Would Like to Replace MOBO

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jay Peterman
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J

Jay Peterman

I would like to upgrade my MOBO which is an Asus P4S8X. I've never
undertook this before. I have replaced HDD,memory and installed dvd
burners before so I'm not afraid to "go under the hood".

Can someone point me to a site that explains how to do this?

What do I need to buy other that the board? I just bought a 512MB DDR
stick from Crucial and would like to use it on the new board.

Also any recommendations? I use my computer for downloading big files,
Photoshop operations and general browsing. No games or anything.

Obviously I'm a total newb in this area.

Thank you.
 
Jay Peterman said:
I would like to upgrade my MOBO which is an Asus P4S8X. I've never
undertook this before. I have replaced HDD,memory and installed dvd
burners before so I'm not afraid to "go under the hood".

Can someone point me to a site that explains how to do this?

What do I need to buy other that the board? I just bought a 512MB DDR
stick from Crucial and would like to use it on the new board.

Also any recommendations? I use my computer for downloading big files,
Photoshop operations and general browsing. No games or anything.

Obviously I'm a total newb in this area.

Thank you.
Click to expand...


I think that You should probably ask yourself "why" you want to upgrade.
The p4s8x should be good enough for what you do with it probably (depending
on just how big those files are you edit in photoshop). So instead of
saying "what do I need other than the motherboard" you should say what you
need improvemet on..

Most people only replace motherboards when theirs is crap, or when they'll
get a large tech leap. If your going to keep the same componets then moving
motherboards will probably not give you that large tech leap.
 
I think that You should probably ask yourself "why" you want to upgrade.
The p4s8x should be good enough for what you do with it probably (depending
on just how big those files are you edit in photoshop). So instead of
saying "what do I need other than the motherboard" you should say what you
need improvemet on..

Most people only replace motherboards when theirs is crap, or when they'll
get a large tech leap. If your going to keep the same componets then moving
motherboards will probably not give you that large tech leap.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. Maybe not an upgrade but a replacement. I've
been getting so many reboots with errors of different natures. From
time service connection errors to IMAPI CD ROM errors to just about
anything you could think of. The Asus utility showed that the chassis
fan and another fan (not on the power supply) was not working when
they are working. The heat sink is firmly seated along with other
connections. I've scanned for virii, spyware and trojans but, nothing.
I even reformatted and reinstalled XP Pro.

I installed the driver for the sound card, which was not "verifiable"
with XP. I uninstalled and disconnected an external USB hard drive, I
upgraded the video driver. My ethernet connection does not work for a
long period so I am using a USB connection for my cable modem. I was
going to upgrade the BIOS (which I've never messed with before) but I
never installed a floppy drive in this computer to save the new BIOS
to. I'm to the point that I want to throw this thing in the river but
financial restraints keeps me from that.

Other than that...

Thank you.
 
Jay said:
Thanks for the response. Maybe not an upgrade but a replacement. I've
been getting so many reboots with errors of different natures. From
time service connection errors to IMAPI CD ROM errors to just about
anything you could think of. The Asus utility showed that the chassis
fan and another fan (not on the power supply) was not working when
they are working. The heat sink is firmly seated along with other
connections. I've scanned for virii, spyware and trojans but, nothing.
I even reformatted and reinstalled XP Pro.
Click to expand...

What PSU is running this?

Ben
 
What PSU is running this?

Ben
Click to expand...


Also was just downloading large files using NewsLeecher. Downloaded
about 6 or so 48MB files and after the latest re-boot there was only
one saved file in the folder and all others were wiped from the
download queue.
 
Also was just downloading large files using NewsLeecher. Downloaded
about 6 or so 48MB files and after the latest re-boot there was only
one saved file in the folder and all others were wiped from the
download queue.
Click to expand...

Every time I've had crazy stuff like that happen it always ended up
being something ram related, ram timings were set too aggressive or a
stick of ram went bad.
Good luck,
Ed
 
Jay Peterman said:
Also was just downloading large files using NewsLeecher. Downloaded
about 6 or so 48MB files and after the latest re-boot there was only
one saved file in the folder and all others were wiped from the
download queue.
Click to expand...

