# Is GA-G41M Combo a good Motherboard and does it support uefi?



## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

Hi Guys!!!
Its been a long time(about a year) since I logged on to TPU!!!(I couldn't afford the internet connection) Was an undergrad.
I was without internet for almost a year in 2012-13!!! Can you imagine that...
Now I got a job & I pay for my own stuff. Its really exciting when you earn. 

That aside, I am in dilemma,

Last week my mobo(DG33FB) which I was using for past 5 years went bust... System Config is:

Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600)
Mobo :      DG33FB
RAM :       2 GB DDR2
Graphics :  Nvidia XFX 9600GT 512 MB (I only play games once a week ~3hrs)
HDD :       250 GB WD2500AAJS (Primary Boot Disk)
            2 TB WD2000EARX Caviar Green

I know this system is very old. Also Graphics is too less but I am still able to play Batman Arkham City and even Far Cry 3 at medium settings without stutter.

Now since my mobo's gone, I went to my dealer & he suggested me to buy GA-G41M Combo which can support both DDR2 & DDR3 memory. Is this a Good Board?

Also I am planning to buy a 2 or 3 TB Caviar Black and a 4 TB WD HDD which came to market recently. Now I know that when you use a HDD more than 2.2 TB, you have to format it as GPT and not MBR. For GPT you need UEFI supporting PC. It shows in Bios. My original mobo DG33FB had support for UEFI.


Does GA-G41M Combo?
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4213#sp

Now I don't know whether my mobo will be rev 1.3/1.4/2.0. Please tell me whether all of them support it. I couldn't find info regarding it on google.

Is this board good? If not can you guys suggest me something else?


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

I swear my best friends brother has that Mobo with a Core 2 Quad in it. And his doesnt have 3TB+ support. The whole RAM thing is stupid though, 2 slots for DDR2 and 2 for DDR3 

I recommend you save all that money and buy a CPU+MOBO+RAM combo to replace your existing gear, an i3 kit or something.

Good old XFX 9600GT's! great cards. baked one once.


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

RCoon said:


> I swear my best friends brother has that Mobo with a Core 2 Quad in it. And his doesnt have 3TB+ support.


So can you suggest me other boards which will support both core2quad Q6600 and 3TB+ HDD



> The whole RAM thing is stupid though, 2 slots for DDR2 and 2 for DDR3


I feel this is pretty stupid thing on mobo!!!
How will you put 8GB memory? 4Gb DDR2 and 4GB DDR3????
Just curious will it work???



> Good old XFX 9600GT's! great cards.


This is one hell of a card!!! Its more than I bargained for!!!


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> So can you suggest me other boards which will support both core2quad Q6600 and 3TB+ HDD



Bare with me



razor2890 said:


> I feel this is pretty stupid thing on mobo!!!
> How will you put 8GB memory? 4Gb DDR2 and 4GB DDR3????
> Just curious will it work???



I dont think it will. I'm fairly certain there is no way it will work.
Could be wrong, if it did work it would be AWFUL.



razor2890 said:


> This is one hell of a card!!! Its more than I bargained for!!!



I've still got a 8800 and 9800 knocking around somewhere from XFX, one with a funky green cooler on a terrible bent copper heatsink.


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

I'll update this list as I find it, apologies for the double post, but I'd like to keep it seperate.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3727#ov

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3972#ov

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3743#ov


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

RCoon said:


> I recommend you save all that money and buy a CPU MOBO RAM combo to replace your existing gear, an i3 kit or something.




I can spend Rs.5K(~$100) right now.
If I go to buy a Mobo+cpu+RAM I will go for the latest ones..
Probably i7.
But I can't afford new system on my money. 

At the Time my Dad bought it for me. Don't want to ask him for money anymore...


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

See above list, cant find ANY motherboards other than Gigabyte ones that have 3TB+ support. ASRock does have a 3TB+ unlocker, but I'm sure you'd rather have a clean cut operating out the box motherboard.


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

All of the boards are DDR3....
My RAM is DDR2!!
Will it work on a DDR3 board??
I don't think so..
I may be wrong.


