jepherz

i just helped my little cousin order a video card online, nvidia 7800gs and it can't fit into his computer. that thing is huged...and im not sure if i could return it either. so...we are unable to plug it in because the ram slot switches/clips that hold the ram sticks in place are in the way. the video card is also very close to one of those cylinder things on the motherboard, is that okay? we were thinking maybe we could remove the clips that hold the rams in place somehow, just the bottom ones though =/ will that make the rams really unstable or anything? i dont know what to do...didnt really expect the video card to be so huge when we ordered it...

kris23

so the ram clips are in the way? not just under the card? what type of computer/ motherboard is it? case? and all that good stuff

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DudeBoyz

I've seen folks clip off the top angled part of those white plastic leads that hold the RAM sticks in. They used a wire clipper / cutter thing. It seemed to work.

Necrosis

Any way you can provide us w/ the some pics?

jepherz

its a HP computer. the ram clips or whatever you call them are under the videocard when i try to install it and prevents me from pushing it all the way down. the nvidia 7800 gs isnt a plain old thin video card like my radeon 9800. theres a giant heatsink/fan on it and its screwed on to a black grounding platform thing(?) behind the video card. it makes the card fatter and is the thing thats hitting the ram clips when i try to install the card.

i just googled "ram clip" and found this:
http://www.pcdoctor-guide.com/wordpr...s/ram_clip.jpg

the white clip/switch/notch or w/e above and below each ram slot is the thing thats getting in the way. also one of those black cylinder things with the silvery centers is right up next to the video card if i were able to plug it in, they'd be touching or almost touching =/

Dyre Straits

We still need to know exactly which motherboard is being referenced here.

Those RAM clips have to be there and pushed into the notch on the RAM itself to hold it in place. But, having that capacitor (the barrel like thing you're referring to) in a position where the video card hits it...or can...is no good.

If it were mine to deal with, I'd give a call to where the card was ordered from and explain the situation to them.

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[hobo]eclipse

Just so you know that card can create a significant amount of heat around the backend area where all the air comes out. When i was runnin the 7800GS my Front case fan went out and with out the airflow there it warmed up considerably. My HDD temps where outrageous sometimes, mostly during games and overclocking. But if this card is going in a slightly older alread cramped for instalation space id be weary of heat issues later on. How much clearance is there from the end of the video card where the molex is to the case structure? prolly really close to the HDD area?

Tipstaff

Unfortunatly all 7800GS AGP cards use the reference design, which means that black backer is used on all of them. Believe it or not this is a very common problem with a lot of AGP systems that have their AGP slot close to the chipset.

As suggested your best bet would be to either shave off some of the plastic from the ends of the ram retention clips, or literally clip off the ends as DudeBoyz suggested until you have enough space to get that card in there.

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jepherz

oh =[ the case is really cramped actually. the black backer touches one of the compaciters or is like 1mm away. hes thinking about getting a new mobo and computer case right now...i haven't got his computer specs yet. do you guys think its possible to move everything like that?

Dyre Straits

I'm not quite sure I understand this question? Do you mean is it possible to move what is presently in this case into another one with a new motherboard?

If you change the motherboard, you need to plan on doing some serious data backup prior. This is because you will need to use a formatted HD and install Windows brand spanking new onto the new system. Otherwise, there's a possibility of all kinds of havok with previous motherboard drivers, etc. I do this all the time and the easiest way is to buy a new HDD along with the new motherboard and just install onto the new HDD. Then, once Windows is installed and the new motherboard/chipset drivers are installed and everything is Updated, place the original HDD into the system as a Slave drive.

You'll need to Activate Windows, so, be sure to have a valid Windows CD.

