Platform Question for Vista

drcarlos · #1 (**permalink**) 05-03-08, 01:04 PM

I migrated my Media Centre to Vista last week first trying the 64bit (failed due to SPDIF output issues) and now 32bit. I have been having platform issues with my Nforce3 based board, Athlon x2 CPU, Radeon 9600XT and Vista. Basically the Nforce3 will not support x2 and Radeon at the same time, so the suggestion was to either change GPU or Motherboard. I went down the GPU route as it was easier (I need AGP and DDR400 compatibility) and brought a Geforce 7300GT. This card is giving major problems with TDR's and the PC is unusable, so it is going back and I am looking for a replacement mobo having had an Abit KV8Pro (KT800 based) for 3 hassle free years I have found an AV8 3rd Eye (a socket 939 version of the KT800) which I am thinking of bidding on.
Has anyone used one with a Radeon, AthlonX2 and Vista? Does it work well? Is there good driver support (Nvidia don't support the Nforce3 anymore and the KT800 is about as old)? Do you get any TDR's?

Cheers,

Carl.

drcarlos · #2 (**permalink**) 05-03-08, 09:37 PM

Thanks to whoever moved the post, my internet at work is so slow woth this forum that finding the other section was traumatic enough.
Anyway from my reading it appears that there are no issues under Vista with the K8T800 Pro chipset, where as my Nforce3 (about as old) is not supported

.
Looks like either an Asus A8V or Abit AV8 for me then.

Carl.

Mr. Chris · #3 (**permalink**) 06-03-08, 04:42 PM

I don't know about Vista on the AV8 but I can tell you it is one great board. I had one with a Dual Core Opteron 175 and a 6800GT video card, it's still going strong at a friend's house (upgraded to socket AM2 and a PCI-E video card).

Never had any luck with Asus altho some folks swear by them. Good luck! Chris.

Sisk0 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-03-08, 01:50 PM

I didn't think Vista mediacenter worked as well as MCE 2005. Yeah it looked way better, but I thought menu navigation was not as logical, has some problems with DVD playback and I needed to edit the registery to get some things working the same as in MCE 2005. But on the other hand it didn't add anything new that I would miss if returning to MCE 2005. So I moved back.

I use Vista in all other cases by the way, just the media center is not my 'thing'.

Zardoc · #5 (**permalink**) 07-03-08, 09:34 PM

I'm using Media Center with a Hauppauge 1800 pcie 1x and man this baby works like a charm.

I don't see much of an advantage compared to Media center 2005 either but I do like the look a lot better.