Foxconn Motherboard maximum Ram???

Diabalo

Hi folks,

I recently got a Macbook Pro and I'm upgrading the PC I built a few years ago to pass onto someone who is in need of a better PC.

I have a Foxconn 945G7MA-8KS2H motherboard and Intel Pentium D 3Ghz dual core processor:
http://reviews.cnet.com/motherboards/foxconn-945g7ma-8ks2h-motherboard/1707-3049_7-32551433.html


The motherboard has served me very well. I have 2 DIMM slots out of 4 occupied with 2GB DDR2 Ram. So the PC is running 4GB Ram. I have Windows XP Sp3 32bit. The plan was to fill the 2 free DIMM slots with more Ram and upgrade from XP to Windows 7 64 bit...

I still have the motherboard manual and it says that the DIMM slots support a maximum of 1GB DDR2... but I have the 2 slots filled with 2GB each and it's working fine Also it says the motherboard supports a maximum of 4GB Ram.

I am looking to find out is there anyway I can work more Ram then the 4Gb??? I bought the motherboard in 2006 I think but thought it would be capable of running more...

Any help is greatly appreciated

Serephucus

Adding more RAM won't do anything. A a 775 Pentium is still going to suck. What sort of budget do you have for this? You'd be much better served with something very cheap, and new, as it would still blow the Pentium out of the water.

the_syco

Diabalo wrote: »

I have a Foxconn 945G7MA-8KS2H motherboard and Intel Pentium D 3Ghz dual core processor

The max RAM for the 945G7MA-8KS2H is 4GB's. This equals 4*1GB, or 2*2GB which you have now.

What would the person you'd be giving it to use it for, and what sort of budget do you have? It would be better doing a mobo/RAM/CPU upgrade than putting a faster CPU into it.

Diabalo

Serephucus wrote: »

Adding more RAM won't do anything. A a 775 Pentium is still going to suck. What sort of budget do you have for this? You'd be much better served with something very cheap, and new, as it would still blow the Pentium out of the water.

Thanks Serephucus. I was thinking I wouldn't be able to add more RAM... There is no real budget as per say. Just trying to do my best to help out a family member who wants to start up a business. I have after starting to upgrade their laptop with help from Boards.ie members and I thought I might as well give my desktop to have an extra PC to work at home.

Do you mean it would be better buying a brand spanking new PC from a shop? I already have a hard drive, some RAM, power supply and other bits like Windows XP. Would upgrading to a new and better spec motherboard be something to consider?

the_syco wrote: »

The max RAM for the 945G7MA-8KS2H is 4GB's. This equals 4*1GB, or 2*2GB which you have now.

What would the person you'd be giving it to use it for, and what sort of budget do you have? It would be better doing a mobo/RAM/CPU upgrade than putting a faster CPU into it.

Thanks for clarifying that for me The Syco. Was a bit confused :rolleyes:

The person who would be using the PC would be doing some courses and doing some web designing and bits of multimedia from what I understand. I am not too sure how much a better spec'd motherboard would cost me but something I will look into now. Any advice on what processors to look out for or brands of motherboards? Regarding budget, would be nice to do something that gets value for money and not blowing a load of cash on it.

Serephucus

Item|Price
Total build cost: €237.48 (inc delivery Free!)
Intel Celeron G530 2.4GHz LGA1155 2MB|€42.66
ASRock S1155 Intel H61M DDR3 mATX|€49.19
Kingston HyperX 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Non-ECC CL9 DIMM|€18.75
Corsair 430 Watt CX430 V2 Builder Series 80 Plus Power Supply|€39.84
Samsung 160GB SpinPoint G1 Desktop 3.5" SATA 3GB/s 7200RPM|€70.88
Samsung 22x DVD-RW SATA Black|€16.16


Sample system for cheap. I don't know the exact specs of the parts you already had, but I'm sure you could substitute a few things to make it a bit cheaper.

Diabalo

Jesus Serephucus.... :eek: That's unbelievable helpful and certainly is cheap. Never heard of Dabs.ie before. I could indeed substitute some parts and could make a very nice PC for cheap!

Thanks a million

the_syco

Diabalo wrote: »

The person who would be using the PC would be doing some courses and doing some web designing and bits of multimedia from what I understand.

Don't think there's much point in upgrading it, then.

Serephucus: I do question swapping a 3Ghz Duel Core Pentium for a 2.4Ghz Duel Core Celeron?

