Is GA-G41M Combo a good Motherboard and does it support uefi?

[razor2890]

Hi Guys!!!
Its been a long time(about a year) since I logged on to TPU!!!(I couldn't afford the internet connection) Was an undergrad.
I was without internet for almost a year in 2012-13!!! Can you imagine that...
Now I got a job & I pay for my own stuff. Its really exciting when you earn.

That aside, I am in dilemma,

Last week my mobo(DG33FB) which I was using for past 5 years went bust... System Config is:

Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600)
Mobo : DG33FB
RAM : 2 GB DDR2
Graphics : Nvidia XFX 9600GT 512 MB (I only play games once a week ~3hrs)
HDD : 250 GB WD2500AAJS (Primary Boot Disk)
2 TB WD2000EARX Caviar Green

I know this system is very old. Also Graphics is too less but I am still able to play Batman Arkham City and even Far Cry 3 at medium settings without stutter.

Now since my mobo's gone, I went to my dealer & he suggested me to buy GA-G41M Combo which can support both DDR2 & DDR3 memory. Is this a Good Board?

Also I am planning to buy a 2 or 3 TB Caviar Black and a 4 TB WD HDD which came to market recently. Now I know that when you use a HDD more than 2.2 TB, you have to format it as GPT and not MBR. For GPT you need UEFI supporting PC. It shows in Bios. My original mobo DG33FB had support for UEFI.


Does GA-G41M Combo?
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4213#sp

Now I don't know whether my mobo will be rev 1.3/1.4/2.0. Please tell me whether all of them support it. I couldn't find info regarding it on google.

Is this board good? If not can you guys suggest me something else?

 

[RCoon]

I swear my best friends brother has that Mobo with a Core 2 Quad in it. And his doesnt have 3TB+ support. The whole RAM thing is stupid though, 2 slots for DDR2 and 2 for DDR3

I recommend you save all that money and buy a CPU+MOBO+RAM combo to replace your existing gear, an i3 kit or something.

Good old XFX 9600GT's! great cards. baked one once.

 

[razor2890]

I swear my best friends brother has that Mobo with a Core 2 Quad in it. And his doesnt have 3TB+ support.

So can you suggest me other boards which will support both core2quad Q6600 and 3TB+ HDD

The whole RAM thing is stupid though, 2 slots for DDR2 and 2 for DDR3

I feel this is pretty stupid thing on mobo!!!
How will you put 8GB memory? 4Gb DDR2 and 4GB DDR3????
Just curious will it work???

Good old XFX 9600GT's! great cards.

This is one hell of a card!!! Its more than I bargained for!!!

 

[RCoon]

So can you suggest me other boards which will support both core2quad Q6600 and 3TB+ HDD

Bare with me

I feel this is pretty stupid thing on mobo!!!
How will you put 8GB memory? 4Gb DDR2 and 4GB DDR3????
Just curious will it work???

I dont think it will. I'm fairly certain there is no way it will work.
Could be wrong, if it did work it would be AWFUL.

This is one hell of a card!!! Its more than I bargained for!!!

I've still got a 8800 and 9800 knocking around somewhere from XFX, one with a funky green cooler on a terrible bent copper heatsink.

 

[RCoon]

I'll update this list as I find it, apologies for the double post, but I'd like to keep it seperate.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3727#ov

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3972#ov

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3743#ov

 

[razor2890]

I recommend you save all that money and buy a CPU MOBO RAM combo to replace your existing gear, an i3 kit or something.

I can spend Rs.5K(~$100) right now.
If I go to buy a Mobo+cpu+RAM I will go for the latest ones..
Probably i7.
But I can't afford new system on my money.

At the Time my Dad bought it for me. Don't want to ask him for money anymore...

 

[RCoon]

See above list, cant find ANY motherboards other than Gigabyte ones that have 3TB+ support. ASRock does have a 3TB+ unlocker, but I'm sure you'd rather have a clean cut operating out the box motherboard.

 

[razor2890]

All of the boards are DDR3....
My RAM is DDR2!!
Will it work on a DDR3 board??
I don't think so..
I may be wrong.

 

[RCoon]

All of the boards are DDR3....
My RAM is DDR2!!
Will it work on a DDR3 board??
I don't think so..
I may be wrong.

Cant find a 775 DDR2 3TB+ motherboard :<

 

[razor2890]

Cant find a 775 DDR2 3TB motherboard

Some of the boards were manufactured in 2011 and still not have 3TB+ support.

Okkk. I will buy 2TB Caviar Black & use it as boot HDD.

Will I be able to use a 4TB internal HDD or will it only show as 2.2TB??\
What if I partitined the 4TB drive into say less than 2TB's???

 

[RCoon]

Some of the boards were manufactured in 2011 and still not have 3TB+ support.

