Who's the maker?

I'm assuming that would be the

'ECS ELITEGROUP' ?

Yep, I found it after I posted that...

Hmmm, you know something kind of strange?  Actually ECS makes PC Chips boards, the board I was talking about was the same board as you have but it is branded PC Chips.  It wasn't my computer but someone else who had it built, I just had to fix it. 

They must have some problem with this board in it's design.  Really my suggestion would be to get a new motherboard, because this is a problem that you can never work around.  I can also remember that the PC Chips displayed the VDIMM(RAM voltage) in the bios but there was no way to change it.  I believe these boards will only goto either 1.8 or 1.9volts.  In the manual it displays the VDIMM as being 1.79, but I believe it will auto-up the voltage to 1.9(about 75% sure of that). 

Your options are 2GB RAM with a 1.8volt to be on the safe side or get a new motherboard.  The main reason i suggest the new motherboard is because most all new boards have voltage adjustments for RAM.  And number 2, most RAM takes more than 1.8v.

I will post a couple of links to comparable boards in just a bit.

ok thanks :)

Didn't you ever fix that guy's pc? ;)

Would I simply be able to replace the Mobo and nothing else?

Is it definately the voltage that is the problem you think?
How much difference is there between 2 x 1gb and 1 x 2gb?

vast difference, or  are they not even that noticable. my 1 x 1gb atm doesn't even run that bad, VG is the first trouble I've encountered.

And are there many 1.8V 2gbs out there?

on a slightly different note, you think my HD could be a big issue? 7,200 rpm 8mb cache, not SATA. ?

You wouldn't tell that much difference with the HD.  Yea it does help some, but the reason you keep hearing the thrashing on your drive is because you don't have enough RAM.  What is going on is stuff loads up in memory.  When memory gets full it dumps some of it back to your hard drive, this is called virtual memory or your page file. 

Because RAM is ALOT faster than loading stuff off your hard drive, then it is making you stall more.  It has to pull stuff back off the drive, I think you get the picture.  I'm not going to deny there are some freezing issues in VG, but it is more when you are crossing zone lines. 

And no, I do not think it is voltage; but it could be.  Have both sticks ever worked in it?  If so then it is not going to be the voltage.  The computer I was talking about I had 1.8v sticks and it would only work in the first slot, so I ran into this problem(not thinking coincidence here, since I have only run into this 1 time). 

If you stick with NForce chipset it should be an easy swap out.  If you goto VIA or AMD based chipset you may and probably will have to format(more likely with VIA). 

I found a Biostar board you might like, it is in the $40 range(around 50 with shipping).  I'm gonna look at some more stuff and will post back in a few.  Yes, it is NForce based board.  Reason I was choosing that is because of the situation I was talking about above(formating).

Ahh kk. I might get a new HD anyway, only about 15gb of space left, keep having to delete old files :(

cheap these days as well.

that explaination helped me. I naturally assumed the sound was something big enough to make a sound, and other people can run 1gb ram, why can't I? ;)

you think the best option is to get new mobo rather than new 2gb ram then?

I'm actually based in england atm, so any globally delivering company would be appreciated :)

thanks for your help.

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx

That is the Biostar board.  By the other board you had it only had 1 IDE connection.  You must have 1 hard drive and 1 CD/DVD drive or either that plus a SATA CD/DVD drive. 

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx

This is about the fastest memory you are gonna find at the voltage that is required. 

Hmmm....

I don't know about the UK.  What you might do is just goto those web pages and match up that board on the site you bought your other motherboard from.  Or do some searches at sites you do know and match it up. 

The only thing that is really gonna be a pain is hooking the front panel leds and buttons back up.   The board should boot right on up after you switch it out.  It will prob recognize new hardware because it might have a different soundcard or ethernet chipset built in. 

After you do that goto nvidia site and get the newest NForce drivers for the board and update it.  You'll have to prob install the ethernet driver off the disk first.

thanks for the mobo link.

regarding RAM,

would this be OK?

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=18589&category_id=765&manufacturer_id=0&tid=n/a

Uk based you see...

if you rated (2x1gb) against (1x2gb) out of 100, what do you think the results would be?

Originally posted by Da1e

thanks for the mobo link.

 

regarding RAM,

would this be OK?

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=18589&category_id=765&manufacturer_id=0&tid=n/a

Uk based you see...

if you rated (2x1gb) against (1x2gb) out of 100, what do you think the results would be?

Theoretically 2x1GB can go 2 times as fast because of dual channel.  It doesn't go 2x as fast, but I would say atleast 1.5x.  On the older RAM, just regular DDR, I think nvidia had it at about 96% efficiency on that.  So it was very close to 2x.  It hasn't reached that yet with DDR2, but you get the point. 

Another thing that is gonna hold you back on speed is just the fact that the board want go more than 1.8 or 1.9v.  The higher amount of safe voltage you can put to RAM the faster it can go. 

