Any problems with a new MB and my existing kit?

[glowball]

Hi folks and folkesses,

My Abit IX38 QuadGT has suffered a slow and painful death - or at least that's how it felt to me and I need to replace it.

The board I have in mind ticks all the right boxes and more importantly - the colour is right.
As far as I can see it shouldn't cause any problems with my existing kit but wanted to ask for your expert opinions, don't want to end up having to buy replacement parts... times are hard.

Board is GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P and my existing kit as per 'specs'
GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Overview - GA-EP45-UD3P (rev. 1.0)

Gigabyte doesn't list my RAM, if fact they hardly list any Crucial RAM at all but Crucial says it's compatible.

Thanks for any help.

[AJW256]

The only potential problem I can see there is the memory. I had trouble with Crucial Ballistix on my P35C-DS3R & @ the time of purchasing my board the same was true with other Gigabut boards as well. But the problem should have been solved by now. Just thought I'd warn u so u can check it out first.

[Clunk]

I think Supershanks will have one of those to review soon, so we will know more then.

[glowball]

AJW256, I haven't heard anything negative so far - so fingers crossed.

Clunk, that's great news as I have found these forums to be so helpful in the past.
If I do decide over the weekend, I'll be getting mine early next week and will probably need all the help I can get.

[Clunk]

Hopefully things will go a little smoother for you this time

[Kelainefes]

Back your data up as i wouldn't be sure that the RAID array will be functional on the new motherboard.
Or it will be?

[glowball]

On one of the last times I did get the IX38 working the first thing I did was to back 'everything' up.

My plan is to initially try the hard disks on the new board but will probably do a fresh install before long as it's been a while since it was first installed. Come to think of it, I haven't yet had to re-install my Vista 64!

[glowball]

It seems from other forums that my RAM 'shouldn't' give me any problems so I have just ordered the board.
eBuyer don't seem to double the delivery cost for a Saturday delivery so I shouldn't have long to wait.
Also ordered some pretty blue coolant to match the board - not that it will be visible.
Living on just porridge and water now.

[Clunk]

At least you have water to go with the porridge, that's the main thing

[glowball]

Little update for anyone interested:

The board arrived early this morning - 10/10 eBuyer and CityLink.
Can't fault the build quality, all looks very neat. No on-board lights to indicate power/safe to add or remove RAM. CMOS clear jumpers in a bad place for my case - no clear switch on back panel either. No LED post code reader - might miss that if this board is anything the IX38. Looks like I will have to remove graphics card to remove the battery.
The pretty blue heat sinks are a little larger than I had imagined - don't have a problem with that but will have to look into their effectiveness with and without the GigaByte name covers on them. Most probably better off without.
I had to shave some plastic away from my Zalman back-plate as there's a few soldered pins on the back of the board that 'just' interfere with the fit. Note if you have metal back-plate.
Booted up fine first time, everything running cool, RAM booted up at 533MHz/2.1v - so that was a pleasant surprise after all the Abit problems I had been having. For testing I just copied OS from HTPC onto a spare HDD and loaded drivers - no problems. In the process of checking it all out at stock speeds before putting it into the case and setting up the water-cooling.

Initial impressions are very good, I was aware of the boards missing extras and I can easily make an extension for the CMOS clear jumper.
Gets my thumbs-up