Your opinion about this system

[Gianni]

Since I probably failed to repair this MOBO I was looking for a new one to reuse the P4 and DDR PC3200... but I find nothing in my favourite shop.

I'm considering to buy this components to build up a new system:

Intel Pentium Dual Core E5700 3.0GHz
2 banks KVR1333D3N9/1G
Asus P5G41T-M LE S775 G41

The total is 136€ (about 182$).

Do you think it is a reasonable price? I'm going to reuse the HD/PSU/CASE and I will install XP, my children use this PC for browsing and for homework.

TIA
Gianni

P.S.: the case is new... I bought it a moth ago for 44€ (59$)

[Pentium4]

Re: Your opinion about this system

That is a pretty decent price. If it's only going to be used for internet browsing and homework, it will last at least 5 years

[Uranium-235]

Re: Your opinion about this system

you could search ebay for a c2d ddr motherboard, but going with a ddr3 board would help with expansion (you could later get some 2gb or 4gb sticks-the board does support 8gb max)

the board has smaller crap caps, but the medium size caps seem to be pannys on the pics on google images that i've seen

edit: cancel that----I saw some newer versions on newegg that uses KGZ's, I would replace them if I were you

[Gianni]

Re: Your opinion about this system

Thanks Pentium4

@ Uranium-235: You are right they are Cemi-con KZG, I have installed one last week. I don't know whcih brand are the samll caps around CPU, but the lytics are KZG.
If I buy it I won't replace them to not lose the warranty, I will wait at least 2 or 3 years... if they don't give problem. My Asus Kv8-x is full of OST and the PC is working without problem since 2004, yes it is a miracle but I won't touch it till it run well.

Ciao
Gianni

[c_hegge]

Re: Your opinion about this system

Or better, just use a gigabyte board. That way, you won't have any bad caps to replace. Gigabyte has only used either Sanyo or Nichicon on all their newer gear.

[Gianni]

Re: Your opinion about this system

Hi c_hegge considering your advice I searched for GIGABYTE MOBO without critical lytics and I collect this data:

Gigabyte GA-P41T-D3P Socket 775 - 63.8€
2 X KVR1333D3N9/1G 17.2€
Intel Pentium Dual Core E5700 3.0GHz 57.45€
Asus EN210 SILENT/DI/512MD3 VGA/DVI/HDMI 32.5€

Total ~ 171€ (around 228$)

This board has 1 IDE which I need to reuse the HD and DVD Drive, has 3 PCI for further add on board, 3 x PCI Express slots x1.

I don't have experience with video card so I have chosen the cheapest without FAN.
I have to add 9.9€ for shipment.

Any advice on this system?

TIA
Gianni

[Uranium-235]

Re: Your opinion about this system

your hd and dvd are both ide? keep in mind the speed of HD transfer will be severely decreased if they're on the same cable

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Your opinion about this system

Don't forget the new controllers are a lil smarter tho if you enable AHCI mode on them. It won't be *that* slow, he won't use the DVD all the time. It looks good for a cheap build. I woulda gone with a chipset with slightly more bells and whistles but that's just me.

[mariushm]

Re: Your opinion about this system

AHCI only works on SATA - the ide controller remains the same old stuff.

If you keep both the hard drive and the dvd drive on the same cable, they will downgrade and run at the same speed, which will probably be ATA66.

So that just means you'll be limited at around maximum 60 MB/s reading from disk, otherwise you won't notice much difference. The IDE hard drive is probably not even that fast.

You can still find new motherboards even for Socket 478 on Amazon... I'm using Amazon.co.uk but there's also Amazon.it - I think both will ship to you in Italy.

You can see all motherboards sold by Amazon.it here:

http://www.amazon.it/s/ref=sr_nr_n_1...U7H&sort=price

But Amazon is not very friendly at refining results, you really have to browse and check each one and determine the socket type, then search the model of the mainboard on the manufacturer's site, then see if the old processor is supported by that model.

On Amazon.co.uk I could see right away a motherboard that may work for you:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asrock-Skt-4...602747&sr=1-14

It's socket 478, uses regular ddr, has agp 8x, has one IDE connector and 2 sata... just check if the processor is supported and if so, go for it.

This one is Socket 478 but uses DDR2 and has built in graphics, so you can save some money by not buying video card but you may have to buy ddr2 memory:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-P4I94...2602747&sr=1-1

and i think this model is on Amazon.it here: http://www.amazon.it/Asrock-P4I945GC...602852&sr=1-34

[Gianni]

Re: Your opinion about this system

@ Uranium-235 and Th3_uN1Qu3: I think this system even with HD and DVD on the same cable should not be more slow than the Gigabyte with P4, am I wrong?

@ mariushm: thanks to suggest me Amazon.it, there are a lot of MOBO... now I'm confused
This one Asrock P4I945GC looks perfect to replace the Gigabyte, I need only new RAM for it. Maybe Amazon has also the right RAM.
The only thing I'm afraid of Asrock are the lytics, AFAIK they use some OST but... also in my Asus K8V-X there are OST and the board works perfectly since October 2004.

I have to find time to investigate some more on the "dead" Gigabyte to be sure I can't do nothing to repair it, PCBONEZ gave same suggestion but in those days I have not much time to play with it, probably I will work on it on Thursday or Friday.

Thanks all for you help, I really appreciate it.
Gianni

[c_hegge]

Re: Your opinion about this system

Even with the DVD drive and HDD sharing a cable, it would still be a better PC than a s478 P4. If you decide build the new system, then I'd go for it with the gigabyte board. It even has entirely Chemi-con polys.