The P4S8X has one outstanding issue. That is, the Vcore circuit
is poorly designed. You can read all about the P4S8X saga on
the forums of abxzone.com . There were a number of people who
swore off Asus, after failing to get satisfaction.

http://abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34478&highlight=p4s8x
http://abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24420&highlight=p4s8x

Asus did no fewer than five different versions of the board, in
an attempt to repair the Vcore problem, without giving everyone
a new motherboard. They even created the P4S8X-X, so they could
stop production of the original P4S8X. (And the craziest part is,
they continued to use the same Vcore circuit! They added via
stitching, to the copper planes, which suggests the Vcore circuit
may have had noise problems in its power/gnd planes.)

The symptoms of this problem, are seen with a high end
processor, like a 3.06GHz/FSB533/512KB Northbridge. That
draws too much power for the Vcore to handle. The slower a
processor you use, the more stable the board would work.

To reuse your components, perhaps a P4C800-E Deluxe could be
used. If you don't have matched pairs of DIMMs on your current
board, the P4C800-E will run in virtual single channel mode -
basically, it'll take whatever RAM you've got and work for you.
As long as you have a S478 processor and some DDR DIMMs, you
are in business. The P4C800-E has the 2x2 square +12V power
connector on it, so that connector should be on your power
supply. I've had no complaints with my P4C800-E and a
2.8GHz/FSB800/512KB processor. It will take faster processors
than that, as you can find on the cpusupport web page.

Intel memory guide - useful for P4C800-E Deluxe:
ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/applnots/25273001.pdf

HTH,
Paul
 
Every time I've had crazy stuff like that happen it always ended up
being something ram related, ram timings were set too aggressive or a
stick of ram went bad.
Good luck,
Ed
Click to expand...

I don't know anything about RAM timimings but I think I'm going to
reseat the RAM. It's a new stick from Crucial so I assume it's okay.

Thanks.
 
The P4S8X has one outstanding issue. That is, the Vcore circuit
is poorly designed. You can read all about the P4S8X saga on
the forums of abxzone.com . There were a number of people who
swore off Asus, after failing to get satisfaction.

http://abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34478&highlight=p4s8x
http://abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24420&highlight=p4s8x

Asus did no fewer than five different versions of the board, in
an attempt to repair the Vcore problem, without giving everyone
a new motherboard. They even created the P4S8X-X, so they could
stop production of the original P4S8X. (And the craziest part is,
they continued to use the same Vcore circuit! They added via
stitching, to the copper planes, which suggests the Vcore circuit
may have had noise problems in its power/gnd planes.)

The symptoms of this problem, are seen with a high end
processor, like a 3.06GHz/FSB533/512KB Northbridge. That
draws too much power for the Vcore to handle. The slower a
processor you use, the more stable the board would work.

To reuse your components, perhaps a P4C800-E Deluxe could be
used. If you don't have matched pairs of DIMMs on your current
board, the P4C800-E will run in virtual single channel mode -
basically, it'll take whatever RAM you've got and work for you.
As long as you have a S478 processor and some DDR DIMMs, you
are in business. The P4C800-E has the 2x2 square +12V power
connector on it, so that connector should be on your power
supply. I've had no complaints with my P4C800-E and a
2.8GHz/FSB800/512KB processor. It will take faster processors
than that, as you can find on the cpusupport web page.

Intel memory guide - useful for P4C800-E Deluxe:
ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/applnots/25273001.pdf

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...


Thanks for that info Paul. You responded to a similar question I had
on 10/10/04. I still have the posts in my newsreader. You advised to
reseat connectors and said it hold for at least a few months. Well
it's a few months later. After re-reading it I'm going to do the same
thing you advised and see what happens. I thought I had RAM problems
and changed slots and I may have done something at that time. I bought
a new mod and plugged it in and still had what I thought was RAM
problems so I removed the old mod. I think all that moving around and
stuff may have upset something. Thanks again.
 
Thanks for that info Paul. You responded to a similar question I had
on 10/10/04. I still have the posts in my newsreader. You advised to
reseat connectors and said it hold for at least a few months. Well
it's a few months later. After re-reading it I'm going to do the same
thing you advised and see what happens. I thought I had RAM problems
and changed slots and I may have done something at that time. I bought
a new mod and plugged it in and still had what I thought was RAM
problems so I removed the old mod. I think all that moving around and
stuff may have upset something. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Well I just reseated the small connector above the on board fan and
changed memory slots. I installed Asus Probe and the beeping stopped
and the VCore shows 1.5xx so maybe it'll work for a few more months.

I visited the forum and read some interesting stuff. Thanks Paul.
 
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