Phenom + AGP = BOOM.... moving to PCIe

[Thefumigator]

First of all hello anyone...! I'm new around here, so its my official first post...

I finally upgraded my good old 4400 for a Phenom 9550.
My mobo is an AGP based Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA sporting the beloved Nforce3 250...
Overclocked my Phenom from 2.2Ghz to 2.7Ghz on that mobo by raising the bus to (almost) 250Mhz.

The problem is that as Nvidia won't release the relevant GART NF3 driver necesary to fix this when pairing Phenom, so my ATI 1950GT AGP is working in PCI mode, after a big bad BSOD... I had to set it to AGP 0x instead of 8x :cry: or the other option is to install PCI to PCI bridge instead of the AGP to PCI bridge (which turns the AGP to 0X anyway)

I knew there would be problems with my AGP, but I didn't know it was this... I thought the asrock compatible driver-list was for real and made your AGP-VGA fully functional. but that list of catalyst/forceware drivers are just the ones that despite the fault in the GART, will make the VGA work in PCI without crashing/BSOD. The AGP 0x remains.

So, my 3dmark06 went down, from 4200 to 2500 points after phenom upgrade... Its still better than onboard graphics but I may miss my card when gaming :(

Just sharing my experience... But anyone willing to help me decide is welcome. Actually, I need to decide which PCIe motherboard and a PCIe VGA similar or better to my actual 1950GT... (2900GT anyone? I could get that brand new for 100$ (67€), I think its supercheap?)

I think the Asrock AliveDual-eSata2 could be a good one, as it has AGP and PCIe, I could use my actual 1950GT til I get the money for the VGA...

thanks in advance

[intel igent]

can Nforce3 even handle/support phenom?

[Mussels]

can Nforce3 even handle/support phenom?

i'm surprised at that myself.

If you want a cheap PCI-E card, look at a 9600GT or an ATI 3850. Both are cheap and powerful.

As for motherboard there are many options, i'm not a phenom fan so i dont have any specific knowledge on good boards to get there.

[Thefumigator]

yep :) it works as a charm. I'm out of luck, I bought it thinking I wouldn't have to buy another mobo... now I would have bougth a Q6600 instead then... Anyway I'm quite happy with Phenom, it blew my 4400 out of the water in audio/video editing/encoding (my job actually)

AM2NF3 specs: http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=AM2NF3-VSTA&s=n

[Mussels]

yep :) it works as a charm. I'm out of luck, I bought it thinking I wouldn't have to buy another mobo... now I would have bougth a Q6600 instead then... Anyway I'm quite happy with Phenom, it blew my 4400 out of the water in audio/video editing/encoding (my job actually)

AM2NF3 specs: http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=AM2NF3-VSTA&s=n

phenom or Q6600, both would be great for encoding tasks.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=K10N750SLI-WiFi&s=AM2%2b

heres a decent looking, phenom supported asrock board, if thast what you want.

Just keep in mind that asrock boards are not great OC'ers... if you want an overclocking board it may be best to look at other brands.

[intel igent]

so what make/model GFX card were you running in there?

[Mussels]

so what make/model GFX card were you running in there?

he said an AGP 1950GT

[Thefumigator]

The Asrock Mussel posted looks great yes...

I'm quite out of the video-performance game but... would SLI be worth it? I could get a cheap Nvidia SLI ready card for getting out of the trouble... and then for christmas add another one to get an extra video performance, if its worth it of course.

Overclocking is not of my interest but Nforce is my fav chipset, being SLI or not.

Sorry for my long original post

[intel igent]

he said an AGP 1950GT

thats why it doesn't work http://www.asrock.com/mb/note/AM2NF3-VSTA.html#Phenom

[Thefumigator]

thats why it doesn't work http://www.asrock.com/mb/note/AM2NF3-VSTA.html#Phenom

Yes I knew that
but even those cards in the list don't work with AGP enabled. They just work in PCI mode

[Mussels]

thats why it doesn't work http://www.asrock.com/mb/note/AM2NF3-VSTA.html#Phenom

Umm... yes. he said that already, and asked for an upgrade mobo/video card to replace the system with.

edit: he beat me to it.

I'll ask fumigator: can you please list the rest of your specs. being Nforce 3, you'll have DDR1 ram wont you? let us know what hardware you already have, so we can design a system upgrade around that.

[intel igent]

so why would you mate the two together knowing that they were incompatible then post complaints about it?

[Mussels]

so why would you mate the two together knowing that they were incompatible then post complaints about it?

because it worked BEFORE he got the phenom.

Did you read the first post at all? The card worked, he got the phenom assuming it would work and it didnt. he's asking for suggestions on a new mobo/video card, not complaining

[intel igent]

well maybe if he/you read the compatibillity list for the MOBO he/you would of seen that a 1950gt is NOT supported.

assumption is a motherf*cker

good day gentlemen

:toast:

[Mussels]

well maybe if he/you read the compatibillity list for the MOBO he/you would of seen that a 1950gt is NOT supported.

assumption is a motherf*cker

good day gentlemen

:toast:

well since he said it in the first post... its not really news.

[Thefumigator]

@inteligent
I bought the phenom without knowing that the problem was going to hit Windows Xp. In the Asrock site they claim "on Windows XP there's no such limitation", so I gave it a go. I'm not complaining about my card alone, but asrock puts several cards in a list that seems to be the compatible ones, and none of those list actually works. They work in PCI mode! (that's what I realized later after the upgrade)

I have 4GB of DDR2, got 4 PCI cards but one is a gigabit ethernet, so I need at least 3PCI for both my professional sound card and the SB, and a video in card.

The ASrock with Nfroce 750 seems a good one.

[Mussels]

@inteligent
I bought the phenom without knowing that the problem was going to hit Windows Xp. In the Asrock site they claim "on Windows XP there's no such limitation", so I gave it a go. I'm not complaining about my card alone, but asrock puts several cards in a list that seems to be the compatible ones, and none of those list actually works. They work in PCI mode! (that's what I realized later after the upgrade)

I have 4GB of DDR2, got 4 PCI cards but one is a gigabit ethernet, so I need at least 3PCI for both my professional sound card and the SB, and a video in card.

The ASrock with Nfroce 750 seems a good one.

reading what you want there, yes the asrock i listed fits those needs. Gives you room for a large video card too, if you dont use the second slot.