My630i.com

Well, after much thought and consideration, I am more than likely finally going to do the mobo swap. It looks like I may be going with the EVGA 780i FTW mobo. (I'd love to go with an i7 setup, but just cant justify the cost right now.) I've read all the posts, tips, resource collective, etc on this forum regading the mobo swap. However, I've never done a mobo swap before so there are a few things I just want to be certain of.

1) For this mobo, there should be no modding of the wires, cables etc and all the wires will reach everything.

2) All the pretty light colors will still work.

3) The stock heatsink will work with this mobo, but I should clean and reapply some new thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5).

4) Its safe to assume that whatever cables I unplug from the 650i mobo will get reconnected to the new mobo.

Like I said, I've never done a mobo swap before so I am a little nervous, but I assume it should be pretty straight forward and a good learning experience. If anyone has any tips and suggestions I'm all ears.

Thanks.
(edit renumbered questions)

_________________
XPS 630i, Red Bezel Chassis
Intel Core 2 E8500 (6MB,3.16 GHz, 1333FSB)
Xigmatek Nepartak - S983 92mm HYPRO Bearing CPU Cooler
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
EVGA 780i FTW motherboard
nVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512MB SLI Overclocked
- GPU Clock 710 MHz/ Memory 1000 MHz/ Shader 1700 MHz
22 inch UltraSharp 2208WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor
500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
Dual Drives: 48x Combo + 16x DVD+/-RW

1) Correct
2) Correct
3) Correct
4) Correct

The only suggestion I'm going to make is upgrading the heatsink. If you're going to have it off anyway, you may as well go ahead and do it. You're going to be able to overclock your memory and cpu with this new motherboard, so I'd prefer you to already have a good heatsink installed for when you start the process.

Other than that, buy a good anti-static wrist band, and have an extra long, slim screwdriver. Newegg has some Rosewill kits on sale right now for pretty cheap, and they work great.

Out of curiosity, what's your main reason for upgrading the board? I'm just asking because your current setup is matched pretty well, and you can definitely overclock your cpu if you want with the stock motherboard. If you aren't upgrading the cpu and memory, I'm not very confident that you're going to be all that impressed with the peformance gain.

To be honest, you could overclock your cpu to 3.8GHz with the stock heatsink, and your system will run like an entirely different system.

_________________
i7 980X @ 4.5GHz cooled w/ a Koolance CPU-360
EVGA X58 E762 4-way SLI w/ EK full board water block
6GB Corsair Dominator GT 2000MHz CL7
Dual GTX 480 SC's in SLI
Triple 30GB OCZ Vertex Turbos in RAID 0
Dual WD Caviar Black 1TB's in RAID 0
CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 1250w
Win7 x64
Lian LI PC-P80B
Koolance ERM-2K3U external water cooler

Good Q&A on the mobo swap...Greg maybe a new addition to the Resource Collective?

_________________
XPS 630 Q6600 @ 3.2 GHz OC | Win 7 Pro 64-bit/Win XP Pro 32-bit | 4GB DC DDR2 800MHz |
BFG OCE GTX 275 896MB | 500GB SATA No RAID | 16X CD/DVD Burner Single Drive |
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My XPS 630 Blog

Thanks for the suggestions JDookie.



I'll admit, I've been contemplating the whole mobo upgrade since I joined this forum after buying my 630i. I have a couple reasons.

First, the fact that the stock mobo is PCIe 1.0 x8. I know. I know. I've read all the posts. Even DrB's very informative chart regarding the lanes and if its really necessary. I do realize it probably won't make much of a difference if at all using 9800GTs. However, I eventually do plan to upgrade to a single high end GPU and feel that having PCIe 1.0 x8 will limit the performance of a high end GPU. I'm just waiting for the new GTX 300 series cards to come out.

Second of all, I've never done a mobo swap before. Its simply something I'd like to learn how to do and know that I can do it.

I realize the 780i FTW is probably overkill for me since I am not an overclocker. The only reason I'm going with this board is because I may have found a new one someone is selling for a decent price.



Do you still suggest a heatsink upgrade even if I do not plan on overclocking?

_________________
XPS 630i, Red Bezel Chassis
Intel Core 2 E8500 (6MB,3.16 GHz, 1333FSB)
Xigmatek Nepartak - S983 92mm HYPRO Bearing CPU Cooler
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
EVGA 780i FTW motherboard
nVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512MB SLI Overclocked
- GPU Clock 710 MHz/ Memory 1000 MHz/ Shader 1700 MHz
22 inch UltraSharp 2208WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor
500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
Dual Drives: 48x Combo + 16x DVD+/-RW

Okay, I see where you're coming from now. PCIe 1.0 x8 would definitely be a reason to upgrade if you're planning on upgrading your video card. If you were keeping the 9800GT, the upgrade still wouldn't be necessary though.

As of right now, there really is no *need* to upgrade from PICe 2.0 x8 to PCIe 2.0 x16, BUT there IS a big difference between PCIe 1.0 to 2.0.

I can also see where you're coming from with just simply wanting to upgrade the board for experience. When I upgraded my stock board to a 790i FTW, I really learned a lot, and it made me understand how everything worked much better. It was a good lesson.

Yes, the 780i FTW is overkill if you aren't overclocking, which brings me to my next question. Why don't you want to overclock? It's extremely easy, and when you do make your video card upgrade, it will almost be a necessity since you're running a dual core cpu. Actually, even when running the fastest i7, which is a quad core cpu with hyperthread technology (8 virtual cores)), its STILL too slow, at stock clocks, to get the most out of these beasts we call gpu's now.

