[Advice] New motherboard

TheDoc

Howdy,

Well after recently deciding to get of my lazy arse and get my OCZ SSD working, I spotted the post with the Crucial 128GB SSD for €100. So I've contemplated buying that to put in alongside my current SSD.

Now a new motherboard is something I've been thinking about for some time. For the following reasons.

• I have DDR3 ram, my Mobo supports DDR2, no idea how its working but it is.
• SSDs I have and getting are 6GB Sata, currently my Mobo only supports 3GB.
• My current motherboard has horrible placement/layout. My GPU covers all the SATA ports making it a struggle to plug them in, and puts strain on the cables.

So I'm looking into a new motherboard

My current system spec is the following

CPU :
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail

RAM :
Corsair XMS3 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)

GPU :
Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Motherboard :
Gigabyte GA-MA785GM

HDD :
500GB
1TB

SSD :
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G)
Bought with mobo Crucial M4 128GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")

PSU :
650watt ( I think )

Case :
Antec 300 Gaming Case



So to reiterate the requirements for the board

SATA 6GB enabled for my SSDs
DDR3 for my ram
Good layout so my GPU doesnt cover SATA ports
Can connect my SATA drives ( 5 at the moment)
Not outlandishly expensive.


Also on a subnote, I'm kinda basketing everything on hardwareversand.de, so I guess it would be handy to grab it from there

THanks in advance guys, any more info required let me know, its funny.

I did a search to see back if I'd already posted this, but I did find around this time, every year, I post here about upgrades...freaky..

deconduo

If you are using DDR3 RAM then I assume you have the GA-MA785GMT-UD2H as opposed to the GA-MA785GM-US2H which is DDR2. You physically can't put DDR2 into a DDR3 slot as they are different shapes.


Anyway, the ASRock 970 Extreme3 should suit you perfectly, ticks all the boxes.

smileyj1987

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=48268&agid=1232&apop=3

Heres a nice motherboard for you to have a look at but the AsRock board is good too . I think the gigabyte has a nicer layout .

TheDoc

Thanks both guys, pictures are small on the website so going to grab some google images.

The SATA layout is very important, I cant believe my GPU was so big on arrival and I dont want my ports covered

Even more so dont want issues with cables not stretching.

Thanks guys , nice pricing too

TheDoc

Went with the ASRock, it kept the price neatly at just €214

Name: ASRock 970 Extreme3, AM3+, ATX
Article number: HV1131RYDE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 68,33 €
Price: 68,33 €

Name: Crucial M4 128GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")
Article number: HV12C428DE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 112,34 €
Price: 112,34 €

Name: InLine® Schraubenset mit Schraubendreher, 201-teilig
Article number: HV209ISSDE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 8,57 €
Price: 8,57 €

Name: LogiLink SATA 0.3m Kabel mit Sicherungslasche
Article number: HV201LS8DE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 0,61 €
Price: 0,61 €

Subtotal: 189,85 €
Shipping costs by DHL-Normalversand + 18,99 €
Charge PayPal (3 % of basket value) + 5,70 €


Total: 214,54 €

TheDoc

Well mobo and SSd arrived today.

Just finished the hardware end. Little over two hours. Struggled with CPU heatsink. Also struggled with the cabling its such a tight case.

Went to boot up and nothing. So reopened now and checking connections. Might be the two CPU plugs. Now I've go take of a fan to get st them.

This is why i jusy pay the extra for pcs to come built. Such a waste of time and stressfull as ****.
The front panel plugs are little *****

2hr90 min in and not a peep of it booting up. Fml

Eboggles

TheDoc wrote: »

Well mobo and SSd arrived today.


2hr90 min in and not a peep of it booting up. Fml

= 3hr 30min

TheDoc

Still no joy.

This always happens when I book time off work to use the pc for gaming and end up upgrades go belly up and waste so much time.

Still not a peep.

Everything connected from what I can see
Everything in the right slots and plugs
Psu is good quality dont expect it has shorted

I guess its possible that the mobo was doa. If so hardwarsand getting a phone all and a serious complaint.

