Soyo K7VME Socket A microATX Motherboard

[nobodyfamou]

Hello everyone,

I just got this package deal from one of the bigger online computer stores.
It's got a Soyo K7VME Socket A microATX Motherboard in it.
I don't know if you need them to answer my questions or not, but here are some of the specs from the website:

Motherboard Specifications :


Form Factor :
microATX


Processor Interface:
Socket A


Processors Supported:
AMD Athlon XP up to 2600+
AMD Athlon XP up to 3000+


Front Side Bus:
266MHz FSB
333MHz FSB


BIOS:
Award BIOS
2Mb Flash Memory


Hardware Management/Support :
On-board Voltage Monitors
Temperature Monitoring

Chipset:
Northbridge
VIA KM400


Southbridge
VIA VT8235

Memory:

Number of Slots
2


Number of Pins
184-pin


Maximum Memory Supported
2GB


Memory Supported
DDR266 (PC2100)
DDR333 (PC2700)

Audio:


Audio Chipset:
AC '97 CODEC
VIA VT1612A

Video:
Video Chipset
UniChrome GFX

Video Memory
32MB Share Memory


I've got 2 questions.

ONE:
I've got a raedon 7500 128MB video card that I want to use in the new case.
How can I shut of the 32 MB of shared video memory

and....

TWO:
I plan on swappping out the memory and the HD to the new case.
Is that the recommended way of doing things? Will I 'confuse' my (broken)Windows XPpro opterating system?

Any GOOD wisdom that you could pass this way would be greatly appericiated.

Thanks in advance,

Nobodyfamous

 

[o1die]

Question 1: just disable onboard video in the bios. Question 2: There's a good chance of having to format and do a fresh install of windows xp. Some experts may try a ghost cd to save critical files. I did get a copy of Norton's version with one motherboard, and tried it, but never tried installing the completed cd's, so I don't know how well it works. It just seems easier to me to format and start over, especially with high speed dsl, which can download the windows security upgrades in minutes instead of hours.

 

[Peter]

Q1: You don't. The integrated video will automatically disappear when you plug an AGP card in.
Q2: Do a clean reinstall.

 

[tcsenter]

In BIOS Setup, under (I think) Integrated Peripherals, or one of those categories, you can change the shared VGA memory to Disable or N/A. The on-board VGA itself will be disabled when an AGP card is detected.