Of Video Cards and Motherboards...

[N. Chapman]

IMO hardware is hardware. What you get really won't have a performance hit.

generally the cheaper boards won't give you a whole lot of options for, say OC'ing, BUT they will get you by. look in the $100 - $200 range for a decent mobo. unless you want to spend $400 on one then that's up to you.

With that processor you don't really have too many options because you have a lower FSB. your FSB is only 800mhz. most common these days are the 1333mhz. So look on newegg and filter it down to the 800MHz FSB range and that will give you the best selection. I've always heard that ASUS makes great boards. a little on the pricey side but they will last a while

[MOUSY]

A bit of options that I narrowed down for you (I'm sure if there is anyone more knowledgeable who disagrees, they'll step in and do so).

I just want to point out; Are you aware that to get the FULL potential of that card you cannot run it on simply a PCI-E slot? It will run but to unleash it all you would need a board that supports PCI-E 2.0 technology. Hence the next question is are you going for a build that will just get you there or are you looking at future upgrades later on? If so you'll need a more recent chipset.

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - This is the one I went for.

Here are 74 other boards that support PCI-E 2.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rder=PRICE

[MOUSY]

After seeing ndude's post about your FSB i see that there are no boards that support PCI-E 2.0 with an 800MHz FSB.
To me it looks like you will be bottle-necking you card a bit with a system like that. But then again, a slower card like the 8800GT which is very cost effective is also going to be eventually limited by a PCI-E 1.0 board, though not that much.

[Ferrari308guy]

Ok, I'll start looking. Just 2 questions: Am I required to get an 800 Mhz mobo? Will a 1333Mhz just not be compatible with my system?

Also, about the case, Will any motherboard fit in my current case? Are they all standard (I'm seeing most of them are all 9.6x12 inches). Or am I still going to need a new case?

Thanks guys

[homebrewer]

Sell the card on amazon or ebay and start over. You'll lose a bit, but you won't lose your shorts as you will if you keep the card and strike off in the direction of spending more money to correct your first unknowing mistake...

[Ferrari308guy]

Well, a little late for that I'm afraid. Frankly, I want to upgrade my system...it's not about the money....

I got my new power system, it fit fine in the case. Basically, I found out that my case won't even hold a 9"x12" mobo, so that pretty much means a new case.

This is the one I am looking at

[N. Chapman]

I don't know about that case cause the case that i have now has lights and a door to get to the power button and after opening and closing the door so many times the cables going to the lights on the front have broken, sort of. if you hold the door just right they come on but if you just leave it they won't turn on.

IMO you can find a better one than that. do you really need the gauges on the front of the computer? here is one that may be more practical not as big and has a 585 watt power supply should have enough room for your cables and drives. plus the rear fan can be changed to a 120mm fan rather than the 80mm that come with it

[Ferrari308guy]

Thanks for the suggestion. I would like to go with that case, I just want to be sure it can hold your standard 9"x12" mobo, and that my video card can fit in it. The specifications say that it can fit an ATX motherboard, and I believe that is the standard size. I don't know if I mentioned earlier (sure I did) but the video card is huge, some people recommended the full tower, which is why was looking at that. I just want to be sure the card will actually fit in there. Any suggestions/advice on this? This case looks real nice, will probably buy it.

[AMDDDA]

I can fit the 9800 GTX+, which is the same size as the 260, in a mini tower with only a bit of a space issue, it goes into my empty hard drive bay, but that's on it's side anyways, so I'm sure a mid-tower can handle it.

Mine is ATX.

[Ferrari308guy]

Ok, I have some funky filter in my computer that gets in the way with my current case if I try to install the card. But this one has 7 expansion drives, my current one only has 4, so It should work out.

Is it hard moving all your stuff to a new case? Looks like most of the stuff just slides in and a few screws do the rest...don't know if there should be anything in particular to look out for.

[AMDDDA]

Just stick in the motherboard first, then the PSU, then the components, then the HDD's, then the CD drives, I would believe.


Make sure you get the screws in the right place on the mobo!

[Ferrari308guy]

Ok, I'll go get this case then.

[Ferrari308guy]

Ok, well, the new case came.

Everything fit perfectly, except the motherboard  :P. The motherboard I got from Dell isn't ATX style, it's probably something they make themselves. So the motherboard is oriented wrong in the case, the video card slot ends up being on the inside of the case instead of the outside.

So....now for a new motherboard  ;D . I'm not mad or anything, I sort of figured I would end up replacing most of the stuff in my computer just to get this video card to fit...I needed an upgrade anyway.

I don't really know how much I should pay for a new motherboard. There's one for like $220 that supports 3-way SLI. But I've heard that FSX doesn't support SLI or something...should I go that expensive. Or should I go with like a Micro ATX motherboard with only one PCI-E slot? Or more?

If anybody has a suggestions I would appriciate it.
Ferrari

[AMDDDA]

I've heard good things about the EVGA 680i SLI, which supports 2 way SLI + socket 775 LGA + DDR2-800 at least, at around 100$ maybe?

I've also heard it's a great overclocker.

Might want to see it.

Also, get an ATX PSU, as MicroATX is annoying as hell.

[Ferrari308guy]

I think this is what you're talking about. I couldn't find one by EVGA, but I think EVGA and Nvidia are the same thing.

I don't have an issue with it, I'll check around some more, but that looks promising. Thanks.