PureBasic Forums - English

I may have to talk the wife into letting me get a new motherboard...

Glad to know the "wife is the boss" is a global issue.

is it really just as simple as unscrewing the old one and sticking in the new, and replacing all the cables (IDE, etc) ?

Generally it is not that simple. Here is why:

1. Chip socket configurations change frequently. Your existing CPU may not be compatible with the new motherboard, in which case you would need to buy a new CPU.

2. Memory configuration and type changes frequently. Your existing memory may not be compatible with the new motherboard, in which case you would need to buy new memory.

3. If the above are true, you will likely need a new power supply as the faster CPUs and Memory chips, (not to mention newer video cards) require a lot of power.

4. Often the screwholes on the new motherboard will not line up perfectly with the posts on your case. Some cases you can move the posts around, on others you would need to be a little more creative.

5. Also newer motherboards may not support AGP anymore. In which case you would need to buy a PCI Express video card

6. Many new motherboards only support serial ATA hard drive which is not backwards compatible with the old ATA/IDE interfaces and cables. If this were the case, you would need to buy a new serial ATA hard drive if you do not have one.

I am not sure what your needs are in a video card. If you are a 3D lover, then by all means you would need a fairly powerful card, especially with the overblown 3D games being released today. If you are mainly a 2D guy, I would look into getting a lower-end card than the one you tried.

Just make sure that your existing stuff like CPU/Memory/Hard Drive is fully compatible with the new motherboard, or be prepared to shell out more money to buy new memory, new processor, new drives.

Ah damn, it's all too much hassle to bother with. I'll see if I can just get a
refund on the friggin' card then (I got it on eBay, so the guy probably won't
let me though). I will NEVER buy hardware via eBay again!

As for my needs: it was for a bit of a gaming boost, that's all. I bought
some games last year which don't do well on my PC (RollerCoaster Tycoon
3, Zoo Tycoon 2 for the wife, etc) and they run at 10 fps which is totally
unplayable. I thought a vid card upgrade would help, but alas it wasn't as
simple as just swapping the old with the new.

PB, installing a motherboard is certainly not very difficult at all. Brice Manuel makes some good points though. Is this for the computer system in your signature? A Pentium III @ 667? If so, you'll definetly need more power than that to take advantage of modern graphics cards. You will be CPU-bound in many modern games.

> Is this for the computer system in your signature? A Pentium III @ 667?
> If so, you'll definetly need more power than that to take advantage of
> modern graphics cards.

Yes, the sig is my PC's stats.

I rang the seller last night, I ran an exe called "cpuz.exe" (I think) which
shows stats about your PC, I have an older 2x AGP motherboard, the new
card requires 4x AGP or higher, which is why it doesn't work. He laughed
at me, too -- the bastard. He isn't going to refund either.

I should have just said I never received it and demanded a refund -- I did
pay an extra $2 for postal insurance -- because the item was left at my
front door, so anyone could have taken it for all he knows. That's what I
get for being honest.

If anyone in Australia wants to buy a GeForce 6200V+ video card for $120,
let me know...

PB,
I know how you feel about buying hardware from ebay. I've been biten a few times myself.

My only suggestion would be to sell it yourself on Ebay with a reserve price close to what you bought it for.

Good Luck.

Okay, new question: From what I've been reading, an ATI card seems to be
better anyway. What would you guys recommend for my system (see specs
in sig), bearing in mind I have 1 x PCI slot free and a 2x AGP slot? Thanks.

an ATI card seems to be better anyway.

That is debatable.

What would you guys recommend for my system

My suggestion would be to get the best budget Nvidia PCI card you can. I have a GeForce FX 5200 128MB RAM Full DX9 & OGL 1.4 Support. I have it in a Celery 1GHZ processor (your processor has better performance) with 512MB System ram and have never had any issues. I have never had any issues. It is the best card you can get without going AGP (which you will have issues with due to your LOW AGP slot and PCI-E which your MOBO will not support). This card is around $80 USD which I guess works out to $8,000 AUD.

Brice Manuel wrote:

an ATI card seems to be better anyway.

That is debatable.

Nope

Nope

For his system "Yes". The "Radeon" had first came out when that system was "new" and cutting edge. The first Radeons were horrid, not up to par with ATI's quality. You might be able to get some of the newer Radeons (which are quite good) to run in a 2X AGP (based on his experience with the last AGP card, its doubtful), but they would be running at a much lower speed than they were intended and performance would very poor in comparison to the FX5200 which would be running at the speed it was intended. Sometimes you have to go with the right card for the right system.

All is well -- I put it up for $120 on eBay (I paid $112 for it) and someone
bought it (one bidder only, but that's okay)! The money came through today
so I'm off now to post it.