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jepherz

damn that sucks...

we were planning on getting a new mobo and a roomier computer case and plugging all the other hardware into the new mobo.

are you sure you can make the old HDD a slave without doing anything to it? i remember trying that when i bought a new HDD for my computer and tried to use my old one as a slave, it said i had to fully reformat it...

we are trying to do this as cheap as possible...all we wanted to do was upgrade the video card and now the cost is piling up...maybe its best to just return the video card...i dont know...

edit:
im trying to figure this out before it might be too late to return the card. so...just curious how do you back stuff up? i have a slave HDD(80gb) on this computer, can i empty everything from this slave to my main HDD(250gb) temporarily then detatch it and plug it into my cousins computer? then i can back his stuff up on that 80gb HDD? do i just copy and paste the things he wants to keep?

kris23

if hes planning to get a new mobo and case then just return the card and get a better one for PCI-Express because AGP is just about dead

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jepherz

we already bought the card, if we get a mobo with pci-e then we'd have to buy another video card...we are trying to work with the one we have already... =/

can someone tell me if ddr 333 pc2700 rams work on mobos that say ddr 400 standard? we have ddr 333 on this computer right now and the mobos we've looked at on newegg pretty much all say "memory standard: ddr 400"

Dyre Straits

Yes, you can just add the original system drive into the new system as a slave drive without having to format it. I do this all the time. (Second time I've said this. ) Once you get the original HDD set up as a slave, just Delete the Windows folder on it. All of the other folders will remain and you can copy over to the new system drive anything that is needed. You WILL have to reinstall almost all the programs and games, though. I've found many of the programs that were installed on the original drive to actually work when attempting to run them from the new system.

There should be NO prompt to reformat the drive if it's been added properly to the system as a slave. OR...you can even add it as a Master on the secondary IDE and put the CD/DVD as a slave to it. At any rate, all that precious data is still there and available. This is the way I do it so I can keep my progress in games and such. I've been able to continue my Oblivion progress over four different mobos and HDDs over the past year this way.

I understand your frustration and you trying to do this on a budget. So, all you should need to get is a motherboard, PC case, and HDD.

Now, about the RAM: Some mobos are backward compatible from DDR 400 (PC3200) to DDR 2700. You'll have to dig around to see what the specifications are.

At least one more thing: Make absolutely sure the motherboard you get will accept the CPU you have.

Maybe if you provide more details about what you do have onhand, we can do a little digging for you.

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jepherz

thanks =]

we are having some trouble finding a good mother board....

we have a intel pent 4 478 socket and 2 rams sticks which are pc2700s 512 total memory. the video card, nvidia 7800 gs is 8.5 inches long(minus the metal part that you screw onto the case) and pretty fat(its a AGP dunno if i need to include that indo 0.o)...i dont know if theres any other bit of information i have to add. my little cousin doesnt mind reformatting the computer though, i just asked him. we could just back up his mp3s onto my slave HDD(that works right?) and then he doesnt care about anything else...there doesnt seem to be alot of mobos with those specs that have enough clearence for the video card...i try looking at the "birds eye view" of the mobos we browse through and it always looks like something might get in the way. usually the ram retention clips that hold the rams in place, or the video card might be hovering over a IDE slot....

BlueMak

On the actual motherboard it should have with a bit larger than the rest, something like
ASUS
VIA
DFI
plus a number or letters mixed like P4A or something.
Need to get that info.

It is not on a chip, but on the actual base/plastic of the motherboard.

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Dyre Straits

Yeah, a 478 socket is going to be harder to locate as it's been discontinued. The last 478 I had was an ABIT IC7-G and a really, really great board. I've passed that along to a family member myself.

Take a look at this one and see if the configuration would work. I have no personal knowledge of or about this particular board. It's available from NewEgg and they are a very reputable online retailer.

Intel 478 Pin Motherboard

Be sure to read through the reviews.

I'm not at all a fan of VIA chipsets. I stay away from them myself. Others, however, have had good success.

