Building a pc right NOW!!!

[SONY007]

I'm building my first pc and i'm near the end I think, but i'm not sure if i'm meant to install a graphics card i've bought now or when there is a OS on the h/d. I don't think the m/b as on board graphics but i'm not sure as I don't know what to look for !!!


Epox 8RDA+ nForce2 (Socket A) Motherboard (MB-019-EP)

[int 21h]

A video connection is 15 pins, 3 rows of 5 pins offset from each other.. something like this:

*****
*****
*****


AFAIK, that motherboard does not have onboard video, install your video card and continue :)

[SONY007]

Here is the m/b I don't see those pin you mention but it is like me to overlook things. So if it 's not there do I install the 3D Blaster graphics card in now before I install a os? Will it be regonized?

[jggimi]

Your Epox manual will have a picture of the back panel connectors. If you don't have a copy, your MB manual can be downloaded at ftp://ftp.epox.com/motherboard/support/Manual/mu-8rda&+10.pdf. Since your board is an ATX motherboard, you'll likely see the ATX standard connections: PS/2 Mouse and Keyboard, 2 USB ports, 2 serial ports, 1 parallel port, 1 joystick/midi port, and 3 audio connectors for the on-board sound. No VGA connector.

I have a different Epox motherboard, but yours and mine are very similar.

Plug your video card into the AGP slot, then plug your monitor into the card, then power things up and install Windows. Windows will recognize the video card as a Standard VGA card (640x480x16) until you install your card's drivers after Windows is fully installed and running.

Warning: Epox has a warning about the physical install of AGP cards on that board, please see ftp://ftp.epox.com/motherboard/support/Manual/8rda%20agp%20card%20install%20caution.pdf.

Good luck!

[wmansir]

If you don't plan on using the Onboard video there is no reason to use it for the OS install. In fact, it could lead to problems because Windows may install a driver for you onboard video and it could conflict with the new drivers for the card you purchased.

If you have problems getting your video card to work you could remove it and try the onboard to verify the board is functional, but I would try and get the video card working before moving on to the OS install.

[jggimi]

AFAIK, there is no onboard video.

[BlisterBlue]

Hi SONY077,

i built up a complete PC-System for a good friend last week for his video (mainly DV material) encoding needs.

And I used the exact same mobo - the EPOX EP-8RDA+ - with it as it already has 2 Firewire ports. I can tell you - this is a lightinig fast and rock stable mobo you can get for money. ;) I was really impressed by its memory transfer speeds that influence video encoding a lot.

Sure, you have to consider to use 2 memory modules (preferable the same brand and exact same model) to benefit from the nForce2's TwinBank mode. So I used 2 256 MB DDR-SDRAM PC2100 CL2 (266 MHz) Infineon modules as nVidia and even EPOX suggest using memory modules with the same bus speed as the CPU has. So for the Athlon XP 2000+ I used with this mobo (as he was on a budget) I switched to DDR-266 MHz memory modules as this CPU also runs with FSB 266 MHz - if you plan to use an Athlon with a Barton core (2800+ and 3000+) you should use PC 2700 (DDR-333) MHz modules as these CPUs has the same FSB.

I can tell you that this CPU/mobo/memory combination was nearly as fast as a friends Athlon XP 2400+ VIA KT333 512MB PC 333 MHz CL2.5 system - in nearly all Benchmarks I used. :) My other friend was really astonished about this - as his combo (the VIA one) costed nearly 120 Euros more than the nForce2 combo and offered nearly the same speed with a 2-class-lower CPU.

So this nForce combo reached about 1.95 CCE realtime speed during encoding of PAL 2.35:1 DVD material with SimpleResize and about 1.65 with BicubicResize - which was a bit faster than the VIA combo of my other friend. He was really some kind of p*ss*d off when seeing the results. ;)

So all in all, I would buy and sugest this lovely mobo again and again - anytime.

Greetz,
BlisterBlue

P.S. And yes, it has _no_ onboard video.

