motherboards.

KeithTidd

Robot Penis.
Apr 26, 2008
1,195
0
36
Vallejo, CA
www.myspace.com
does anyone have any experience with MSI motherboards? I was talking to a a guy who builds computers and he was saying they have alot of problems with asus' bios; he says they have trouble getting them to recognize more than 4 gigs of ram. I was going to get a p5n-d, but he's saying i should get an msi p7n. The features are a bit better on the msi board, but they're not as "name" as asus.
 
The problem with 4gb of ram is that 32-bit operatives have a limited amount of "adresses" to assign to hardware.
This means that the more hardware you have in your computer(Drives, graphicscard, soundcards etc.) removes capability of having more ram, and everything ive read says that about 4,2gb of ram is the absolute maximum unless you run everything in 64-bit.
 
so MSI you say, ived used every brand of mobos in the last 20 yrs, it used to be that you pretty much get what you pay for in terms of quality per dollar but to let you in on a few trends right now in the hardware industry, its all crap, its becoming very difficult to get good quality hardware these days, every component made these days its turning into a commodity, cheaper components to turn better profits, its hard for small companies to make any money in hardware. its used to be great to have a small company turn out great high quality parts, but all those companies are gone. either bought out/merged or died.

so do brands mean anything now? hell no, you wonder why things are so cheap now, i guess its good for us consumers, we get immense amount of power for dirt cheap, but at the end of the day its just all crap.

you really had to dig deep to get any quality hardware now.

/rant
 
Id go for Asus.
Every single time I build a computer, Im always trying to get as many Asus components as possible, sence they are all built to eachoters specifications and Asus is in a league of its own when it comes to quality and support.
 
I've heard about some Asus boards having a dodgy BIOS, but you can flash your BIOS to other versions, you'll just have to do some research on how you should do that. And yes, as the other guy said, the 4GB RAM issue is a limitation of 32-bit operating systems and has nothing to do with the quality of the board (although there may be some older boards that can't handle 4GB).
 
Brand doesn't matter too much. There are a couple of ones to stay away from in general; biostar PCCHIPS, and Foxconn boards leave a lot to be desired. But as far as the major brands go, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte etc are fairly comparable. A lot of the new EVGA and BFG motherboards come with lifetime warranties, so you could consider those as options.

And yes, 32 bit operating systems can only support 4 gb TOTAL for memory. That includes the system memory, graphics memory, and memory that's on sound cards, or any additional PCI cards. When Microsoft released service pack 2 for windows XP, they took the limit down to 3gb for system memory so that consumers would not overload the OS and cause instabilities. If you want more memory, you have to go to a 64 bit version of windows, which IMO is a huge pain in the ass.

Hope that helps!
 
And yes, 32 bit operating systems can only support 4 gb TOTAL for memory. That includes the system memory, graphics memory, and memory that's on sound cards, or any additional PCI cards. When Microsoft released service pack 2 for windows XP, they took the limit down to 3gb for system memory so that consumers would not overload the OS and cause instabilities. If you want more memory, you have to go to a 64 bit version of windows, which IMO is a huge pain in the ass.

Hope that helps!

Please elaborate. I'm planning on getting xp 64.
 
Don't, unless you fucking HATE drivers.

You're just going to have to take the efficiency loss up the ass or deal with having half a computer that isn't supported. No fun... I wouldn't even wish that on Lars Ulrich.

Jeff
 
I'd wouldn't bother with either makes. I'd go Abit. ABIT IP35 Pro, to be exact. I just built a Q6600 based machine revolving around this motherboard, and it's dope.
 
I've used a few MSI boards throughout the years with no problems. As far as I can tell, pc component reliability should be "measured" on a per item basis rather than brand. Research research research!
 
Don't, unless you fucking HATE drivers.

You're just going to have to take the efficiency loss up the ass or deal with having half a computer that isn't supported. No fun... I wouldn't even wish that on Lars Ulrich.

Jeff

what would you suggest then? i really don't want to go vista, but if you think it's a better solution than xp 64, then maybe i should.

also if any of this helps here's the rough list of whats in the build:
quad intel q9300
4gigs ram
nvidia 8600gt
asus p5n-D
windows xp 64.
 
also i should mention that i'd be mainly using this computer for pro tools. alittle gaming as well.

edit:

I'm starting to think i should just say fuck it and stick with xp32, then wait until vista 64 is good enough to change over to. opinions?
 
what would you suggest then? i really don't want to go vista, but if you think it's a better solution than xp 64, then maybe i should.

also if any of this helps here's the rough list of whats in the build:
quad intel q9300
4gigs ram
nvidia 8600gt
asus p5n-D
windows xp 64.

Neither of them are good solutions to anything. I'd stick to XP 32-bit. If you like drivers and stability, that's really your only option in the Windows world.

Vista users will just be glorified beta testers for another year now.

Jeff
 
never update the BIOS via the ASUS update manager (software)

boot the PC and flash the bios IN the bios. I did it 3 times throught the software and fucked my bios. Did it with a USB pen drive through the BIOS and no problems.

later I found out on the asus forums that the ASUS update manager is know and the MOBOkiller for some reason.

take care

LG
 
XP 64-bit is a bitch to install drivers for. Also, you have 2 sets of program files, one for 32 bit progs and one for 64 bit ones. You have to make sure you install to the right one, and then sometimes you have issues with 32 bit programs even working at all.

A HUGE pain in the ass :Puke:

Seriously, I work on PCs everyday as my dayjob, but if you want a ton of ram, get a mac :lol:
 
I'm working on a Hackintosh/PC project at the moment. Just got (most of) the components today but I am waiting for some key ones next week before I power up. Asus motherboard if anyone cares, on the recommendation of JBroll (as were most things about this computer.) I'm holding on to my Power Mac G5, but looking at the Hackintosh as potential replacement if all goes well.

Apple needs to offer a more configurable tower at reasonable prices. If they refuse to , then my G5 is my last desktop Mac. The only Mac bargains are in the laptop space. Typing this on my black MacBook, which absolutely rules. If only Apple put this much focus/innovation into their desktop line. I can build better than a Mac Pro at 1/10 the price.

Nobody tell James Murphy I said any of this. ;)