That being said, I can almost promise you that you're eventually going to want to overclock your cpu, even if its only a little bit, so, yes, I still recommend upgrading your heatsink.

_________________
i7 980X @ 4.5GHz cooled w/ a Koolance CPU-360
EVGA X58 E762 4-way SLI w/ EK full board water block
6GB Corsair Dominator GT 2000MHz CL7
Dual GTX 480 SC's in SLI
Triple 30GB OCZ Vertex Turbos in RAID 0
Dual WD Caviar Black 1TB's in RAID 0
CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 1250w
Win7 x64
Lian LI PC-P80B
Koolance ERM-2K3U external water cooler

Well, its not that I don't want to overclock. I just don't have a thorough enough knowledge and understanding at the moment on how to do it properly. Heck, I'd never even seen the word overclock mentioned more until I joined this forum . Perhaps when I get the new mobo I will read up on it more and start experimenting. However, my work keeps me away from home 4-5 days out of the week. If I'm not spending time with my wife, I'd rather just spend whatever little free time I have to actually do a little gaming instead of playing around with bios settings, running stress tests, and monitoring cpu temps.



Alright. Can you recommend a decent heatsink to use with the 780i FTW mobo and E8500? I'm browsing on NewEgg. Do I want a fan and heatsink or just a heatsink?

_________________
XPS 630i, Red Bezel Chassis
Intel Core 2 E8500 (6MB,3.16 GHz, 1333FSB)
Xigmatek Nepartak - S983 92mm HYPRO Bearing CPU Cooler
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
EVGA 780i FTW motherboard
nVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512MB SLI Overclocked
- GPU Clock 710 MHz/ Memory 1000 MHz/ Shader 1700 MHz
22 inch UltraSharp 2208WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor
500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
Dual Drives: 48x Combo + 16x DVD+/-RW

At this point in the game, he should go ahead with the mobo swap. Once he start OC'ing the dual core, eventually he might want to upgrade to a quad core. This will allow him the flexibilty to upgrade to a quad core that he will be able to OC (since Dell's famous mobo can't OC the Q9000 quad series). Having the 780i FTW will allow him to use the LG775 format much longer since it has about another 1 to 2 years of usage left.



I'll get back to you with that one...I need a little time to observe the 780i's cpu placement and then I can give you some suggestions

I agree with JDookie on this one but only if you're aiming at moderate OC'ing, the Dell heatsink will be fine. FYI...you might have to order a universal heatsink retention bracket. I believe you will not be able to use that plastic retention plate that's underneath the stock mobo that secures the heatsink.



That's what we're here for



I can get back with you on that one...need a little time to observe the cpu placement on the 780i mobo. You want to make sure it will fit inside the case properly

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drBlah,

Can't he just use a Dark Knight? It fit perfectly with my 790i with no modifications or an extra retension plate to buy. It actually came with one for both the 775 and 1366 sockets, and for only 40 bucks.

Overclocked or not, I still think he should upgrade the heatsink. I mean, why not? It can only help, and for only $40, it really doesn't make sense to keep playing with the stock unit.

sandstorm,

Don't worry about the overclocking process, we can get you set up with a mild overclock that will make your gaming experience much better, and with minimal efforts. It's easier than you think, especially with a good motherboard like you're upgrading to.

_________________
i7 980X @ 4.5GHz cooled w/ a Koolance CPU-360
EVGA X58 E762 4-way SLI w/ EK full board water block
6GB Corsair Dominator GT 2000MHz CL7
Dual GTX 480 SC's in SLI
Triple 30GB OCZ Vertex Turbos in RAID 0
Dual WD Caviar Black 1TB's in RAID 0
CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 1250w
Win7 x64
Lian LI PC-P80B
Koolance ERM-2K3U external water cooler

I do not want to say yes too soon. If you look at the comparison of the 780i & 790i cpu placement, you will clearly see that the cpu placement is higher on the 790i mobo. Not sure by how much but it is obvious. Although we were able to get the Xig Dark Knight on our 790i's with no problem, the situation might be different on the 780i. Now I'm not saying it will not fit...honestly I think it will but it could possibly require some minor cutting on the door panel flange...it might. He will never know until he buys the Xig DK & try to install it.



It might be a similar situation with the Megahalems installed on the 790i. fastrhoads & I had thought the Megahalems will fit with no problem but we knew it was going to be a tight fit. Remember what had happened. It was so tight that we had to cut the door flange on the case and on the door panel.

My personal opinion is that it will fit but do not be surprise if you have to do a little cutting on the door flange

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Ahhh, I see said the blind man.

You're completely right. The placement of the cpu is obviously different between the two, and from the looks of it, I don't think the DK will work. I know it was a very tight fit with the 790, so he would definitely have to do a little cutting to get it to work on the 780, and I don't think he wants to go through all that.

So what *definitely* fits? The Zalman maybe?

_________________
i7 980X @ 4.5GHz cooled w/ a Koolance CPU-360
EVGA X58 E762 4-way SLI w/ EK full board water block
6GB Corsair Dominator GT 2000MHz CL7
Dual GTX 480 SC's in SLI
Triple 30GB OCZ Vertex Turbos in RAID 0
Dual WD Caviar Black 1TB's in RAID 0
CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 1250w
Win7 x64
Lian LI PC-P80B
Koolance ERM-2K3U external water cooler