And on the link.  Make sure to find out the voltage of that RAM, remember you are working with 1.8v.  Other things that are important are the CAS Latency and Memory timing.  They don't have it published, so you will have to ask.  I assume it is house brand or something.  If you click on that Corsair below it you will see what I'm talking about(they don't have the voltage published though).

ahh that sounds like a big difference :(

so is 1x 2gb even much better than 1 x 1gb?

I think I better just get a motherboard :(

with the one you sent me, I didn't quite get it,

do I need to change anything or can i just change all my stuff?

Originally posted by Da1e

ahh that sounds like a big difference :(

so is 1x 2gb even much better than 1 x 1gb?

 

 

I think I better just get a motherboard :(

with the one you sent me, I didn't quite get it,

do I need to change anything or can i just change all my stuff?

Yea, it is a lot better.  The problem is if the board was working like it was suppose to, then it would be faster than putting the 2GB in there. 

The motherboard is the way to go, because the price difference is very minor.  The only real difference is time to change it out.  It will take you probably about 1 1/2hrs to change out the motherboard and about 2 mins with RAM counting taking off the cover.  Like I said, the main thing that is gonna take ya a little while is changing out the wires that goto the front of your computer case.  If you had been doing it for a bit, it prob would take you 45mins to swap it out. 

It will save you a lot of money doing it yourself though.  And no, all you do is just plug all the stuff from one motherboard into the other one.  Hit the power button and sit back and wait for it to load.  You will probably have to install the drivers for the ethernet chipset though.  After you do that goto nvidia.com and download the NForce software for their motherboards.  You just choose the type it is and so forth and it puts you to the right download link. 

And....

You are welcome... :)

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=21391&tid=frooct

so is this it? :)

yeahh , I think the mobo is actually cheaper than a 2gb stick =p

and considering I have 2 x 1gb , it makes sense to get the board.

you sure it will fit? don't wanna get it just to find a failure =p

will it support my HD atm? It's not SATA or SATA2 ...it's the one before that I think? a big wide thin grey cable?Could I use a new SATA HD and my old HD with it? :)

seems to fit my processor, graphics card, I don't see anything in that list that comes as a surprise? Anything I may need to double check?

Ahh yeah, but times really irrelevant considering i spent about an hour simply fitting and rrefitting a stick of ram in blind hope it would work =p

With this mobo it only took a short while anyway, it's PSU's that are hard ;)

thanks for the help, you've been incredibly helpful :)

Wait!!! Before you buy anything give this a try. forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m

Originally posted by benbook

Wait!!! Before you buy anything give this a try. forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m

haha I love the urgency of that post :)

thanks for the link, I will try them!

however, I think I'm going to buy the mobo regardless, no use just having this broken one. I will need a RAM upgrade sooner or later anyway, may as well make it sooner :)

Originally posted by Da1e

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=21391&tid=frooct

so is this it? :)

yeahh , I think the mobo is actually cheaper than a 2gb stick =p

and considering I have 2 x 1gb , it makes sense to get the board.

 

you sure it will fit? don't wanna get it just to find a failure =p

will it support my HD atm? It's not SATA or SATA2 ...it's the one before that I think? a big wide thin grey cable?Could I use a new SATA HD and my old HD with it? :)

seems to fit my processor, graphics card, I don't see anything in that list that comes as a surprise? Anything I may need to double check?

 

Ahh yeah, but times really irrelevant considering i spent about an hour simply fitting and rrefitting a stick of ram in blind hope it would work =p

With this mobo it only took a short while anyway, it's PSU's that are hard ;)

thanks for the help, you've been incredibly helpful :)

If you look on the specs, you will see where it says "Dimensions".  Do you see where it says "Micro ATX Form Factor"?  That is a standard that motherboards go by, it is how your case is designed to accomadate that type motherboard.  If you have a taller case, it might also use "ATX Form Factor". 

Anyway, this is why it is easy to replace parts for desktop computers.  The problem with laptops, is there is no standard like this.  Personally I think it is because if there was, manufactures like Dell and HP wouldn't control that part of the market anymore. 

Yes, your hard drive will work(on the grey cable).  That is called IDE.  Yes you can put a SATA drive in it and use your old drive as another drive(4xSATA).  Probably what you want to actually do is put all your games on that drive and put your other stuff on your main drive.  The reason is because it will only be pulling the game files off that drive(faster).  Also you may want to look into cloning your drive with something like Ghost or Acronis True Image.  I'm pretty sure there is still an older free version of Ghost floating around.  If not you can probably get a 30 day trial of one or the other.  Don't worry to much about this right now though.

Ok excellent :)

yeah, a nice way of monopolizing the market :/

I'll look into buying a new HD after my mobo is up and running then!

cheers again.

Yep...

Just drop me a message after you get the new board if you need a little help.