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> All of the boards are DDR3....
> My RAM is DDR2!!
> Will it work on a DDR3 board??
> I don't think so..
> I may be wrong.



Cant find a 775 DDR2 3TB+ motherboard :<


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

RCoon said:


> Cant find a 775 DDR2 3TB  motherboard



Some of the boards were manufactured in 2011 and still not have 3TB+ support.

Okkk. I will buy 2TB Caviar Black & use it as boot HDD.

Will I be able to use a 4TB internal HDD or will it only show as 2.2TB??\
What if I partitined the 4TB drive into say less than 2TB's???


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> Some of the boards were manufactured in 2011 and still not have 3TB+ support.
> 
> Okkk. I will buy 2TB Caviar Black & use it as boot HDD.
> 
> ...



You will have to partition the 4TB drive into two 2TB partitions with Parted Magic or GParted.
Instead of a 2TB boot HDD, why not buy a samsung SSD instead? Why do you need 2TB for Windows and software???


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

Did my original board DG33FB support 3TB+ HDD's?
I always thought it did...


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> Did my original board DG33FB support 3TB+ HDD's?
> I always thought it did...



Nope!


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

RCoon said:


> why not buy a samsung SSD instead?




SSDs in India are very expensive!!
128GB costs ~5K($100)
256GB costs ~11K($210)
All electronics are ~$50 to $100 expensive here than in US/UK

Besides I need Storage space also...


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> SSDs in India are very expensive!!
> 128GB costs ~5K($100)
> 256GB costs ~11K($210)
> All electronics are ~$50 to $100 expensive here than in US/UK



And how much is a WD 2TB Caviar Black in IR?



razor2890 said:


> Besides I need Storage space also...



That's what the 4TB is for! try not to store data on the same drive as Windows, slows it down. Especially if you're accessing it at the same time.


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

RCoon said:


> And how much is a WD 2TB Caviar Black in IR?



2TB WD Caviar Black==9K
But I will also get storage space
or 
Better I will get 1TB WD Caviar Black === 5.7K



RCoon said:


> That's what the 4TB is for! try not to store data on the same drive as Windows, slows it down. Especially if you're accessing it at the same time.



ok.
But I was actually planning to get 4TB drive after about 2-3 months

I just need this system to function properly for a year/year and a half.. I will upgrade as soon as possible after that...


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

Ideally, I'd get a 1 or 2TB Caviar black + Samsung 840 Basic 120GB ~ 10k IR?
HAGGLE THEM DOWN!


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

Will SSD give any performance boost with this system?


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> Will SSD give any performance boost with this system?



Windows would boot in 15 seconds, software would load almost instantly, games might load a few seconds faster. Very snappy.
Samsung 840 Basic 120 is 6500-7000 IR on Flip Kart
WD Blue 2TB is also almost 7000 IR on Flip Kart


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## ne6togadno (Jul 23, 2013)

ga-g41m is award bios
overall gigabyte jumped quite late at uefi train so if you want 775 mb with uefi better look elseware. asrock and msi have 775 boards with ami bios but duno if it has uefi support.
get cheapest mb you can get and save money for new rig.

dont listen to rcoon he is lier . windows boot in 30 sec. 15 sec is on sata3

btw why you need so much hdd space. are you planing to download internet?


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

ne6togadno said:


> dont listen to rcoon he is lier. windows boot in 30 sec. 15 sec is on sata3



Slightly harsh there friend. Forgot about Sata2 on 775 MoBos. Regardless, SSD would still show immense improvement on 3Gbps Sata ports.


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## ne6togadno (Jul 23, 2013)

RCoon said:


> Slightly harsh there friend. Forgot about Sata2 on 775 MoBos. Regardless, SSD would still show immense improvement on 3Gbps Sata ports.


 ok sry


ne6togadno said:


> dont listen to rcoon he is lier



better now 

improvement over hdd is indisputable. i have laptop with 7200 hdd and desktop with sdd both sata 2 boards. ssd boots 2 times faster then hdd. on sata3 will be 4 times faster.
razor can buy sata3 ssd and use it again in future rig with up to date hardware


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

You guys may be thinking, why am I asking so many questions because I usually end up with products that are always on the decline... & in this case compatibility issue with processor...

