Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H

[Lee476]

Hi,

About four months ago, I put together my first system, a low to mid end LGA775 rig with Vista Ultimate.
The build included a Pentium E2160 @ 1.8Ghz, 2gb single Channel DDR2 667 ram, Xpert Vision 8500GT super - 512MB, Arianet 520W PSU.

The motherboard used was a foxconn 946GZMA that enabled me to overclock the E2160 to 2.4ghz on air.I played around with the RAM timings and the system ended up dead for about three hours.
I got the system running again with default BIOS settings but found that under XP there were blue screens at every odd interval and it would only overclock to 2.0ghz under both OSs.

So, I'm looking for a new board (Q/c: #30339) to go along with another 2gb RAM (for the Dual Channel mode) and for a little more stability overclocking; I'm likely to be upgrading to a low end Core 2 Duo or even a Quad Q6600.

The aim of the rig (with a better card) is to break into some more stable gaming (need 2mb L2 cache?). Gears runs well with the 8500 on high textures/graphics, but I don't think the CPU clocks high enough to achieve an acceptable frame rate; with the GPU overclocked and the CPU at 2ghz, the lag isn’t as bad as it could be…

Would the Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H provide any greater stability for overclocking and gaming and is it likely to require a BIOS update to be used with a Duo?
Any comments on the quality of the board?

Thanks in advance,
Lee

[wonderlust]

As far as your game playing goes, I would suggest it's your graphics card that is holding you back.

If you are looking for a replacement motherboard, the board you have selected has integrated graphics, and is unlikely to be a good over clocker.

If you want to get the best from your current chip on a budget I would look for a mid range P35 board, from one of the larger players, Gigabyte, Asus or Msi etc.

a couple of suggestions:-

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/MSI+P35+NEO2-FR++Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=28015

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/MSI+P35+NEO2-FR++Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=28015

[Lee476]

Thanks for your reply.

I'm looking to put either an ATI HD 3850 or 8800GT Alpha Dog in as the 8500 seems to be really lacking, even in comparison to the 8600 which looks to be head and shoulders above it.

I'm looking to try and get about 2.4 - 2.6 ghz out of a mATX board, nothing major, do you think the following board, given its higher speeds, would achieve the desired clock comfortably?

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Asrock+4CORE1600TWINS-P35+P35%2FICH9+Socket+775+Motherboard?productId=30 794

Don't think I'm allowed to discuss products from a competitor, but would this motherboard paired with a basic Core 2 Duo (1mb L2, 2.2ghz) achieve a stable clock speed of about 2.6 ghz?

[wonderlust]

Most Core Duo's seem to get to around 3Ghz,

I am a fan of Asrock boards in the past, (i am running two currently) I can't say how good that board will overclock, but historically Asrock boards don't offer very good voltage options, BUT they are attempting to move away from the budget end so there may be more chance.

if you can stretch to it, i would recomend one of the boards i suggested earlier as they are proven overclockers, see my sig and the overclocking threads for an idea of what can be acheived, but remember ymmv

[Lee476]

Thanks again mate; I am actually thinking of transferring to a regular ATX tower so one of those boards should be perfect.

I'll have a browse around Aria a bit more for a P35 from MSI/Asus.

Thanks again,
Lee

[wonderlust]

i found a translated review of the Asrock board

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=it%7Cen&u=http://www.pctuner.net/articoli/Motherboards/946/Scheda_Madre_ASRock_4Core1600Twins-P35__high-end_value/1.html

[Lee476]

Think I'll drop into Aria tomorrow and get me that P35 board, thanks for the translated review.

Thanks for your time mate

[wonderlust]

no probs, let us all know how well it goes