back with you on the Radeon chipset stuff tomorrow (today?). Not having owned one I will have to do a bit of digginf for you (my last board was nForce Socket A)
catchyall l8r
[/end-of-shift]
[bed...]

The_YongGrand · 14th Sep 2006, 04:31 PM

Thank you very much for your advice. I hope you don't mind me asking too much questions, since I'm a super newbie on these LGA775 stuff (I had a Celeron D 775 once but not satisfied at the performance).

At least the prices of P4 dropped sharply and I think I have the opportunity to get the combo at the lowest price since the Cores are around.

Well, they have the Foxconn 915P7MH board in Foxconn channel website, go and check it out.

Seen it in some stores that they are still selling it at around 50 pounds. There's some shops which are selling these at around 25 pounds so I think I wanna get it before it ever extinct.

If all else fails, I have to get the Radeon Xpress chipset. I hope this will be very suitable for gaming, and hope it'll be better than these Via chipsets (I had the MSI PM8M2-V board and the features are severely lacking!!).

TheApprentice · 15th Sep 2006, 07:44 PM

Hi
My apologies, serious problems geting online yesterday. Didn't get on until gone 1am this morning. Very sorry.
Yeah, looks like the Foxconn will do the trick for you, I checked out the website and it actually looks quite tasty. It takes both DDR and DDR2 and has an 800 FSB. Only 1 IDE but that shouldn't be a problem.
It inly has 5.1 channel sound as well (I actually prefer this) so you won't have the same problems I had with the Hi-Definition audio driver.
AND... they have 64-bit drivers available (something else I had to dig for on my mobo)
I still haven't found anything more on the Radeon stuff but I seem to remember reading somewhere that you can use most pci-x graphics cards with it (including nvidia). I would suggest a quick email to ATI themselves should sort that one out

I will be off-line most of the weekend as I am swapping out some hardware on my server pc, I need to check and defrag the raid and upgrade the primary drive etc. Please feel free to leave messages here, I will get back to them when I go online next.
Hope this helps for you, you must be looking forward to building this new system :=)
l8r

The_YongGrand · 15th Sep 2006, 10:31 PM

That's okay, take your time to reply.

Just purchased the 915P7MH-S Foxconn board and the Pentium 4 531 this morning. Hope I can put it all together without difficulties.

And the only thing I'm worried is the boxed processor said something like the 04A platform compatibility guide... very confusing... hope the combo will work perfectly...

The_YongGrand · 16th Sep 2006, 07:10 PM

This morning, just installed the board and the processor.

I managed to put the processor's heatsink successfully, but the plastic tabs are too freaky. I popped three tabs, and the last one is quite difficult to be popped into, but I did finally secure the heatsink after I heard some 'clomp' and then a micro pop from the last tab. I looked at the tab's spring and it went all down just like the others. Whew.

I hope the heatsink is already secured, as I'm quite new to this Intel world.

Turned on the comp, and it's working good. Maybe I'll stress test it later, as I'm quite sleepy nowadays.

Performance? Very good, a major improvement. The 915 chipset is quite old-fashioned already, but everything works very well and smooth.

Anyway, thanks for your advice. I appreciate it very much.

13th Sep 2006, 08:32 AM	#11 (permalink)
The_YongGrand Hyperactive Join Date: 12 Feb 2005 Location: Somewhere in 甲洞... Posts: 2,880 Reputation: 1187 Rep Power: 19	Hmm... the onboard is still alive? Quite strange. In fact, for my board in the 1st rig in my signature, I can able to shut down the onboard graphics without any problems upon installing a PCIE card. Exactly when did you purchase the combo? I thought the P4 630 was about 100 pounds back in late 2005? And I'm sure you might have done the installing of the processor - is there any videos or any pictures to show the detailed installation of it? Want to get the combo Pentium 4, but I'm not experienced in dealing Intel boards. edit: I checked the forums and other boards - some of them told that the Radeon Express 200 is quite so-so in terms of the quality... but I've seen HP and Compaq intergrating these in their computers as well? __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Gigabyte 945GCMX-S2, Sapphire ATi Radeon HD4850 512MB DDR3 Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Asus P5B-E Plus, nVidia Geforce 7950GT 512MB DDR3

