Vista and an MSI K7N2 board

[Tedster]

I just got a copy of windows vista ultimate at a COMPUSA firesale - couldn't pass up the bargain. I have an MSI K7N2 delta 2 board back at the house. Will I be able to put vista on this? I have heard it has issues with NFORCE2 boards.

Otherwise I'm gonna have to buy a new board to experiment.... just curious. I have plenty of time to do this when I get back from combat.

 

[LinkedKube]

How much did you pay for your version.

 

[JimShady23]

Not Sure

I think that most of the drivers that you would need for a board that old would be integraded into vista, so I doubt that driver support would be an issue. I had a newer K8 939 board and most of the onboard devices such as LAN and sound where detected and supplied a driver right from the get go via Vista.

As far as nFORCE2 compatability, i havnt read anything that would make it not be compatable. Just do a quick web search and see if you can find any case and point of it not working right with a NF2 chipset.

Other than that, your good to go, just make sure you have atleast a gig o ram to make things run smooth.

 

[Barnezz]

Out of curiosity how much was the Vista Version you purchased?

 

[Tedster]

$159 for vista ultimate. As of 3 days ago there were about 30 copies left at the Tacoma, WA COMPUSA next to the Tacoma, mall. They're closing very soon.

To; jimshady - I got a gig and a half of ram already installed and a 2gb flash drive. My understanding was there was issues with nforce2 drivers....

This is what I got off the NVIDIA website:

Q: What about Vista drivers for nForce 2 or nForce3-based motherboards?
A. Given the hardware requirements for Windows Vista, NVIDIA recommends that you upgrade your platform to PCI Express. If you do not have a certified Vista platform, such as nForce4, nForce5, or nForce 600 series MCP, you will not be able to take advantage of the NVIDIA-designed features that are integrated into the NVIDIA MCP drivers.

If you cannot afford to upgrade your platform or simply wish to try Vista with your current nForce2 or nForce3 platform, you can upgrade to Vista with the drivers that come with Vista. However, there are a few technical issues you should be aware of that may impact your overall Vista experience.

Audio - nForce2 and nForce3-based platforms utilized AC'97 audio codecs. You will need to check with the audio codec manufacturer to determine whether they have released a driver for Vista. NVIDIA bears no responsibility with regards to audio support. You may also want to check with audio add-in card vendors to see if they have comparable products with Vista drivers. All AC'97-based platforms are affected by the transition to Vista.

Storage - Unfortunately, NVIDIA RAID is not supported under Vista for nForce2 and nForce3-based platforms, but PATA and SATA storage will work using the integrated Microsoft Vista storage drivers. Please be aware that there are known Vista issues with some ATAPI devices. Microsoft RAID support is included in the box as well.

Networking - Networking support is included with Vista. Firewall support is built into Vista. NVIDIA Firewall, first introduced with nForce3, will not function under Vista and is not supported.

There is a known issue with ATI AGP cards with NVIDIA nForce3 and Vista. This is currently being looked into and will likely be resolved with an MCP driver update.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

I guess that pretty much spells it all out for you. Use at your own risk.
As for the sound incompatibility, check out this page. It says that the AC'97 driver Vista installs causes skipping etc. but installing the beta version of these drivers eliminates this problem.

 

[Tedster]

Well this could potentially suck as my K7N2 is set up as RAID. I wonder If I could export the raid drivers. I am also upgrading with vista upgrade.... hmmmm.. I'll see when I get back from Iraq next time.

 

[JimShady23]

Hmmm

Yeah that dont sound like a fun day at the beach with a list of known issues like that, but you never know until you try. It just may be time to give that XP3200+ system of yours a proper burial and get somthing more up to date.

Not that it needs saying but you can get a decent dual core cpu, mobo and 1-2gb or DDRII for around $300 right now....

But if your system right now suites your needs and will for a while, just keep it and upgrade to vista and a more capable system later, i can assure you that vista is going to be around for a long long time so no need to rush.

 

[Tedster]

I'd hate to do that since I built it not too long ago and I have a top of the line AGP card on it.....but by the time I get done with Iraq and OCS I might have to. I'm still gonna give it a try. I'm aware of the $300 PC. I submitted the article. I can recycle quite a few parts - especially my near new 250gb hard disks, case, DVD and floppy drives, and PSU. I would need a mobo and PSU only. I merely bought Vista at the going out of business sale because it was an offer I couldn't refuse.