[SONY007]

Ok i'm not sure if I've done something wrong here but here goes. I've installed everything 1 h/d and a cd rom so far, installed the graphics card, installed the Barton 3000+ with the heatsink and the ram (consair 512) and the m/b is a Epox 8RDA+ nForce2 (Socket A) Motherboard (MB-019-EP). Ok that done I turned the new pc on for the time and it started ok I think it seemed to say no drive found by I just thought maybe I just have to configure the Cmos or bios whichever one it is. But the part that got me a bit freak was at the bottom it said:

Warning! CPU has been changed or over clocked failed. Please re-enter cpu setting in cmos setup and remember to save before quit!

Now I ask you guy and girls "SHOULD I BE WORRIED" I don't even know how to overclock. And i'm certain the jumpers on the motherboard where correct. I get the option to press DEL to go in the Cmos, is that what I need to do? And if anyone knows the parts i've use can you give me an idea of the setting I should change and to what? I'm going to look back at the m/b user guide for now but I would love to get my new pc up and running tonight if possible !!!!

[BlisterBlue]

Ok, here we go:

1. The CPU:

See if it the BIOS detects your CPU correctly - when turning on the PC watch all the startup messages and see if there's something in it telling you that an Athlon XP 3000+ is installed. You can hit the BREAK button on your keyboard to stop the boot process in order to being able to read the messages carefully - then hit any key to continue.

If your CPU is not being detected correctly you have to manually set the correct FSB frequency for it - I had to do this also with the 2000+ I mentioned above.

During the boot process hit DEL to enter the BIOS setup. Now go to the "Advanced Chipset Features" menu and manually set the "FSB frequency" to 166 MHz for your Athlon XP 3000+ as it's Barton core uses a 166 MHz FSB frequency - after that save the settings and reboot your system. Now it should be detected correctly.

Concerning the overclocked warnig you got - no worries about that - that's the EPOX boards default behaviour to set all BIOS settings to harmless default values when it was not able to detect the CPU correctly or it did not ran stable with the choosen settings. That's why EPOX boards are sometimes rewarded with labels like "overclocker's dream". ;)

2. With your drive not being found:

Some HDs are shipped with the jumpers set for "Master with Slave present" or something like this. Look at your HD near the cable connectors and see how the jumpers are set - there's almost always a description of those settings on the top side of the HD. Now try to set the jumpers to something like "Master" or "Master only". See if this works. If not set the jumpers to "Cable Select" position and make sure to plug in the flat ribbon cable connector with the "Master" label on it. It's always the black connector. The blue one is fr the mobo and the grey one for the "Slave" drive.

3. Some installation hints:

Install the OS, and afterwards install the nForce2 chipset drivers that came with the mobo - then install all other drivers - starting with your video card drivers first.

Hope this helps,
BlisterBlue

P.S. With your RAM - you should use two 256 MB PC 2700 (DDR-333) modules when possible as you "throw away" a decent performance boost when only using one 512 MB module with this mobo because in TwinBank mode the memory access is signifcantly faster as it uses 128 bit mode instead of 64 bit mode when only using one module.

[SONY007]

I'm back at last. Hell I started to think that i'd never make it back especially after I dismantled my other pc so I could take out a few part to put in the new one, so I could'nt go on line for a while, felt like "COLD TURKEY" I've still got a few things that need sorting: when I scroll page up or down it's a bit jerky for some reason, I tried to change the refresh rate but it's greyed out and set as use "hardware default settings". At the moment I can't really say I notice much difference from my 900mhz ATHLON that I was using before, which leads be to belive something still is not right but i'll do some encoding tomorrow and see!!! But I would just like to say a big thats to you guys and girls for making it possible for me to build my first pc.:D

Ps: where can I get the latest ndivia 3d update thought that it would of been on the disc for the graphic card !!!

[jggimi]

...where can I get the latest ndivia 3d update... www.nvidia.com