13th Sep 2006, 06:39 PM	#13 (permalink)
The_YongGrand Hyperactive Join Date: 12 Feb 2005 Location: Somewhere in 甲洞... Posts: 2,880 Reputation: 1187 Rep Power: 19	Thanks. The 630 is darn expensive, and really darn good too. The cache is 2 times more than the 531, but I don't really mind that since this is my last upgrade and it's for the whole home use only. I don't know what's the performance of the 531, do you have any friends who happen to have the processor? I wanna compare it to my Sempron. And apparently Foxconn once manufactures motherboard which is for Intel right? That means most Intel motherboards are manufactured by Foxconn. The quality should be very very good. Is it? edit: Okay - if I couldn't find the Foxconn 915 chipset board in my place - probably it is already extinct. The nearest I could get the Radeon chipsets ones, but I'm really doubtful about the chipset. I hope it's good for my most games and good for any home use. And I don't do overclocking here. __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Gigabyte 945GCMX-S2, Sapphire ATi Radeon HD4850 512MB DDR3 Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Asus P5B-E Plus, nVidia Geforce 7950GT 512MB DDR3 Last edited by The_YongGrand : 13th Sep 2006 at 06:45 PM.

14th Sep 2006, 04:31 PM	#15 (permalink)
The_YongGrand Hyperactive Join Date: 12 Feb 2005 Location: Somewhere in 甲洞... Posts: 2,880 Reputation: 1187 Rep Power: 19	Thank you very much for your advice. I hope you don't mind me asking too much questions, since I'm a super newbie on these LGA775 stuff (I had a Celeron D 775 once but not satisfied at the performance). At least the prices of P4 dropped sharply and I think I have the opportunity to get the combo at the lowest price since the Cores are around. Well, they have the Foxconn 915P7MH board in Foxconn channel website, go and check it out. Seen it in some stores that they are still selling it at around 50 pounds. There's some shops which are selling these at around 25 pounds so I think I wanna get it before it ever extinct. If all else fails, I have to get the Radeon Xpress chipset. I hope this will be very suitable for gaming, and hope it'll be better than these Via chipsets (I had the MSI PM8M2-V board and the features are severely lacking!!). __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Gigabyte 945GCMX-S2, Sapphire ATi Radeon HD4850 512MB DDR3 Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Asus P5B-E Plus, nVidia Geforce 7950GT 512MB DDR3

15th Sep 2006, 10:31 PM	#17 (permalink)
The_YongGrand Hyperactive Join Date: 12 Feb 2005 Location: Somewhere in 甲洞... Posts: 2,880 Reputation: 1187 Rep Power: 19	That's okay, take your time to reply. Just purchased the 915P7MH-S Foxconn board and the Pentium 4 531 this morning. Hope I can put it all together without difficulties. And the only thing I'm worried is the boxed processor said something like the 04A platform compatibility guide... very confusing... hope the combo will work perfectly... __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Gigabyte 945GCMX-S2, Sapphire ATi Radeon HD4850 512MB DDR3 Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Asus P5B-E Plus, nVidia Geforce 7950GT 512MB DDR3

