[eggie]

Hi there,

I recently got a ECS KV2 Extreme and an AMD 4600 X2. The main reason I got this mainboard was because I didn't want to upgrade my graphics card because atm its more than good enough for what I need.

I am however having a couple of probems with the dual core part of the processor as it won't pick up the second core. I realise it's a fairly old mainboard and was wondering if it was simply a case of updating the bios so that it'll work dual core.

If it is then does anyone know where I'd be able to get some, I've had a look on ECS's site to no avail

HELP!!

[LiquidSage]

ECS IMO make horrid mobo's. I'm not surprised you are having issues....BUT Yes. It is just a matter of updating the BIOS. Though the Cool n quiet feature still causes lock-up's. ECS's site has the BIOS updates you need.

There are better boards out there that still have agp slots (even a few mobo's with both agp and PCI-E). It would be a good investment if you already spent $$$ on older RAM and AGP vid cards and don't plan on upgrading in the near future.

Gigabyte makes a good one. (I upgraded a client's PC in a similar sit. They are quite happy with it.)
http://www.ewiz.com/...name=MB-K8U-939

ASRock makes one as well though I have heard some dodgy opinions about it. ASrock 939dual SATA2

kv2 bios
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Products/Prod...DetailName=BIOS

[puntoMX]

If the BIOS update doesn’t work you could look at the 939NF4G-SATA2 from ASRock as well. It has onboard video with pixel shader 3.0 and can share up to 128MB of RAM. Before onboard was horrible, now chipmakers have become smarter . Also this board has a PCI-E 16x slot so you can upgrade the onboard video later.

What kind of AGP card do you have now? I can tell you if the onboard performs worse or better...

[eggie]

The card I have atm is a Nvidia GS6800 512mb ddr3. This is why I don't really want to swap it out because it is a fantastic card and really cant justify getting one of similar quality put with pci-e.

Does anyone else have any other recommendations. I was going to get an Abit AV8 because all of the Abit boards that I have used since now have been fantastic but I'm considering taking this board back because it is just lacking a bit.

[puntoMX]

I would not take a board with a VIA chipset if I was you; Go with the ULi shipsets, they are in my eyes better. That video card is indeed a nice AGP card .