The ASRock board looks to have a mix of Only Some Trash and Terrible Kapacitors

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Your opinion about this system

Gigabyte over ASRock any day.

[Scenic]

Re: Your opinion about this system

Depending on the CPU you're intending to use, i might have a S478 board for you somewhere.

I know i've got like five S478 boards kicking around. My constant lack of large DDR-RAM sticks makes these pretty useless to me. One of them (that i remember) is an EPoX with an intel i875 chipset that i've recapped ages ago.

As old P4 stuff is pretty much worthless nowadays, i guess rounded-up shipping should do
(I'd rather give it away almost for free if you have a use for it than see it go into the trash)

edit: went hunting on amazon.it
Gigabyte G41MT-D3V Motherboard - 52,78eur
Intel Celeron Dualcore E3500 (2.7GHz) - 47,02eur
Corsair 4GB DDR3-1333 Kit (2x 2GB) - 20,16eur
---
~ 120eur total

All items sold by amazon, not some third-party shop.

Don't mind the celeron. Those are basically Core 2 Duos with less L2 cache. They have nothing to do with the ultra-crippled pentium4 based ones anymore. Even the smallest core2-based celeron (Celeron S420 1.6GHz) beats a P4 2.8 with no effort. And they overclock like crazy if you need more power :P

The gigabyte board has all polymer caps. They loop like chemicons from what i can tell
http://admin.inter-es.pl/img/G41MT.jpg

[Gianni]

Re: Your opinion about this system

Hi Scenic

unfortunately I'm reading your post too late.

Tuesday night I ordered an Asrock P4I945GC and 2 stick of Kingston 1Gb 667Mhz Ddr2 Ecc for a total cost of 92€, the shipment it's free on Amazon.it.
I was undecided on what to do but I considered what my children do with the PC so I thought it is better for now to save some money and compared to the system with Gigabyte GA-P41T-D3P I have spent 80€ less.

The system you suggested at 120€ would have been OK, it is a pity I have already ordered MOBO.

Let's see how this board works... I have received RAM and tomorrow probably i will receive the Asrock.

Next time I will wait some more days to decide and it will be Gigabyte.

Thanks, I will be back with some pics when I have done.

Ciao
Gianni

[Scenic]

Re: Your opinion about this system

uhm.. ECC RAM? The i945 doesn't support ECC.. so that won't work i'm afraid

The only i9xx series chipset that supports ECC RAM is the i975X (*click*)

[mariushm]

Re: Your opinion about this system

He can simply return the memory and order another or buy something locally.

You're in Europe so you should know... we have the 10 day period where we can return everything for absolutely any reason if the product was bought without seeing it person. Also, Amazon is very customer friendly, they'll accept it back no questions asked.

Gianni, if that is indeed ECC ram and it won't work on the motherboard, simply check the invoice you receive along with the package and there should be some instructions regarding how to return items.
If I remember correctly, you just have to fill a form and get a number from the Amazon website and once you get that, you can send the memory back to an address they give you.

[Gianni]

Re: Your opinion about this system

@ Scenic: I read this one https://cdn.badcaps-static.com/pdfs/...397b902e10.pdf before ordering KVR667D2E5/1G.

Ok if they won't work I follow mariushm suggestion.

Ciao
Gianni

[Scenic]

Re: Your opinion about this system

That's odd.. How can they test and approve it with ECC RAM if the Chipset doesn't support it? Makes no sense

I normally ignore the Compatible/Verified RAM lists. As long as you're not near the maximum amount of RAM per slot (i945GC = 2GB per slot), you
usually don't have to worry about compatibility (if you go for brand name RAM that is.. noname stuff is a different story)

If they don't work:
Kingston 1GB DDR2-800
Corsair 1GB DDR2-667
Transcend 1GB DDR2-667

[Gianni]

Re: Your opinion about this system

Hi Scenic

I will never by another Arock unless I have a gun pointed at my head!!!

The ECC Ram I bought work without problems... but in the MOBO manual is written they are not supported!!! !@#$%^&* why they list them on the qualified RAM??? Boh... I don't know. Anyway I read the RAM list to be sure to buy something working... as I bought them on line I wanted to buy something approved.

The MOBO has different caps: OST Chemi-con and Samxon!!!
I hope it will not give problems...
My children are happy because it is more fast than Gigabyte MOBO.

I had a strange problem: I installed XP than the driver using the original CD and surprise... the Ethernet card was missing even if it was active in the BIOS setting.
I had to re-install XP than I downloaded the LAN driver from Asrock's site and I installed it first... than the other drivers. I don't understand why they didn't put the LAN driver on the MOBO CD, at lest it doesn't appear on the installation menu.

OK at the end the PC is working perfectly now, here some pics.

Ciao
Gianni

P.S.: I forgot to write about CPU socket: it was not in the centre so I had to use another heat sink instead of the one mounted on Gigabyte. I was lucky to have one spare otherwise it would be a problem. But why it is not in the centre like most MOBO I have seen till today? Another Asrock stupid thing????

[Scenic]

Re: Your opinion about this system

OSTs aren't necessarily bad on those boards.
My mom's ASRock 4Core Dual-VSTA (S775 ; AGP & PCIe, DDR & DDR2 ; Core 2 Duo support) which i mentioned in the "kill asus with fire" thread still has the original OST caps (VRM out and everywhere else), and it's been rock stable for over 2 years (with a mild CPU overclock from 1.6 to 2.13GHz (Celeron S420))

It'll definitely work for a couple years. And i'm almost willing to bet the KZG's will fail first lol

The off-center CPU socket is weird though. Almost looks like when they were designing the board, they wanted to put the retention module turned around by 90° from where it is now, but realized it won't fit or something