Probably only alternative is to try another psu. But wint get my hands on one ttomorrow.

Sitting without a pc. Typical.

****ing disaster

uncle_sam_ie

Are you getting any computer POST and beeps?

TheDoc

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

Are you getting any computer POST and beeps?

Not a thing

uncle_sam_ie

If you connected everything right then it's sounds like the PSU. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4
You did use motherboard spacers?

TheDoc

I used spacers but I notice at one end of the motherboard its fractionaly touching the case.

Case doesnt havee anymore room for spacers.

uncle_sam_ie

Can you post some photos of your build?

TheDoc

Loosened mobo screws and got some lights on gfx card.

Still wont post or boot

TheDoc

Posting from tablet. Awkward to load photos

uncle_sam_ie

See if any of this helps. http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261145-13-read-posting-boot-problems

TheDoc

Ok unplugged everythingbar cpu ram and mobo.

Fired up. Going to test one by one.

Graphics csrd first
Then SSDs
Then old HDD

kippy

Are there any fan noises from the PSU?
Is there a switch on the PSU for power on? Is it on?
Are both PSU cables attached to the Mobo?
Is the wall socket and plug verified as working?
Have you tried disconnecting everything from the board apart from the basics, PSU, RAM, PROC?

TheDoc

Graphics card looks the problem

Wont power with gpu in.

Weird no issues with it recently.

With the graphics card in the slot not plugged in nothing happens. Take graphics card out it boots.

kippy

TheDoc wrote: »

Graphics card looks the problem

Wont power with gpu in.

Weird no issues with it recently.

With the graphics card in the slot not plugged in nothing happens. Take graphics card out it boots.

Are you sure your PSU is powerful enough to power the new board *shouldnt use that much more power than your old one* and SSD drive (as well as everything else)?

Plug in your details here and see how close the estimated consumption is to the wattage on your PSU.
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

TheDoc

Ok now its just nothing at all.

Gfx is out tried plugging iin SSD and nothing. Removed them and now nothing.

TheDoc

That calc says 418 I've got 600.

Rage building again...cant be dealing with this shot on my days off.

uncle_sam_ie

Was this the PC you were going to be using for Diablo III?

TheDoc

Yewh. Was fine yesterday and then I decided to put new parts in and this happened.

New motherboard and SSD.

Im just trying to see what it fires up with. I wont believe my gpu is fried it was fine yesterday.

Its booting with nothing plugged it.
It boots with two hard drives minus the new one.

Its a power issue seomwhere. One of the connections is acting funny I think. But again. All was fine yesterday.

Going to mmess about a bit more...but this just further compounds my hatred of Ssds. Anytime I go to do anything with them I end up without a pc for two days.

TheDoc

Up and running

Turns out there was a little cable from the psu plugged into the board that was causing a choke. Its a fan controller and I never used it before obviously

So now onto upgrading old SSD and banging on windows. Then moving games onto ssd.

At the moment getting monitor in powersaving mode which ain't great but it'd progress.

uncle_sam_ie

That's good to hear. BTW, what make is the PSU?

TheDoc

And yet another block

Stuck at hdmi power saving mode

Lg flatron w2261vp.

Tried a few different cables and such and cant get anything on screen.

The PSU was OCZ I think or might have been overclockers.co.uk owncbrand

imitation

Do you have the PCIE Power connectors connected to the graphics card ? Is there onboard graphics, you may need to switch to the PCIE card if there is.

Tij da feen

Have you tried using a DVI or a VGA cable. On mine the splash screen doesn't even display on HDMI.

TheDoc

well went down for a smoke came back up and it had turned off. Wont boot up again, nothing, back to square one.

Opening it up again to check connections etc but Im pretty sure the graphics card was connecting properly and has both pins in.

Im using DVI, it doesnt have a VGA port.

Monotype

TheDoc wrote: »

The PSU was OCZ I think or might have been overclockers.co.uk owncbrand

OCZ's are variable but I think OC.uk ones are just boxes of ****e, if I recall correctly. Doubtful it delivers what it's specified as.