Why the upgrades? You tell me? I have an aging Supermicro X7DWA MOBO with those dual Xeon 2.83 (8 core) CPUs and 16GB RAM. It has 2 PCI-Exp 16 slots and 2 PCI-X 133/100 slots and 2 PCI 133 slots. It can handle up to 64GB DDR2 RAM. I need to upgrade my graphics card from the GTX450 to a Q4000 (can this MOBO handle this card?). I need to add an I/O card for analog I/O and, between the 2 cards, be able to output Vegas to HD external monitor (HDMI). I also need Firewire for HDV tape capture and about a total of 8 USB ports. This MOBO only supports USB 2.0. I also have my RAID interface card to support 2 external RAID-5 boxes.
So, do I really need a new MOBO or can this one still survive? My goal is stability, speed and HD output.
What does Sandy Bridge give me?
THX
Ken Bennett
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