Like When I bought my PC in 2008, I was not aware that DDR3 was already in the market..Even my dealer failed to mention it...

So should I go with GA-G41M Combo??


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## ne6togadno (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> You guys may be thinking, why am I asking so many questions because I usually end up with products that are always on the decline... & in this case compatibility issue with processor...
> 
> Like When I bought my PC in 2008, I was not aware that DDR3 was already in the market..Even my dealer failed to mention it...
> 
> So should I go with GA-G41M Combo??



if you dont have something cheaper take it. you need something to replace dead mb, but dont spend too much money on obsolate pc.
better save money for new rig with up to date hardware. 
for about 500-600$ you can get decent entry lvl pc with sata3 mb, usb3, 8+ gb ram, ssd, 1-1.5tb hdd and decent video

can you give the name of the that famos indian online store that all guys here from india use to link hardware


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## Jetster (Jul 23, 2013)

Sorry I didnt read the whole thread but for GPT your dont need UEFI to partition. Only to boot to the drive you need UEFI. You can partition 3 or 4 Tb as long as you run Windows 7 without UEFI

So you can partition a 3 Tb drive with a 775 with DDR2. Just not to boot to. As long as you run W7 or 8


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

ne6togadno said:


> if you dont have something cheaper take it. you need something to replace dead mb but dont spend too much money on obsolate pc.
> better save money for new rig with up to date hardware.
> for about 500-600$ you can get decent entry lvl pc with sata3 mb, usb3, 8+ gb ram, ssd, 1-1.5tb hdd and decent video



This. Spend as little as possible on hardware that you wont be able to re-use. Save the rest for bette parts.
Thanks to Jester, you can use a 4TB and partition it, but you wont be able to use it as a windows boot drive.


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

RCoon said:


> but you wont be able to use it as a windows boot drive



Silly me!!! I had read this when I was thinking about buying 3TB HDD..
I forgot that..
So any other board which you guys think might be cheaper??
DDR2 & 775 socket & Q6600??

I am at work now.. So I dont have access to websites other than a few(not electronics/shopping/social)...
Luckily TPU is available...
So I am not able to determine model no. or compatibility... or search any boards...


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## ne6togadno (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> Silly me!!! I had read this when I was thinking about buying 3TB HDD..
> I forgot that..
> So any other board which you guys think might be cheaper??
> DDR2 & 775 socket & Q6600??



give us link to shop you will use. 
i can give you prices from uk or us but they will be irrelative to you

edit: ok give the name we will google it


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

Biostar M41-G7?


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Sorry I didnt read the whole thread but for GPT your dont need UEFI to partition. Only to boot to the drive you need UEFI. You can partition 3 or 4 Tb as long as you run Windows 7 without UEFI
> 
> So you can partition a 3 Tb drive with a 775 with DDR2. Just not to boot to. As long as you run W7 or 8



Thanks a lot!!!!
I dont know how I forgot that part...



> edit: ok give the name we will google it



I don't shop online as it is (~$20)expensive here than buying with the dealer face to face...


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## ne6togadno (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> Thanks a lot!!!!
> I dont know how I forgot that part...
> 
> 
> ...



then i cant find you other options cause i dont know what is availalbe at your contry
i am not asking you to buy online. i need something to use as reference. if you can get it cheaper that will be +++

here is only option available in flipkart but it is ddr3 so no use of it http://www.flipkart.com/digilite-dl...4VST&ref=502c40be-5037-48b9-b224-5748ebe9ba29


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

ne6togadno said:


> i need something to use as reference. if you can get it cheaper that will be



flipkart.com
ebay.in
primeabgb.com===They got everything here(website is pathetic...)
anything new in India, they will get it first...


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## razor2890 (Jul 23, 2013)

I'll be leaving in 10 mins and can only refer back tomorrow....
Thanks a lot guys....


