Looking to do a motherboard swap as easy as possible !

[Clive1056]

Hi, I'm new to the forum, so please forgive any mistakes that I make here, or my ignorance of such things technical !

My son has a fine, working PC of about 2 years old. He wanted to get an upgrade to his graphics card (presently a 7600) for Christmas. I looked into it and it seemed that a 8800GT from DABs would be good value for money at £150 ish. The requirements all seemed to be fulfilled.... PCIe etc. On Boxing day, I tried to install the card... the result was no video output and a voice message saying "system failed vga set" or something very similar. We put the card in another son's PC and all worked well. Tried a higher power PSU in first PC but it made no difference. Research on the net suggests that the 8800GT cards have a problem with some ASUS m/boards, including the A8V-E Deluxe that my son has!
It seems that I have several choices....
1) To try and get DABs to take the card back and exchange it for one that is compatible with his motherboard. This might be difficult because of the problem of returning such hardware when, strictly speaking, there is nothing wrong with it, and ..... which card would be compatible with his motherboard ?
2) To change the motherboard to one that will be PCIe 2.0 compliant so that the 8800GT will work with it.

So, my questions are .......
1) The present m/board is PCIe 1.0 apparently. Are there any decent graphics cards out there that would suit this motherboard? (Have heard that an 8800 GTS might do, and it's about the same cost from DABs).
2) If I have to change m/board, can anyone suggest one that would be the easiest swap possible with my A8V-E Deluxe.?

The PC specs are :- AMD 64 3000+ (1800Mhz)
1Gb RAM
Present GFX card GeForce 7600GT
Pioneer DVD ROM
ASUS A8V-E Deluxe M/Board
Bios 5.73.22.51.OP

New GFX card is to be a DABsValue (Inno3D) 8800GT

I'd appreciate any thoughts, advice, or even jokes offered !

Clive

 

[JohnD]

Start by trying to return it.

If not... you may get some better ideas...

On (2) when I upgrade my PCs, I buy a Barebones Bundle which comprises motherboard, CPU and memory (all matched, assembled and tested together). Sometime I buy it with a new case which includes a new PSU and is all assembed for not much extra. Then I just swap the disks onto the new one and away i go.

This suits me because by the time I am ready for an upgrade my PC is quite old so it is time I had a new m/b and CPU which is always much better than the old one and I like to have quite a few disks

It usually costs me about £150. See http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/dirresults.html?s=barebones
It suits me because this supplier is close to my home so I have no need for delivery.

But perhaps someone will know a readily available m/b that you can bung straight into the old machine.

 

[Clive1056]

Hi John,

Appreciate your thoughts on this, but I don't really want to go the whole hog upgrade route. His PC is only 2 years old. Everything on it is fine, it's just that he wanted a more up to date graphics card so he could play the newest games. The only other upgrade that I was looking to do would be a larger hard drive, but this can wait for a while.
I'm hoping that someone out there will know of a socket 939 m/board that is PCIe 2.0 and that I can plug his other bits onto. The same dimensions would be soooooooooo helpful too.

Thanks anyway.

Clive

 

[MarkBarl]

Not a technical reply, but a fact about purchasing on-line. On-line sales are covered by the distance selling regulations. Information can be obtained from the office of fair trading. This means that you have additional rights to your statutory rights. You have the same rights to return items that you would if ordering from catalogue. Dabs returns policy can be found here

 

[Deluks]

Course you can return it, they'll understand. S939 is now out of date so if you upgrade it be sure to get an AM2 board (will mean new cpu but you'll get a dual core for about £45)

I'd go with a change of vid card tbh.

 

[damage]

If you change your motherboard you will mst definatly have to reinstall your OS.

Try to exchange the card, explain it was an xmas gift that is not compatable with your motherboard.

 

[Clive1056]

Thanks for all the answers.

I'm not sure what to do now ! I've requested a return to Dabs, but I've been waiting since 29th Dec for any reply other that the auto generated reply !
If I replace the m/board and processor I'm guessing I'll have to replace the RAM, OS etc, etc ! A bit of a nightmare for me!
If I eventually get some response from Dabs and they agree to take the card back, then what card upgrade do I go for ?

My son is only 10 and his PC is only 2 years old. It doesn't seem right to have to throw the whole thing away for the sake of playing a couple of newer games! The trouble is that he is now expecting this problem to be sorted out by Dad, and I don't have bottomless pockets.... especially as if he gets a new PC, the other 4 kids will all expect one !!

I'm still open to advice, thoughts etc !

Thanks,
Clive

 

[Deluks]

What game/s is it?

The radeon 38** that have just come out are quite powerful, I don't much like the ATI drivers and software though. Nvidia cards are usually less of a PITA to install.

Ideas here.

 

[Clive1056]

Hi all,

Well, I've been trying to return the graphics card to Dabs without success. They say that as I'd had the card in my possession for more than 10 days, then I was too late !!! The fact that it was a Christmas present for my son doesn't make any difference. Quite how they expect you to buy stuff from them to give as Christmas presents, and then be in a position to return them within 10 days, I just don't know. To say they were curt with their replies would be an understatement. I've explained everything to them and even suggested that an exchange for a similar spec product would suffice, as long as my son's computer would work with it. They just won't budge. Every reply from them takes 7 days to come back to me. Terrific response !!!! At least I now know where not to buy from next time. It's a shame, they've been good in the past, but I guess a company is only as good as when something goes wrong. DAB's, unfortunately is therefore cr*p. I've copied their replies below for info.

...........................................................................................................

Thankyou for your e-mail,

We would suggest you contact the manufacturer for further information as they may be able to advise on how you can resolve this matter as we are not able to give any technical advice unfortunately.

The card cannot be returned as it is out of the returns period. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Regards
Dabs.Com
Customer Service Team

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...........................................................................................................
Dear Customer,

Please be advised that on this occasion we are unable to offer you a return on this item, as it is not 'faulty'.

It is not dabs.com company policy to accept returns for incompatible items, as compatibility is something we are unable to guarantee.

Regards


Customer Services
dabs.com Plc
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