Re: new case and motherboard

Ageless <notvalid@xxxxxxxxxxx>, the gumming-scrounger and vegetative
reamer who likes tactless teeth fucking with kangaroos, and whose
partner is a yum-yum-girl with a ripe cod canal, wrote in
<yFwKj.122181$Si7.69626@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

how will the radeon hd3200 on board graphics on the new motherboard
compare
with the nvidia 7600Gs

The 7600GS would be about twice as fast for most games. The HD3200 is
essentially an HD3400 with slow RAM. By far the best IGP, but not up with
a recent mid-range card. It does support DX10, but that's of questionable
utility given how developers are using it.

The HD3200 has superior decoding hardware (for bluray etc) if you're
using software that supports it.


Thanks for the replies - I was trying to avoid the expense of another copy
of xp and all the reinstallation woes (of software that involves) but it
looks like I will have to bite the bullet and buy a new xp.

I was planning on removing drivrs etc whilst machine was still running
(cant turn it off because it wont start again for days :-)) ) and
transfering the hd, starting in safe mode and copying the drivers for the
new m/b from cd - guess thats too much risk then.

I went for a baord with a half decent IG because I am not sure that the
7600gs is okay - I cant tell if its the failing m/b in th biostar case or
the card thats u/s. I do play some games which require a decent card but
not planning on playing more than Farcry for a while- no Crysis here as
yet


It's common practice for motherboards to be replaced in such machines, the
machine will often boot ok although Windows may need reactivating. You'll be
able to use the drivers from the new motherboard and may end up with a
useable (if not entirely happy) computer. It's certainly worth a try.
As to the legalities (according to M$), in my opinion you're replacing a
broken motherboard and M$ shouldn't be worried about you doing so and still
using the license of XP that goes with the original machine. Replacing the
case is largely cosmetic although might be a requirement if the new board
wont slot into the old case.
If you notice the PSU being "Bestec" bin the bugger and buy one that isn't
going to shaft you.

If you cannot get the machine to boot or otherwise decide to reload Windows
then you can use an OEM disk and your existing COA number (it is just a
replacement motherboard, right?). By OEM, I mean the commercially available
one not a copy of something used with another mass manufactured machine. You
can get the media from many sources.

HTH


--
For my own part, I have never had a thought which I could not set down
in words with even more distinctness than that with which I conceived
it. There is, however, a class of fancies of exquisite delicacy which
are not thoughts, and to which as yet I have found it absolutely
impossible to adapt to language. These fancies arise in the soul, alas
how rarely. Only at epochs of most intense tranquillity, when the
bodily and mental health are in perfection. And at those weird points
of time, where the confines of the waking world blend with the world of
dreams. And so I captured this fancy, where all that we see, or seem,
is but a dream within a dream.

.