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## ne6togadno (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> flipkart.com
> ebay.in
> primeabgb.com===They got everything here(website is pathetic...)
> anything new in India, they will get it first...



primedgb is useless for you. you dony need new atm

below are list of asorck's msi's and gigabyte socket's 775 mbs
http://www.asrock.com/mb/index.asp?s=775
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/G41M-P33-Combo.html
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/list.aspx?s=42&jid=5&p=2&v=7
whatever you can get for cheapest will do the job


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## Mussels (Jul 23, 2013)

to be completely honest: ditch the old hardware. you wont get what you want.


grab budget DDR3 ram, CPU, and motherboard with all the features you want - 3TB support and so on.


you can repair your old system to match what it did, or you can buy a new one to get new features. you cant do both, since socket 775 is LONG dead. intels released at least 3 new sockets since then.


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## ne6togadno (Jul 23, 2013)

Mussels said:


> to be completely honest: ditch the old hardware. you wont get what you want.
> 
> 
> grab budget DDR3 ram, CPU, and motherboard with all the features you want - 3TB support and so on.
> ...



problem is that he has 100$ budget and pc with dead mb.
he cant get mb+cpu+ram for under 100


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## Frick (Jul 23, 2013)

You have something like a local ebay or something? There is where I would look.


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## BiggieShady (Jul 23, 2013)

Frick said:


> You have something like a local ebay or something? There is where I would look.



This. It's an old socket, DDR2 board, why not buy used?


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## Mussels (Jul 23, 2013)

ne6togadno said:


> problem is that he has 100$ budget and pc with dead mb.
> he cant get mb+cpu+ram for under 100



thats why i said repair OR upgrade - he cant do both.


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## _JP_ (Jul 23, 2013)

razor2890 said:


> I feel this is pretty stupid thing on mobo!!!
> How will you put 8GB memory? 4Gb DDR2 and 4GB DDR3????
> Just curious will it work???


Heh, yeah, lol.

Now seriously, the G41 chipset supports up to 8GB of RAM, that can be arranged as either 2x4GB DDRII or as 2x4GB DDRIII (DDRIII being the easiest choice to pick, because good luck finding 4GB DDRII DIMMs).
Using DDRII and DDRIII DIMMs at that same time on any mobo, doesn't even matter if there are compatible slots available, is a guaranteed "turn that thing into an expensive paperweight (with added fireworks), because lulz".


RCoon said:


> The whole RAM thing is stupid though, 2 slots for DDR2 and 2 for DDR3


Why?
Transition boards are a thing of the past, I know, but they were relevant in the means that one could use new hardware when the possibility came along. This was common with socket 478 and 775 mobos. (not so much now because of Intel constantly changing sockets every two years)


RCoon said:


> Regardless, SSD would still show immense improvement on 3Gbps Sata ports.


Budget...well, any current G41 board comes with the ICH7 southbridge, which means no AHCI...which by extension means no NCQ...or TRIM.


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## razor2890 (Jul 24, 2013)

Mussels said:


> to be completely honest: ditch the old hardware. you wont get what you want.
> 
> 
> grab budget DDR3 ram, CPU, and motherboard with all the features you want - 3TB support and so on.
> ...



I will...but not right now...
I can't buy a new cpu+mobo+ram on my money now....
I need a mobo that  can just get through a year.. then I will have sufficient $$ for a brand new cpu+mobo+ram for say $500-$1000...


@RCOON::
I was wrong on pricing of SSDs..
120GB Samsung 840 costs:::~$125 or more(Rs. 6.5K)
128GB Samsung Pro ::: ~$180(Rs. 9K depending on exchange rate)
http://primeabgb.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=485&Itemid=53


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## Jetster (Jul 24, 2013)

As far as SSD goes you might find a used/new SATA II for less then a SATA III. Sense that board doesn't have SATAIII and the extra speed will just go to waste. But then again the coast may be the same


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## ne6togadno (Jul 24, 2013)

jetster said:


> as far as ssd goes you might find a used/new sata ii for less then a sata iii. Sense that board doesn't have sataiii and the extra speed will just go to waste. But then again the coast may be the same



if he buy sata3 now he can use it in furture rig, while sata2 could be cheaper now BUT if he use it in future pc it will be bottleneck the rig


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## razor2890 (Jul 24, 2013)

@RCOON::
My dealer does not have Biostar G41-M7
He can order GA-G41M Combo(4500K) or
MSI G41M-P33(3850K)
Hardly $10-15 difference..

