Considering an upgrade to my main PC

[Matblack]

I currently have a mobile chip running at 2Ghz in my main rig, I specifically got it because it was supposed to run cool and should be OK for a media box which my PC effectively is these days. The rig used the on board graphics from the AOpen i915GMm which uses the Intel 915GM graphics chip.

However I am finding that this hasn't got the umph to decode HD stuff and I'm getting stuttering which isn't much fun.

A replacement board will have to be a micro ATX and have on board graphics, the case I have is a pig to put a graphics card in and needs a riser which I don't have, its a nice case though and I would prefer to keep it as it fits in my HiFi unit.

The rest of the kit is two 250Gb HDs and to be honest thats about it, the wireless network is via USB and everything else is fine, memory will need to be upgraded too and I'm thinking 2 Gb would be best.

I'm thinking

Foxconn G9657MA-8EKRS2H iG965, 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX, VGA£69.68
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400, Socket 775, 2.13 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail£137.70
2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12£119.43

Mainly because the graphics chip is OK for Vista.

Anyone got any recomendations?

MB

[Garp]

No reccomendations but that looks pretty nifty for the price.

[Matblack]

Other option is the Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD ATI Micro ATX which has an ATI X700 graphic chip :/

MB

[Mark]

You won't benefit much (if at all) from the 1066MHz FSB on that E6400 if you're also getting 800MHz (PC6400) RAM. It's possible you could overclock, but I'm not sure about that. To match without overclocking you need PC8500. You'll also need to verify that that board supports 1066MHz (not all do).

Alternatively get the 800MHz E6600 part. Similar price, 4MB L2 cache (instead of 2MB), faster stock clock (2.33 vs 2.13).

[Matblack]

Originally Posted by Mark

You won't benefit much (if at all) from the 1066MHz FSB on that E6400 if you're also getting 800MHz (PC6400) RAM. It's possible you could overclock, but I'm not sure about that. To match without overclocking you need PC8500. You'll also need to verify that that board supports 1066MHz (not all do).

Alternatively get the 800MHz E6600 part. Similar price, 4MB L2 cache (instead of 2MB), faster stock clock (2.33 vs 2.13).

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=543120

I've no idea what all that means

Do you mean that with that board and chip I should go for cheaper RAM? I'm not going to overclock it and I don't want to spend too much money.

MB

[Matblack]

Is there any market for an old 2Ghz mobile chip and board do we think?

MB

[Mark]

Ah, OK. It runs non-1:1 timings. That's not such a big deal as it used to be so shouldn't be a problem. I'm still not entirely sure what benefit there is (if any) of running 1066MHz FSB with 800MHz RAM though. I'm no expert in that department. It might possibly mean slightly faster access to L2 cache, but I'm not sure about that.

PS - some software objects to onboard graphics, period. I'm not sure what the onboard graphics hardware is on those boards, but if the current graphics hardware is borderline then you ought to be OK. The GMA 950 runs things like Google Earth without any problem at all, though I don't know what kind of test that is.

[Haly]

This thread looks like a job for Mr Semi Pro Waster to me

[Admiral Huddy]

Looks ok to me MB.. The board supports 6400 speeds so a decent overclock should be achievable.

[Stan_Lite]

Looks good to me Matt. The onboard graphics on the Foxconn mATX boards are supposed to be good:

The Intel GMA X3000 Videocard

The Intel G965 Express chipset supports an onboard videocard, the Graphics Media Accelerator X3000. The graphics card on paper anyway is as impressive as any other integrated solution out there. The GMA X3000 supports graphics standards DirectX 9.0C (which includes Shader Model 3.0) as well as OpenGL 1.5. This means the videocard is Windows Vista compatible and will be able to run Microsoft's new Aeroglass feature.

The Intel GMA X3000 graphics core runs at 667 MHz and can use up to 384MB of system memory. With the Intel G965 Express chipset running DDR2-800 memory, the GMA X3000 does have potentially 12.8GB/s worth of bandwidth available. Of course this has to be shared with the other system devices too.

The Intel GMA X3000 supports HDMI output although it's up to the manufacturer to include this on the motherboard, Foxconn didn't with the G9657MA-8KS2H . If you want to turn a machine using the Intel GMA X3000 into a HTPC, the videocard also supports Intel's Clear Video acceleration which support deinterlacing and colour control.

The Intel GMA X3000 a maximum resolution of 2048x1536 at a refresh rate of 75 Hz. It supports analog, DVI, HDMI, Composite, S-Video and component output. As suggested the GMA X3000 works with both standard and High Definition displays (max 1080i) and support COPP/PMP with HDCP content protection.

It's important to note that the Intel GMA X3000 videocard is very driver dependant. The driver version that ships with the motherboard CD is 14.21, it does not fully support all of the GMA X3000's 3D features such as T&L support, independent rendering pipelines and shaders. The latest version on Intel's website, 14.25, fully supports all of the GMA X3000's graphical features and there are even rumors (unofficial of course) that future driver updates will add DirectX 10 support. Certainly interesting but remember it's onboard video so you can't let your expectations get too high with respect to 3D gaming... Next, a quick look around the motherboard itself.

Taken from this review.

If you notice the last paragraph in the quote, it is suggested that you download the latest graphics driver from the Foxconn website rather than use the drivers supplied on the CD (I always do this with any rig I build or upgrade anyway - it takes very little time to download the latest drivers (unless it's Asus, of course ) and it makes sense to have the latest software installed).

The RAM will be fine, I'm running both my C2Ds with 800MHz RAM and they are still blindingly fast.

I know you don't want to overclock Matt but the Foxconn board should give you good scope if you change your mind later. They have a reputation as being amongst the best mATX boards for overclocking.

Stan