Serephucus

I'd show you a benchmark if I could, but unfortunately the P4 is too old. :P

Celeron is only the name, it uses the same cores as the 2nd gen socket 1155 i7 processors, just without the hyperthreading, and there's only two of them.

the_syco

Serephucus wrote: »

Celeron is only the name, it uses the same cores as the 2nd gen socket 1155 i7 processors, just without the hyperthreading, and there's only two of them.

A Celeron may be the same speed, but only for the most basic applications. Anything advanced, and they tend to suck. But yeah, I think I read the OP as a core duo 3Ghz, as opposed to a P4 3Ghz thing; my bad.

OP: if it's a duel core P4 in the socket, upgrade, if it's a 3GHz Core Duo, don't.

Serephucus

He says in his first post it's a Pentium D.

the_syco

Serephucus wrote: »

He says in his first post it's a Pentium D.

Oh dear, so he does I didn't know that the P4's were still being made in 2004.

Do you think a cheap 2930 MHz DualCore E6500 would be of any use?

Serephucus

Well, considering a G530 gives the same performance (round-abouts) as an E8400, and is €45, I'd say not really. He picks up a cheap H61 board (€50), and can upgrade all the way to an i5 2400, and add as much RAM as he likes. Hence my original build.

It's definitely an option though if he doesn't want to change motherboards/RAM, etc. but I'd go for the G530 if it were me.

Diabalo

the_syco wrote: »

Oh dear, so he does I didn't know that the P4's were still being made in 2004.

Do you think a cheap 2930 MHz DualCore E6500 would be of any use?

I bought the Foxconn motherboard in Maplin and was told it was the best one they had at the time... As far as I know it's a Pentium D but I could be wrong The Syco. Bought the motherboard in 2006 I think.

Serephucus wrote: »

Well, considering a G530 gives the same performance (round-abouts) as an E8400, and is €45, I'd say not really. He picks up a cheap H61 board (€50), and can upgrade all the way to an i5 2400, and add as much RAM as he likes. Hence my original build.

It's definitely an option though if he doesn't want to change motherboards/RAM, etc. but I'd go for the G530 if it were me.

Thanks Serephucus, sounds like you know your stuff and you have taught me a few things. I think I will follow your advice and go for the G530.

Just want to clarify what you said in your last post.

You're saying that an Intel Celeron G530 costs €45 and gives roughly the same performance as an Intel Core 2 Duo e8400.

To buy an Asus H61 motherboard which I could improve now or in the future with an Intel Core i5 2400 (just checked and it's the same as my new Macbook!). With that processor, I could put more RAM (for example 8gb)?

Diabalo

I had bought RAM from Memory C as per this thread for a laptop:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=76323246

I went to install it today but noticed the Transcend DDR2 RAM is for a desktop and not a laptop :rolleyes: Such a stupid mistake and wish I had taken my time while making the order. I had RAM picked out for the laptop that would have suited but changed my mind at the last minute and the packet is opened so can't return.

But it might have happened for luck and it won't go to waste as I now have an extra 4gb DDR2 RAM available and can be used on this build. I'm still going to upgrade the RAM on the laptop but will take a while longer now.

Serephucus

G620 vs. E8400. The G620 is a 2.6GHz version of the G530 (2.4GHz), as Ananadtech don't list the G530.

A H61 motherboard would actually let you go all the way up to an i7 2600K, but won't let you overclock, hence the i5 2400; the most powerful processor of Intel's current line that can't be overclocked.

And yes, you could add as much RAM as you like. I think the max H61 boards support is 16GB or something.


Also: Never, ever, ever, ever buy computer components from Maplin. Ever.

Diabalo

Serephucus wrote: »

G620 vs. E8400. The G620 is a 2.6GHz version of the G530 (2.4GHz), as Ananadtech don't list the G530.

A H61 motherboard would actually let you go all the way up to an i7 2600K, but won't let you overclock, hence the i5 2400; the most powerful processor of Intel's current line that can't be overclocked.

And yes, you could add as much RAM as you like. I think the max H61 boards support is 16GB or something.


Also: Never, ever, ever, ever buy computer components from Maplin. Ever.

It's great that I could build a system on a budget and have a spec like an i5 2400 processor and so much RAM. :eek: It's something I would not have thought would have been possible to be honest. I don't now anything about overclocking but will look into it Thanks

The day I bought that motherboard in Maplin the customer service was absolutely terrible (a lot of places are like that even now even though they moan about the recession). Got sold the wrong type of hard drive. I haven't bought any computer stuff in there but go there often to buy other bits and tools.