He told me Gigabyte is more trustworthy(& probably will have resale value )...
So going for Gigabyte...
Did I make a good choice?

Thanks guys...all of you..


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## _JP_ (Jul 24, 2013)

SATA2 SSDs are still an order of magnitude faster than SATA3 HDDs. It won't be a noticeable bottleneck. In fact, it won't be a bottleneck at all. It will be something like "hampering down the system a bit".

EDIT:
When it comes to these mATX G41 boards it's all the same thing. You look if it's a combo board or not (some only have DDRIII), then price/layout. Done.
I went with an ASRock because it was the cheapest, was a combo board and the layout wasn't too bad (even though the audio header is in the most retarded place imaginable).


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## razor2890 (Jul 24, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> SATA2 SSDs are still an order of magnitude faster than SATA3 HDDs. It won't be a noticeable bottleneck. In fact, it won't be a bottleneck at all. It will be something like "hampering down the system a bit".
> 
> EDIT:
> When it comes to these mATX G41 boards it's all the same thing. You look if it's a combo board or not (some only have DDRIII), then price/layout. Done.
> I went with an ASRock because it was the cheapest, was a combo board and the layout wasn't too bad (even though the audio header is in the most retarded place imaginable).


So you are saying me to go with MSI since it is cheaper??


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## _JP_ (Jul 24, 2013)

It's cheaper because it isn't the combo version, right?
G41M-P33
G41M-P33 Combo
If it's not the combo version, I would advise you to go with the Gigabyte board, because that one allows you to use your existing DDRII modules now and upgrade to DDRIII later, since the MSI (non-combo) only supports DDRIII, which is something you've led me to believe you don't own yet.
As for Gigabyte being more trustworthy...when it comes to budget mobos, it doesn't matter/it's not relevant. The mobo is already cheap as it is, don't expect a lot out of it.


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## razor2890 (Jul 24, 2013)

MSI Board is also Combo...
Sorry Forgot to mention...


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## _JP_ (Jul 24, 2013)

Well, the Gigabyte does have 1 more PCI slot and a slightly better layout (and a floppy connector, lol). Features-wise it's pretty much the same between the two.
So I think it's a personal choice and a choice between saving a bit of money or not.


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## ne6togadno (Jul 24, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> SATA2 SSDs are still an order of magnitude faster than SATA3 HDDs. It won't be a noticeable bottleneck. In fact, it won't be a bottleneck at all. It will be something like "hampering down the system a bit".



compared sata2 ssd with sata[put any number here] hdd ya it is faster
sata2 ssd will be noticeable slower then sata3 (especially if you pur 2 rigs side to side)



razor2890 said:


> So you are saying me to go with MSI since it is cheaper??



get cheaper
20$ saved here 50$ there and you will have budget for new rig sooner


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## razor2890 (Jul 24, 2013)

I will buy a mobo this saturday and will revert back to you guys...
RCOON, ne6togadno, JP, Jetster, Mussels, BiggieShady, Frick Thanks a lot all of you..


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## razor2890 (Jul 28, 2013)

hi guys....
I went to the dealer with my processor,MB & RAM....
Unfortunately both Gigabyte and MSI did not support my Processor although it states in their website that it supports.....
So had to buy Digilite G41 MB which had only DDR3 slots...so had to buy a RAM(4 GB) too...
All came in about ~$90 with 3yrs warranty on MB.
Then sold old 2GB Kingston 2 GB DDR2(used 5 years) for ~$25..
I know its a lot for a dead(old) system but hope it will last a year atleast....

Once again thanks to all of you.....


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## BiggieShady (Jul 28, 2013)

Glad you got it sorted  ... and that DDR3 memory could come in handy with your next upgrade


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