campfire_2

Very cool ! ... your another group member that I enjoy reading posts from ... thanks for the input ...

ummm... can get back to you about location of spot soon . That board was RMA , and waiting on FedX now . Can double check (remind self) as to exact location on new board . The final "crash-n-burn" happened about 6-8 hrs after the addition of a pci-e Nvi 7300 , but was having sporatic issues prior to video card update . Will not use that card when I rebuild box . Will use known working pci 6200 . Only upgrading video card after all other problems are ironed out , and am confident the new power supply has provided the additional stability that was missing from the "lower end" P/S .


EDIT .... board got in ... friggin install cd looks like someone stomped on it :( , cracked into pieces ... this is bad karma .

As to where the initial yellow spot was ., near screw hole in corner where green led is located , usb78 connection , and pri_ide connection .

not sure where it goes ???

Done_Fishin

I'll have to go grab a pdf of your motherboard manual so that I know where you are referring to but it seems that it's far away from the AGP slot although when talking about circuit tracking that sometimes means nothing.

The RMA I was talking about was for thr new pci-e card .. I am worried that the damage might have been caused by the board, you'll never feel comfortable about adding that particular card to your board again. Get it checked out to give you confidence. I am not familiar with either your mobo or your NVI boards (being old, married and having 3 kids causes a lot of drain on the economical front of a one man band, so only rare chances at getting "New Stuff").
As I said earlier, Does that PCI-e have a plug for external power, was it connected?

Sorry to hear that you are still being jinxed with your upgrade and sincereley hope you get things under control. Be patient, don't rush it and don't let your nerves push you into doing anything rash. Better delay a day or 2 and get things done in a cool fashion rather than rush and get your fingers burned again. It's only understandable that you want to get things together and running (I would too!). Just lay back and take it in your stride and all will work out fine, and if it doesn't, well think of the experience you are gaining that you can share with us and others.

campfire_2

done_fishin ...


thanks ... is wise advice ... no the card didnt have a slot for extra power connection .

On deeper inspection of new motherboard , this is someone elses' return , "regifted" to me via newegg ... the southbridge chip is missing the heat dispersing deal , packaging open , sata wires missing , and bent rear panel , missing pnp cap ... customer service rep says they'll get back to me with an e mail in 3-5 business days , then can take action on a damaged goods claim .

Done_Fishin

Is this your board?


it seems there is not just one P5B but the basic P5B & also several variations

Screw hole near the red IDE connector / Blue (USB) Connector

looks like its very close to the southbridge and, although not impossible, it's improbable that your PCI-e card has anything to do with the problem. PCI-e would normally be running off the Northbridge.
Check your box for anything that might have been able to short out to your motherboard. Maybe a screw got overlooked when building, thought lost .. then forgotten but waiting to take revenge ..

campfire_2

yes , bottom left hand corner is where initial photo of yellow spot was taken . The pci-e 7300 card has been returned as well . But yes , that is board in question .... base model p5b 775 chipset ... but the "new" board I have in hand now is missing silverish heat radiatior that covers the southbridge chip ...grrrrr

Done_Fishin

So now it's time to defocus on this project and take a break for some fresh air! Rotten luck that and I am surprised that it happened. Newegg seem to have a very good reputation, judging by the refernces that are mentioned on this forum. I have never heard anything mentioned like this before. Give em a hard time and maybe they'll be extra pleasant to you, lol. If you got trhe NVI card from them RMA it whilst you know that things are going to be delayed anyway, at least you know that a good card SHOULD be returned to you. Adds to your confidence about the product.

Done_Fishin

btw Thanks for the praise you gave me and the others on TSF. I am sure that they are equally pleased that our help is appreciated

campfire_2

Very true , this dog aint gunna hunt , lol . Thanks for the effort !

campfire_2

Got a thought , and this mainly is for linderman , done_fishin , voltschwibe , and ebackus ... seeing how newegg sent a trashed motherboard for my replacment , prolly going to get the refund as an option to settle damaged shipment .

Was thinking for about $50 more bucks could move up to a better motherboard . Not married to Asus ... but willing to shop around some ... got the intel chip , but was curious about reliability of gigabyte , and intel boards . Gigabyte are a bit less pricey , and look to be an Asus clone (copy) in some ways ... Just want a 775 chipset , future quad core capability , and the 8 pin 12v connector . The P5B has the 4 pin and that now bothers me for some reason .

Figure I have a few weeks to do some "window shopping" till newegg squares up with me , thought I'd use this down time to my advantage , and get the best bang for my buck . Maybe there was some good karma hiden in how this has played out afterall .

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131045

Something simular to this , but maybe a bit better , or maybe another manafacture ??? What do you cats think ?

