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What do you think of this mobo?
Topic Started: Nov 14 2004, 05:53 PM (432 Views)
Pianolady
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I bit on this offer for a Free Soyo "SY-P4RC350 Socket 478 mobo, thinking that I could use it if my current mobo ever fried on my T2958.

Now my son is wanting to steal my free mobo to upgrade his system. He's thinking of getting a P4 3.0GHz , transfer his hdd & FX5200 graphics card, and buy new memory.

Do you see any problems with this setup before I let him spend his money? He will either use his current Win98SE or purchase XP Home. His computer is not hooked up to the internet, and won't need to be until he's in college. So I'm thinking of having him wait and see what operating systems are out there when he heads off to college (4 years away yet) instead of putting money into one now.
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dsf260
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I was going to post about this deal as well...

It looks like a fine board, but it's not the top of the line. It uses the ATI 9100 chipset, which has its pros and cons.

Pros: It works, its free, and you won't have any compatibility problems. It's reasonably full featured, and can handle Intel's latest processors on an 800 FSB in Socket 478. Soyo is a pretty good, mid tier board manufacturer, so you shouldn't have any problems with them. I've used their tech support in the past and they have been very helpful.

In addition, the onboard graphics are excellent (for onboard), so if you are planning on using them, you will get decent performance--better than you would get from an Intel 865-based solution and they're DirectX 8.1 compatible! It looks like it also has a TV out on the board, which is relatively rare. Your son won't see much improvement from a 5200 and it is possible that the 5200 would be slower in some games.

Cons: Basically, its memory controller is not as well engineered as chipsets from other manufacturers, requiring either loose timings or strict adherence to memory proven to work w/ the board. It also doesn't have the latest, greatest features like firewire, dual channel memory, and Serial ATA.

The memory controller is also relatively inefficient, so performance suffers a bit compared to other chipsets (between 5-10% in normal apps, about 10% in games).
An ATI chipset powers my laptop, and it has the same memory controller issues, so I can say from experience to stick to name brand memory and don't expect top performance from the board (compared to other chipsets with the same processor).

With that said, note that the memory controller induced slowdown will probably unnoticable in all but the most demanding games.

The board has a bunch of legacy ports, which could be good or bad depending on how old your perepherials are.
T1090--Upgraded everything except floppy drive
MSI KM2M Combo-L w/ Athlon XP 2400+ Tbred-B
INWIN 523G case w/ 250w PS*GF3TI200 64MB*OrangeMicro Firewire/Network PCI card
2x WD Caviar 120GB*Lite-ON 40x12x48 CD-RW*768 MB PC133 (1 512, 1 256)
Original T1090 license of XP Home running (sort of)

Compaq Presario 910US
Upgraded to undervolted XP 2400+ (from 1500+)*512 MB*W200 Wireless (802.11B)*30GB*Combo DVD 8x/CD-RW 24x

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Pianolady
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Thanks.
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Ladym_cate
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Pianolady
Nov 14 2004, 06:53 PM
I'm thinking of having him wait and see what operating systems are out there when he heads off to college (4 years away yet) instead of putting money into one now.

Better start putting your (or his) money away for the latest and greatest laptop available 4 years from now. Unless he has a laptop he can haul to classes, he won't be able to survive college. It's already that way now. My son is in the 8th grade now and my boss, who has a daughter in her 2nd year of college (engineering) has already warned me what she is going through. And she's just at a state college. Imagine what it will be like at a private/Ivy League school.

Your son won't be doing anything but playing old games on a desktop.

Good luck - to us both! ;)

Cate
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Pianolady
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After reading up on some of the new processors coming out etc, I'm making him save his money. Laptop definitely a good idea for college, I bet he'll actually need both. :blink:
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Ladym_cate
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Pianolady
Nov 17 2004, 03:12 PM
I bet he'll actually need both.

And Mom will build him a desktop (or laptop) better than anything his friends have using stuff picked up at garage sales!