Okkk. I will buy 2TB Caviar Black & use it as boot HDD.

Will I be able to use a 4TB internal HDD or will it only show as 2.2TB??\
What if I partitined the 4TB drive into say less than 2TB's???

You will have to partition the 4TB drive into two 2TB partitions with Parted Magic or GParted.
Instead of a 2TB boot HDD, why not buy a samsung SSD instead? Why do you need 2TB for Windows and software???

 

[razor2890]

Did my original board DG33FB support 3TB+ HDD's?
I always thought it did...

 

[RCoon]

Did my original board DG33FB support 3TB+ HDD's?
I always thought it did...

Nope!

 

[razor2890]

why not buy a samsung SSD instead?

SSDs in India are very expensive!!
128GB costs ~5K($100)
256GB costs ~11K($210)
All electronics are ~$50 to $100 expensive here than in US/UK

Besides I need Storage space also...

 

[RCoon]

SSDs in India are very expensive!!
128GB costs ~5K($100)
256GB costs ~11K($210)
All electronics are ~$50 to $100 expensive here than in US/UK

And how much is a WD 2TB Caviar Black in IR?

Besides I need Storage space also...

That's what the 4TB is for! try not to store data on the same drive as Windows, slows it down. Especially if you're accessing it at the same time.

 

[razor2890]

And how much is a WD 2TB Caviar Black in IR?

2TB WD Caviar Black==9K
But I will also get storage space
or
Better I will get 1TB WD Caviar Black === 5.7K

That's what the 4TB is for! try not to store data on the same drive as Windows, slows it down. Especially if you're accessing it at the same time.

ok.
But I was actually planning to get 4TB drive after about 2-3 months

I just need this system to function properly for a year/year and a half.. I will upgrade as soon as possible after that...

 

[RCoon]

Ideally, I'd get a 1 or 2TB Caviar black + Samsung 840 Basic 120GB ~ 10k IR?
HAGGLE THEM DOWN!

 

[razor2890]

Will SSD give any performance boost with this system?

 

[RCoon]

Will SSD give any performance boost with this system?

Windows would boot in 15 seconds, software would load almost instantly, games might load a few seconds faster. Very snappy.
Samsung 840 Basic 120 is 6500-7000 IR on Flip Kart
WD Blue 2TB is also almost 7000 IR on Flip Kart

 

[ne6togadno]

ga-g41m is award bios
overall gigabyte jumped quite late at uefi train so if you want 775 mb with uefi better look elseware. asrock and msi have 775 boards with ami bios but duno if it has uefi support.
get cheapest mb you can get and save money for new rig.

dont listen to rcoon he is lier . windows boot in 30 sec. 15 sec is on sata3

btw why you need so much hdd space. are you planing to download internet?

 

[RCoon]

dont listen to rcoon he is lier. windows boot in 30 sec. 15 sec is on sata3

Slightly harsh there friend. Forgot about Sata2 on 775 MoBos. Regardless, SSD would still show immense improvement on 3Gbps Sata ports.

 

[ne6togadno]

Slightly harsh there friend. Forgot about Sata2 on 775 MoBos. Regardless, SSD would still show immense improvement on 3Gbps Sata ports.

ok sry

dont listen to rcoon he is lier

better now

improvement over hdd is indisputable. i have laptop with 7200 hdd and desktop with sdd both sata 2 boards. ssd boots 2 times faster then hdd. on sata3 will be 4 times faster.
razor can buy sata3 ssd and use it again in future rig with up to date hardware

 

[razor2890]

You guys may be thinking, why am I asking so many questions because I usually end up with products that are always on the decline... & in this case compatibility issue with processor...

Like When I bought my PC in 2008, I was not aware that DDR3 was already in the market..Even my dealer failed to mention it...

So should I go with GA-G41M Combo??

 

[ne6togadno]

You guys may be thinking, why am I asking so many questions because I usually end up with products that are always on the decline... & in this case compatibility issue with processor...

Like When I bought my PC in 2008, I was not aware that DDR3 was already in the market..Even my dealer failed to mention it...

So should I go with GA-G41M Combo??

if you dont have something cheaper take it. you need something to replace dead mb, but dont spend too much money on obsolate pc.
better save money for new rig with up to date hardware.
for about 500-600$ you can get decent entry lvl pc with sata3 mb, usb3, 8+ gb ram, ssd, 1-1.5tb hdd and decent video

can you give the name of the that famos indian online store that all guys here from india use to link hardware

 

[Jetster]

Sorry I didnt read the whole thread but for GPT your dont need UEFI to partition. Only to boot to the drive you need UEFI. You can partition 3 or 4 Tb as long as you run Windows 7 without UEFI

So you can partition a 3 Tb drive with a 775 with DDR2. Just not to boot to. As long as you run W7 or 8