Done_Fishin

I regret that in my work , repairs, I get to see the old boards more than I do the new ones .. I am not qualified to answer your questions.
I have an Asus P4S800D Celeron 2.6Ghz and my son has just brought home a Gigabyte K8NMF-9 with an Athlon 3200+ (939). I am happy with my setup and I am trying to get to grips with my sons jig which seems to be very slow booting and does a few starnge things.
At the end of the day , something seems to go wrong with everything from all manufacturers. I would say pick something from a mfr that you are happy with, check it out before you buy for bad karma or criticism. Make your final choice then buy.
My buddies I am sure will be back shortly to give their "technical" expertise.
I bought my Asus because it was on special offer, I had the cash to get it and the memory, CPU, box etc fit my budget. I've been very pleased with it ever since.

linderman

I personally would eagerly take a gigabyte board with a 965 chipset and save a few bucks eagerly. I love the asus boards, always have, but I dont seem them as having really stable boards unless you want to invest in their top shelf, high dollar 975 offerings ??

your call


I personaly would jump at the oppurtunity to grab a 965 non-sli board

see motherboards.org for some reviews!

http://www.motherboards.org/ranking/.../Intel7752006/


the DS3 would be MY flavor

Volt-Schwibe

upon careful inspection, all the gigabyte boards i've seen seemed to have all the details covered very well, all the markings on the board are written well, the traces seem very burly, there was always heat sink compund under the northbridge cooler, pin 1 was marked with red on all connectors, etc etc etc.

i'm basically saying i've been very impressed with everything i've seen from gigabyte.

in one instance, the caps near the processor were very very tall, (not in itself a bad thing) and got in the way of the odd shaped cooler my friend wanted to use on it, but even that was rectified by slightly bending the capacitors to lean away by about 3 degrees.

not that i don't like asus as well, i like asus so much, i bought myself one of their generics (ASRock) and i am very pleased with it.

campfire_2

Thanks guys !!!

Thats the kind of feedback I was hopeing for , and thanks for the link linderman , will study that information in detail when I've a bit more time . (sunday stuff going on now , lol...just snuck away to get quick e-mail off)

But good information from all , and sincerely appreciate the effort and advice from all . After initial frustration caused by newegg shipping , I decided to make a little "lemonaid out of all these lemons" , and strongly consider a better "longterm" board . I chose the P5B as an entry level , but nice board .
I recieved some fantastic advice from great buddy that lead to the choice of the P5B which fit into my budget , and long term goals . But as this situation has played out , I see an oppertunity for a "do-over" and a slightly more educated choice :) ...

And as the chairman of the tightwad comitee , I see the hardware prices are coming down via a "post holiday" sell off . Add that with a pending refund , and throw in a few dollars more from me , I see an oppertunity to make a noticable upgrade in the motherboard dept ... When I have a bit more time , maybe tonight , I ll throw out some of my thinking and criteria going into this decision , and with luck , get your perspectives into my line of thought .

Thanks again ...

campfire_2

Linderman ~

Hey ... Thanks again for the link ... would recomend it to anyone in my boat , or just needing solid comapre/contrast for Motherboards . Really is what I was after ... Now , the only negative , thing about it is , "I want it all"! :) ... many great features clearly listed on all the boards . Now all I need is , some magic ducttape to tear apart about 3 different boards to make my very own , lol :)


Still "shopping"

linderman

The only real piece of advice I can offer is; dont waste the money on an SLI / Crossfire capable board unless you have interest in that feature. Only super dedicated gamers get an real benefit from running dual video cards IMHO.


enjoy; the decision making is half the fun!

ebackhus

My personal desktop uses a GigaByte board. My room mate's PC has an older Asus. Many of the builds I do for people use MSI. All three have worked wonderfully for me over the years with only ONE of the many many boards going out on me, and that was just one little capacitor.

campfire_2

I agree ... I don't have either the intrest or money to mess with sli ... I do enjoy some gaming , but one decent pci-e card will suit my longterm needs . My thoughts on this build was to have a board that would be an upgrade from a pokey p4 as well as having the possibility of future upgrade to a quad (now rethinking that , duo will prolly be fine) ... I did like the board you mentioned , but need another bit of info for educated choice . I now am wanting a M/B with the 8 pin 12 v connector , opose to the 4 pin ... Am I making a mountian out of a molehill on that feature ? If steady power and cooling are the two main things that make a system happy ... why wouldnt I want a board with a 8 pin cpu feed ? especially in a multi processor setup ... any useful pro. vs con on the topic of 4 and 8 pin power feed ? I searched but came up empty ...

Got a few ideas to run past ya when I have more time . Did get the refund ball rolling from newegg , so , it wont be too much longer before I am ready to make final choice .

linderman

I have seen no beneficial reason to get the 8pin cpu power vs the 4 pin


the 8pin can be challenging to get a decent quality PSU, there are several PSU units that I have seen that have the 8pin but they will run your a few more $$$$$$$$$$$$$


I agree with ya on the SLI; I think somewhere along the line they hype blew the benefits to SLI out of proportion. When SLI first got off the groudn it was touted as able to take two cheaper video cards and make them out perform a much more expensive high class card, wellllllll that didnt quite ring true, now in reality to make real use of SLI you need to run two high class cards to see the improvement over a single high class card.

campfire_2

here are a few I am kickin around in my mind ...

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2418&ModelName=GA-965P-DS3P

http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&model=1295&modelmenu=1

http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/DG965WH/index.htm

seems I've got it boiled down to "about" the same board , but just from different makers , and these are somewhat listed in order of preference , although the gigabyte and asus are close to equal . And as a side note to linderman , yes , I know there is a sli ready board in there , lol , but that played no role into what I liked about it :) , feelings still stand on graphics set-ups .

linderman

all three are excellent choices if you have any overclocking desires ???? then the Intel board would drop to the bottom of the three choices.


The core-2's are very overclock friendly as such I would not pass up that option easily if there is a possibility for your overclocking get DDR2-800mhz ram


as for the SLI feature,