16th Sep 2006, 07:10 PM	#18 (permalink)
The_YongGrand Hyperactive Join Date: 12 Feb 2005 Location: Somewhere in 甲洞... Posts: 2,880 Reputation: 1187 Rep Power: 19	This morning, just installed the board and the processor. I managed to put the processor's heatsink successfully, but the plastic tabs are too freaky. I popped three tabs, and the last one is quite difficult to be popped into, but I did finally secure the heatsink after I heard some 'clomp' and then a micro pop from the last tab. I looked at the tab's spring and it went all down just like the others. Whew. I hope the heatsink is already secured, as I'm quite new to this Intel world. Turned on the comp, and it's working good. Maybe I'll stress test it later, as I'm quite sleepy nowadays. Performance? Very good, a major improvement. The 915 chipset is quite old-fashioned already, but everything works very well and smooth. Anyway, thanks for your advice. I appreciate it very much. __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Gigabyte 945GCMX-S2, Sapphire ATi Radeon HD4850 512MB DDR3 Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM, Asus P5B-E Plus, nVidia Geforce 7950GT 512MB DDR3

13th Sep 2006, 05:30 PM	#12 (permalink)
TheApprentice Newbie Join Date: 11 Sep 2006 Location: UK Posts: 16 Reputation: 3 Rep Power: 0	Hi Apologies, I got back late last night (or should I say early this morning ). I just logged in now... Yeah, it's strange that I can't get full performance from my 7300. Maybe I'm assuming the wrong thing and the onboard graphics has gone to sleep, maybe the 7300 is faulty? I am in touch with Foxconn at the moment about another issue (secondary IDE channel problems) so I will get back to them on that one. I followed the motherboard manual instructions for putting the 630 in, no probs. I seem to be running both hyperthreads at a full 3GHz quite smoothly. I will install 3d-mark and let you know the results, that should uncover a few things I hope. Yeah the 630 was expensive... I paid about 116 pounds for it back in June, couldn't resist it I agree that the Radeon Express does have some good reviews, although they do seem to be leaning towards the Athlon 64 very heavily. They apparently have modified the X300 core for their integrated graphics architecture. I found a great little review of the X200 series chipset here: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2269&p=2 I will post back when I hear from Foxconn to let you know what they say. l8r

14th Sep 2006, 08:18 AM	#14 (permalink)
TheApprentice Newbie Join Date: 11 Sep 2006 Location: UK Posts: 16 Reputation: 3 Rep Power: 0	Hi Another l8 night so this will be a brief post, more tomorrow when I am fully awake (I HATE shift-work...) Yeah seems like Foxconn have dropped the 915 chipset, although I only had a quick scan I couldn't find one anywhere . They are not bad boards for the price (despite my own problems with this one I've got), although their tech support could be a tad better, more on that later... Intel actually make complete motherboards as well as chipsets but I haven't actually played with one so I don't know how good they are (yet I don't know of anyone who has a 531, but I can sure ask around for you, no probs. Maybe try Toms Hardware Guide (www.tomshardware.com) to see if they have reviewed any. I will have to chesk back with you on the Radeon chipset stuff tomorrow (today?). Not having owned one I will have to do a bit of digginf for you (my last board was nForce Socket A) catchyall l8r [/end-of-shift] [bed...]

15th Sep 2006, 07:44 PM	#16 (permalink)
TheApprentice Newbie Join Date: 11 Sep 2006 Location: UK Posts: 16 Reputation: 3 Rep Power: 0	Hi My apologies, serious problems geting online yesterday. Didn't get on until gone 1am this morning. Very sorry. Yeah, looks like the Foxconn will do the trick for you, I checked out the website and it actually looks quite tasty. It takes both DDR and DDR2 and has an 800 FSB. Only 1 IDE but that shouldn't be a problem. It inly has 5.1 channel sound as well (I actually prefer this) so you won't have the same problems I had with the Hi-Definition audio driver. AND... they have 64-bit drivers available (something else I had to dig for on my mobo) I still haven't found anything more on the Radeon stuff but I seem to remember reading somewhere that you can use most pci-x graphics cards with it (including nvidia). I would suggest a quick email to ATI themselves should sort that one out I will be off-line most of the weekend as I am swapping out some hardware on my server pc, I need to check and defrag the raid and upgrade the primary drive etc. Please feel free to leave messages here, I will get back to them when I go online next. Hope this helps for you, you must be looking forward to building this new system :=) l8r