Gigabyte GA-7VRX for $46 (refurb) is this a good deal?

[john240sx]

it's a little too late (i just ordered it from newegg) but is $46 shipped a good price for a refurb Gigabyte GA-7VRX?

here's the link for the newegg listing
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...factory=1314&Type=Refurbish&sortby=14&order=1

(please consider that i'm currently running PC-133, i'm not upgrading from another DDR board)

 

[Hood]

john240sx
If its a Rev2.0 thats an excellent price, if its a Rev1.0 or 1.1 its still a good price but there have been probs with them and GF4 Ti's etc. If they are truely refurbished they should have been fixed and you should have no probs. If when you get it and it is a Rev1.0 or 1.1 have a look at the lowest Mosfet at the bottom left of the North Bridge and see if a capacitor has been soldered between one of the legs and ground. If it has been done great if it hasnt you will probably still be OK but thought I would just say incase you have a GF4 and have probs(save a lot of heartache if you know whats wrong).
Hood

 

[john240sx]

thanks for the heads up Hood. no problem about the GF4 though, i'm still running a MX400 that's next on my list though
i have to wait until it gets here to find out what revision it is. i hope it's 2.0

 

[Hood]

john240sx
No probs. I am using a GF2 MX400 on my Rev 2 and a TNT2 on my Rev1.0 (VRXP's) I have never had a prob with either and tried with a M8's Ti4600 and both worked flawlessly. I have since got my Rev2.0 up to 178FSB and it is rock solid and this is with an unlocked 2100 running 10.5X so thats 1870MHz, and I couldnt be happier.
Hood

 

[Tipycol]

How good is this board? I was thinking about getting a replacement for the PII that the family uses, and I would like to know how this board performs. Does it have any problems running at 166fsb?


Thanks

Tipycol

 

[Hood]

Tipycol
I have the VRXP and with F11 BIOS i am running at 178FSB no probs. I think the VRX will struggle at the moment cause its equivilent of the F11 is not out yet, but when it is you should have no probs, as long as you go thru the routine and have good enough DDR etc. The new BIOS is supposedly coming out any day now and hopefully it will address the prob of having to go thru the routine on a cold boot.
Hood
EDIT
Make sure it is a Rev1.1 or 2.0, this is because they have the CE North Bridge which is capable of implementing the 1/5 divider. The Rev1.0 has the CD N/Bridge and does not have the capability to use the 1/5, this is true of both the VRX and VRXP.

 

[Tipycol]

What are the differences between the VRX and VRXP?

 

[Hood]

Tipycol
Main diff is that the VRXP has RAID, you do not have to use as RAID tho you can use the RAID channels as normal IDE channels. This is what I do and therefore am able to run up to 8 IDE devices. The other changes are that the VRXP has different sound and an onboard LAN.
Hood

 

[Tipycol]

Tipycol
Main diff is that the VRXP has RAID, you do not have to use as RAID tho you can use the RAID channels as normal IDE channels. This is what I do and therefore am able to run up to 8 IDE devices. The other changes are that the VRXP has different sound and an onboard LAN.
Hood

Oh...ok then I'd just get a VRX but I don't see them at Newegg, so I guess the $46 deal is done. Might get the refurb Gigabyte GA-7VRXP.


Thanks for the help

Tipycol

 

[john240sx]

Oh...ok then I'd just get a VRX but I don't see them at Newegg, so I guess the $46 deal is done.

Tipycol

yeah, the VRX for $46 is gone now. i'm glad i ordered it in time

also, is there any way to download the software that comes on the CD? i'm not counting on getting the CD with the board.

 

[Hood]

john240sx
If you go http://uk.giga-byte.com/products/7vrx.htm you will get a link to the drivers. You can also download the Utilities from the main Gigabyte page, but if you are meaning the Trial AntiVirus I dont think you can download that.
Hood

 

[john240sx]

i just got the board this morning. it's revision 2.0

so far eveything is going good. posted, got to windows and now i'm downloading the drivers. i'll be overclocking this later tonight, i can't wait to see what it can do

 

[ManOfKnight]

John...do tell...I should get my VRXP tomorrow...I HOPE IT IS A REV2.0 tell your o/c...i REALLY wanna know...either way, this is a HUGE jump from 900 Athlon

 

[john240sx]

i don't think i'm going to OC it yet. my AUX/Case temp is being reported at 81C in Sandra. i'll have to straighten this out before i overclock.

nothing in my case is actually over 32C, i used a multimeter with a temp probe and checked EVERYTHING. the highest temp is off my processor, it's at 32.

anyone know anything about this? i'm going to look around a little bit but if anyone knows anything please let me know. it's a little un-nerving to see a temp reported that high

 

[Hood]

john240sx

Just ignore that reading, it is just sandra reporting a phantom temp. There are only two temp sensors on the mobo and the Aux one is not one of them. Another thing you will find is that when you do OC you will see Sandra report the PCI and AGP way out of spec, but even mobos with a proven 1/5 divider get this.
BTW for temps use the Giabyte Hardware utility, or even better use MBM5.
Hood

 

[john240sx]

i don't have the gigabye hardware utility because i couldn't find where to download it from. the board didn't come with a CD so i have to find everything. thanks for letting me know to ignore that temp reading. i was a little worried about it.

anyway, i overclocked it a little. i got it up to 150Mhz fsb, i was thinking about jumping straight to 166 now because i know my sound and network card won't do 153 so the 1/5 divider would keep them in check.

also, does anyone know how to slow down the post? it goes by so fast you can't see anything (like BIOS version). there isn't a setting that i seen in the bios for it but i might have missed it.

 

[Hood]

john240sx
If you use the latest BIOS for your mobo you will get the post slowed down(you will be wanting it back to fast again) If that doesnt work post and let me know and I will mod a bios which will show the hidden settings and im sure there are some that will allow you to slow it down.
Hood

 

[Tipycol]

What would you have to do if you flashed your bios but wanted it to boot fast again?

 

[john240sx]

since this board is Duel Bios all you would have to do is copy the orignal bios from the backup rom (this is how i understand it from reading the PDF manual)

 

[Hood]

Tipycol
Gigabyte have made the POST a bit slower so that some drives that were not being detected now are. This is not reversible unless you are able to actually hack the BIOS and rewrite that part of it. This is way beyond me, only wish I could. The only way to regain the faster boot would be to go back to a previous version, for the VRXP F9 was the last with the fast POST. I tried F10 but didnt want to put up with the slower post so went back to F9. My reason was that I had no issues and F10 was neither faster or slower(performance not POST) than F9, so why put up with the slower POST. I am now using F11 which is slower in the POST but I can live with that because it allows me to use the1/5 divider, so the benefits to me outweigh the disadvantages.
Hood