Upgrading

Even better and the same price as the 6670 you linked to,

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-R677D5-1GD Radeon HD 6770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

I prefer the AMD cards...I use the HD 6790D, see specs. IMHO..I think their the best bang for the buck cards out there.

Stormy13: Too many bad reviews & a friend of mine has also stated problems he's had w/2 of the GIGABYTE GV-R677D5-1GD, thanks for the info though.

Bassfisher6522: Thanks for the info, going to look into the Radeon 6790.

Finally able to get a new grapics card, the ASUS Radeon HD 6670; but can someone help me a bit?

1st, I have the Antec Super Lanboy case & need a little assistance in getting the front audio & USB cables attached to the ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 mobo. The comfuser is not up & running just yet (see #2), but I don't get any beeps when testing boot-up.

2nd, should I go through & setup the mobo's BIOS before/after installing the OS (which will be 7 Pro 64Bit)?

CJW said:

2nd, should I go through & setup the mobo's BIOS before/after installing the OS (which will be 7 Pro 64Bit)?

Not sure what you mean by "set up" the BIOS. I'd reset to a default BIOS before any clean installation of an OS.

After the install, I'd generally familiarize myself with its navigation, layout, and choices, but I wouldn't change anything from defaults without a good reason.

I'd look for stuff that might speed up booting.

I typically might change 3 or 4 things after a clean install and leave the rest at default---if not overclocking.

ignatzatsonic: I'm going to take a look around in the BIOS before OS installation but not change anything just yet.

But there is a SATA Mode Notice (from the manual) I don't quite understand:
"For Win7, you can install the AMD SATA AHCI DRIVER from the mobo support DVD after installation for better compatibility." "If your existing Win OS is installed to a SATA drive that was set to IDE mode during OS installation, you may encounter system boot failure after connecting the hard drive to the new mobo w/the SATA port set to AHCI mode by default. Follow the instructions below to prevent system boot failure: Error message occurs after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive

Since this is a new mobo & new, clean SATA drive, do I really need to do anything?

Britton30: I didn't install any motherboard speaker, I've never had to w/past mobos; do I need to w/this one? I've attached more pics of the wires coming from front of case. I've tried pluging in the 1 black 7-pin connector, then the individual connectors; no beeps either way. Am I out of luck? BTW, I was told the case's front audio is AC'97 & the mobo manual states the mobo can use either HD / AC'97.

The audio plug is for newer motherboards that support the standard. (Such as yours.) The discrete pins are for older boards.

If your case is wired for AC97, set the front panel audio to that in the BIOS settings. If it's Azalia (HD Audio), use that instead. Make sure that you have it right before connecting anything to the front panel audio jacks. Damage may occur if you don't.

You may need to use a case speaker to get BIOS beeps. Not all motherboards will give BIOS beeps through the onboard sound controller with external speakers.