You've got skills woman! :lol: Keep it up and you'll always be better than the "Kool-Aid" Mom - you're the "Uber Geek" Mom! (a high compliment in this day and age). Your son appreciates that, I'm certain. I know all my sons friends do, they all want to trade moms with him. :o

Cate
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Pianolady
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Yeah...I get the cool geek mom award around here too, LOL, and he's smart enough to appreciate it, as does my daughter. He still rolls his eyes when I get stuck in a game and yell "Stephen....where do I go now?" HA HA HA. Nothing like an in-house cheat code central. He still thinks its funny that I can't jump and duck at the same time very well. He helps me with my games, I help him with his upgrades....seems fair (as long as he's paying for the upgrades).

I'm going to use the mobo for myself for a change to improve my computer for gaming. Now it's dream time to see what I can put together with this thing. Anything will be better than my current setup.
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Gategem
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If I had a child that wanted to go to Engineering School and I had a mobo laying around I would use the board to knock some sense into my child’s head.
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essi1553
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Gategem
Dec 10 2004, 02:15 AM
If I had a child that wanted to go to Engineering School and I had a mobo laying around I would use the board to knock some sense into my child’s head.

whats wrong with engineering school?

I'm studying to become an electrical engineer!!
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Pianolady
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Gategem
Dec 10 2004, 02:15 AM
If I had a child that wanted to go to Engineering School and I had a mobo laying around I would use the board to knock some sense into my child’s head.

Well, since my family makes their livings placing engineers, not much chance of convincing us to change his mind. As long as he realizes "must be willing to relocate" is part of the deal up front!
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dsf260
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have you gotten the mobo? How is it?
T1090--Upgraded everything except floppy drive
MSI KM2M Combo-L w/ Athlon XP 2400+ Tbred-B
INWIN 523G case w/ 250w PS*GF3TI200 64MB*OrangeMicro Firewire/Network PCI card
2x WD Caviar 120GB*Lite-ON 40x12x48 CD-RW*768 MB PC133 (1 512, 1 256)
Original T1090 license of XP Home running (sort of)

Compaq Presario 910US
Upgraded to undervolted XP 2400+ (from 1500+)*512 MB*W200 Wireless (802.11B)*30GB*Combo DVD 8x/CD-RW 24x

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Gategem
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essi1553
Dec 10 2004, 02:37 AM
Gategem
Dec 10 2004, 02:15 AM
If I had a child that wanted to go to Engineering School and I had a mobo laying around I would use the board to knock some sense into my child’s head.

whats wrong with engineering school?

I'm studying to become an electrical engineer!!

It is not too late to change your major. I don’t want to waste space in this forum but I could send you an email describing the problems of an Electrical Engineering career. Be advised that I have been an R&D Engineer since 1965 I have worked consistently with the latest tools and technology. I have been a Software and a Hardware Engineer and I have worked both in the theoretical and practical area. Some of the projects that I have worked or been in charge of include DSP Development, Routers and the next generation of Wireless Technology (3G). If I had to do it over again I would not. If you want to pursue an Engineering career you should at least know what you are getting yourself into. The school will not tell you because they make their money off of the students. The teachers at the school haven’t the foggiest idea of what the industry is like anyway.

What ever you decide Good Luck. If you stay in Electrical Engineering you will need it.
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Pianolady
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dsf260
Dec 10 2004, 03:28 PM
have you gotten the mobo?  How is it?

Yes, I got the mobo and did install a 3.0ghz P4 into it & got a nice big case, XP Home/SP2, 200gb WD hard drive. The onboard graphics was not sufficient, so popped a Radeon 9800pro in there and now it plays all my games very nicely (along with 3 case fans & the large case, stays nice and cool for a Prescott). Have 512mb PC3200 ram in there with another stick on it's way. I moved all my dvd hardware & digital camera software, & firewire card from my T2958 into it, seemed like such a waste to leave it on the Celeron computer. Everything went together without a hitch, so I'm happy, and the price was right thanks to a few Black Friday finds (like the $40 hard drive). The only complaint I would have about the mobo is that it didn't have the dual channel memory option that the SY-P4RS350 would have had, but I'm not sure I really needed it.

The T2958 becomes a family/business files/scanner/digital camera computer, and still has all the games on it, but they don't play nearly the same as the P4 computer. I've got the ultimate attitude adjustment bribe for my son now, as he has to ask to use my computer.

Soyo Computer 1
Soyo Computer 2
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