n-force motherboard question

[prarie]

Got a question about N-force motherboards. Can you use a N-Force Motherboard without a graphics card? The reason I am asking is there are a lot of "new" computers for sale which talk about shared or integrate memory, now is this why? If not, what is integrate or shared memory? Yes I realize that shared/integrated memory is not even remotely the ideal situation, just curious about it as a friend is looking for a new computer (previous post) and now my motherboard (socket A) slave port will not hold an ide cable. Found this out when I tried to install my new dvd burner. So either I go the cheap way and just get a new cheap socket A board for $60, or spend money on a new chip and new board, but don't want to buy a new graphics card yet. My current card is a Geoforce 3 deluxe and I am not a gamer. Watch some dvd movies, but mostly various school work (word, excel, etc). If buying a N-force and running it without a graphics card for now, would it be "better" than my current set up (geoforce 3 64 MB)?

Thanks.

[Shinma]

...Can you use a N-Force Motherboard without a graphics card?...

Depends on model.
Some have onboard video, others do not.

[tsehou]

As Shinma said, to use an n-force motherboard without a graphics card the nforce motherboard must have onboard video that is built into the motherboard, usually referred to as integrated graphics. For nforce2 motherboards, the onboard video is worse than your geforce 3. But since you aren't going to be using the computer for gaming, then this isn't really a concern. It's fine for watching videos and doing other stuff than gaming.

When looking at integrated graphics you need to know that since the graphics processor is integrated into the motherboard it needs to use system RAM. This is where the shared term comes from because for the graphics processor, because to do work it needs to store data somewhere in memory. For video cards, the memory comes on the video card, but for integrated graphics they use system RAM. Thus integrated graphics "shares" the system RAM with your system.

An alternative to share is dedicated where additional RAM on the motherboard is dedicated for use by the graphic processor.

[AMD]

Got a question about N-force motherboards. Can you use a N-Force Motherboard without a graphics card? The reason I am asking is there are a lot of "new" computers for sale which talk about shared or integrate memory, now is this why? If not, what is integrate or shared memory? Yes I realize that shared/integrated memory is not even remotely the ideal situation, just curious about it as a friend is looking for a new computer (previous post) and now my motherboard (socket A) slave port will not hold an ide cable. Found this out when I tried to install my new dvd burner. So either I go the cheap way and just get a new cheap socket A board for $60, or spend money on a new chip and new board, but don't want to buy a new graphics card yet. My current card is a Geoforce 3 deluxe and I am not a gamer. Watch some dvd movies, but mostly various school work (word, excel, etc). If buying a N-force and running it without a graphics card for now, would it be "better" than my current set up (geoforce 3 64 MB)

Thanks.

a)You can not get a good quality motherboard for $60; minimum $80 - most of them are above $100.

b) I would just some insulating (electrical) tape to hold the cable in. If not, a PCI card can be installed instead of changing the whole board.

c)There is no need to replace the video card either way. (new board Vs. PCI card) A Geforce 3 will work as long as it has a AGP slot

d) The only half decent onboard video offered is a Geforce 4MX, and it's slower than what you have right now

[prarie]

a) So I should avoid Asrock motherboards (K7VM3 for $55, or K7VT4A Pro for $57)?

b) I will try tape

c) My mb is old and flakey (Asus A7A 266) - XP has North/South Bridge conflicts so have to do work around to get AGP Texture Acceleration Enabled. Was thinking about doing a larger upgrade (AMD 64 - 3000 Venice, Asus A8N-E or DFI UT NT4) because it may offer longer upgrade path, but would have to buy new graphics card, and eventually dual channel memory but many other things I could spend $600 on.

Thanks everyone for the help.

[AMD]

There are socket 939 motherboards which support AGP cards.

The chipsets back then for Socket A motherboards were far from ideal - many systems had problems with resource management. It's a separate issue; one which can be solved by getting key components on to their own IRQs. Some "tinkering"/playing around is necessary though.

ASrock is essentially OEM Asus; typically used in packages by larger manufacturers. I have no experience with them - not sure about quality, probably not the worst out there.

[prarie]

Thanks.

[prarie]

Well decided to take things out and get a better look at the problem, bent pin, so a flashlight, tweesers, and patience, it works again. Thanks again for all the suggestions.