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GutterPunk

I still use my p4c800-e deluxe motherboard. It is AGP and has plenty of room for upgraded cards. I currently use a R9800 w/ a p3 hs/f on it. If I get time today I'll take a picture on how much mobo room I have on it. I love the board and haven't been happier for the last 4 years.

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jepherz

bluemak - ill try to get that info later, i dunno if itll be possible though cuz its so cramped in there =/

dyre - im not too sure about that mobo =[ have you guys ever bought a recertified item before? it means the same as refurbished right? i've never considered paying anything reburbished before =S it just sounds really risky...

gutter - that board is nice too...really nice...it costs around 150 on ebay...and thats the only place where i can find it =T is that like the best p4 mobo there is? i have a DFI lanparty nf3 UT 250gb or something like that in my comp and it costs around the same new....and that was years ago....

edit: do you guys know of a way to look up all these older discontinued mobos?

edit again: oh...whats the 875P on the p4 478 socket? am i missing a bit of info on my lil cousins cpu? are there different types of 478 sockets? i thought there was only 1...does it really matter? =S

GutterPunk

wow i paid 120 for my p4c800-e deluxe like 4 years ago! craziness

875p is the chipset like nforce2/3 680i 965 975x etc that all falls under chipset

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kris23

there ARE 2 different 478 pin sockets....the "other" type is used mainly when people want to use notebook processors in desktops they are either socket 478 or 479, then there are socket 478 boards for the pentium 4 like what i have, the Intel D865PERL motherboard......i dont think the board will work either since it looks like a similar problem with large cards.

i really dont think you should even waste your money on a 478 board and AGP card..... its too old and outdated to be useful in the future, maybe you can try one of the ATi X1950PRO AGP cards? theyre only like 4 dollars difference in cost and some dont have that backplate that interferes with the motherboard, theyre also MUCH better cards

here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Subcategory=48

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kris23

Can you post the exact specs of the system in question? Since the system uses ddr2700 I'm worried it is one of the old ones that run at 2ghz and below with a 400mhz fsb.......I think the core is northwood? If this is what he has then he needs a new comp period its too old

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jepherz

is there some kinda program i could use to get the full system specs down in a .txt log or something?

kris23

i dont think so, the information should be somewhenre in there when u enter the BIOS

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Dyre Straits

Download and install BeLarc Advisor onto the system in question.

Belarc Advisor

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jepherz

ok...i got the downloaded the program. the specs it gave me werent that complete i think...for the processor it said
2.60 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
i used sandra by sisoft and it said the core is a northwood.

according to that belarc, the mobo specs:
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 'P4SD-LA' Rev 1.xx
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 3.14 09/04/2003

the ram according to sandra is pc2700U, there is a U at the end...i dont know if that means anything...

kris23

thats some pretty old stuff man......thats a bottlenck for sure, is this an AGP 4x mobo? i dont think you will find any better mobo than what u have now......just build a new comp....anything is better than that. just get a 7600GS or something shorter because thats about the maximum for that thing

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kris23

http://indigo.intel.com/compare_cpu/...&culture=en-US

that looks to be what you have.....pretty old dude

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Dyre Straits

From what I've been able to come up with so far, this is a HP computer using an OEM ASUS mobo. That's one reason the board and any updated drivers for it cannot be found on the official ASUStek website.

And, yes, it's pretty old. Goes back to at least 2003 or so.

I found one very long thread on another site that indicates that this board is actually a P4G800-V (without the V) so maybe that will help in coming up with some better information.

The threads re: this are about 3 years old now.

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kris23

yea man just build a new simple system for him, with a E4300, gigabyte 965P DS3, sapphire radeon X1950GT, 2 gigs G.skill DDR2 800mhz ram, seagate 7200.10 320GB drive, and the lite-on super allwrite............ its alot of stuff but the system shouldnt cost more than 1000

MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128012

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115005

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231098

GPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102034

HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140

allwrite drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106045

total is 753 bucks and it beats the S**T out of what he has (or what i have) now

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