G400 and Intel E7205 "granite bay" chipset with protection circuit?

[Kuja]

Hi,

I'm in the process of upgrading my old computer, or better, building a new one.
I'm planning to buy a new Gigabyte GA-8INXP mobo with Intel E7205 "granite bay" chipset.
Since I'm not a gamer and I work mainly in Photoshop, Parhelia (considering its price), seems to be a overkill. So I would like to keep my old trusty G400 for a while, untill Parhelia's price drops.
My G400 is a later G4+MDH4A32G 906-4 rev. B model.
Is it going to work on this motherboard?
I know that it is AGP4X and that it has some auto sensing thing that should set correct voltage of 1.5V.
BUT... GA-8INXP has some protection circuit that will test the graphic card and won't let you use it if it is 3.3V.
So what comes first - the chicken or the egg?
Is following scenario possible: G400 is by default set to 3.3V, so the motherboard senses that and refuses to work, thus not allowing G400 to switch to proper voltage?
So nothing works, but it actually should?
Maybe this is really a stupid question and this is the reason why I couldn't find any proper answer on the internet, but it is bugging me since GA-8INXP is not that cheap and in the part of the world that I live in, I can not just try it. I must buy it first...

Thanks,

Aleksandar

[Wombat]

The G400's auto-detection should work. If it doesn't (only the very earliest G400s had this issue, yours should be fine), then no harm done. Just pencil over R68, and that should make everybody think they're in 1.5V land.

[Kuja]

Thanks Wombat!

I'v seen earlier something about "pencil over R68", but I don't have a clue what R68 is and how it should be done? What kind of pencil? What exactly this procedure does?

Aleksandar

[Kruzin]

Since your card is a "4A" model, you won't need to mod the card.
That procedure is only for the pre-4A models...

[Goc]

It will work. No problem.

[Kurt]

Re: G400 and Intel E7205 "granite bay" chipset with protection circuit?

Originally posted by Kuja
Hi,

I'm in the process of upgrading my old computer, or better, building a new one.
I'm planning to buy a new Gigabyte GA-8INXP mobo with Intel E7205 "granite bay" chipset.
Since I'm not a gamer and I work mainly in Photoshop, Parhelia (considering its price), seems to be a overkill. So I would like to keep my old trusty G400 for a while, untill Parhelia's price drops.
My G400 is a later G4+MDH4A32G 906-4 rev. B model.
Is it going to work on this motherboard?
I know that it is AGP4X and that it has some auto sensing thing that should set correct voltage of 1.5V.
BUT... GA-8INXP has some protection circuit that will test the graphic card and won't let you use it if it is 3.3V.
So what comes first - the chicken or the egg?
Is following scenario possible: G400 is by default set to 3.3V, so the motherboard senses that and refuses to work, thus not allowing G400 to switch to proper voltage?
So nothing works, but it actually should?
Maybe this is really a stupid question and this is the reason why I couldn't find any proper answer on the internet, but it is bugging me since GA-8INXP is not that cheap and in the part of the world that I live in, I can not just try it. I must buy it first...

Thanks,

Aleksandar

you're to decide but I wouldn't invest in the granite bay chipset if I were you.

1/ you need to make sure the board support Hyper transport (you might not need it, again it's up to you -not all of them support it)

2/ there's the new SIS Rambus chipset (quad channel) coming real -methinks if you want to pay so much for a board, invest in a really fast one.

3/ why not consider the 845PE one? (8PE667 or sth like that) it's pretty cheap and pretty fast (you won't see the difference with the granite bay one).

cheers.

[George YS]

Originally posted by Kuja
Thanks Wombat!

I'v seen earlier something about "pencil over R68", but I don't have a clue what R68 is and how it should be done? What kind of pencil? What exactly this procedure does?

Aleksandar

R68 was soldered with a 0 ohm resister on later revisions, it grouds 4x detection pin of AGP interface, so that mobo can recognise the card and switch AGP voltage to 1.5V.

[mmp121]

Quick question,

I'm having trouble getting my Shuttle System (System 2 in sig) to boot with my G400 MAX in it. My card # is G4+MMDHA32G. Since I'm obviously missing the 4A in that, I am assuming my card is one with a problem. I looked all over the card for R68, but can't find it anywhere.

Can someone point me in the right direction for directions on how to fix my card to work in my Intel 845G based system? Thanks much!

[jayhooni]

Isn't it dangerous?

Originally posted by Wombat
The G400's auto-detection should work. If it doesn't (only the very earliest G400s had this issue, yours should be fine), then no harm done. Just pencil over R68, and that should make everybody think they're in 1.5V land.

Actually, I was worrying about shorting out using a pencil.
Isn't It goning to damage the card or circuit?
Do you recommend using a pencil or soldering for R68?
Because not many people know about this modification, so I need your help.
Again, thanks for your help.

[Wombat]

A pencil should work quite fine. It's just a signalling voltage, not a high-current circuit, so things will be pretty happy. It's kind of like using the "pencil trick" to unlock Athlons.

[R.Carter]

Re: Re: G400 and Intel E7205 "granite bay" chipset with protection circuit?

Originally posted by Kurt
2/ there's the new SIS Rambus chipset (quad channel) coming real -methinks if you want to pay so much for a board, invest in a really fast one.

If you are going to wait, then why not consider a Springdale (i865) or Canterwood (i875) chipset motherboard?

Both should be out sometime this year and support dual channel DDR and 800MHz FSB speeds.

If you really want to wait and "future proof", then I'd wait to see what's going to happen with the new Prescott core P4 processors and PCI Express.

Edit: There is a benchmark here of the i865 with 2xDDR400.

Edit: According to this article the i875P along with the 3.0 GHz 800MHz P4 processor should be available in mid April. The i865G, i865P and i865PE chipsets should be out in mid May along with the 2.40C, 2.60C and 2.80C GHz P4 processors.

[Matrox Man]

Get a G550 to be safe. Although I highly recommend the Parhelia, its really more of an investment piece. You will absolutely love the giga color support especially in photoshop.