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Upgrading to PCIe - AMD Athlon 64 Motherboard

L

letired

Member
I currently have an Athlon 64 3500+ (I'm unsure as to the core, I bought it last fall along with an MSI NEO2 and 1GB of OCZ (I can't find the email with all the stats about the purchase)).

I'm really leaning towards this MSI K8N NEO4 Platinum because I have had such a good experience with MSI in the past. Though I would like to use the onboard sound, and the chip is apparently much faster in the DFI.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813130484

I have a cheap 500w Aspire powersupply, with a 20-pin connector, not a 24 and I've heard stories of the DFI being finnicky with non 24 pin connectors, and the MSI I've heard will work.

I would get the EPoX or consider it as well, but I don't know about the compatibility for 20-Pin power connectors, and I really dont feel like buying a new PSU right now. If I have to though...well, give me some recommendations?

I should also add that I have built systems in the past, but really hate (as much as anyone) running into trouble. I don't overclock, but am thinking about investigating it. I run two PATA HDD's and two Disk drives, so I can't have my XFX 7800GT block any of those spaces.

Thanks for any and all help.
 
Totally forgot about CPU-Z - just used it and my Processor core is a NewCastle. The OCZ ram is PC3200 with the part number OCZ4001024PDC-K (Or OCZ Premier Dual Channel.) Any of you guys have similiar parts with good experiences on any of these 3 mobo's?

I went ahead and purchased an XFX GeForce 7800GT (The overclocked one, wewt) and the MSI board, because I read through the thread and people seemed to confirm that it would run with a 20-pin motherboard connector. If for any reason I have problems with the board I will probably ship it back to newegg and get a DFI and new PSU.
 
Here are my specs with a DFI board:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor (Venice) @ 2.7 GHz, stock air; 1.55V
DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR
XFX GeForce 6600 GT PCI Express 128MB
Enermax EG565P-VE FMA 535W Power Supply
OCZ 2x512MB; Model #: OCZ400512WV3; 2.9V

It works fine with the OCZ memory, and this should give you some idea about a good power supply.
 
Without buying a new PSU, go with the Epox or an Asus motherboard, they still play really well with 20 pin PSUs, though it's still not recommended officially. The DFI will not like an inadequate PSU. I've heard real horror stories about the MSI, but it may have been fixed with BIOS updates, haven't followed through. After my DFI nightmare, I did a lot of research which led me to the Epox board and it has been a solid runner for about 5 months now. The DFI gave a lot of folks headaches, but those that haven't had problems really like it, but you will most definately need a new PSU to run it.
 
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