Jump to content

Buying a new Motherboard/CPU


Whulph

Recommended Posts

Well, a few weeks ago, my PSU died, I tried (and failed) to fix it, then I finally got around to getting a new one, and when I popped it in yesterday I discovered the defective PSU took my motherboard with it on its way to computer heaven hell...

Now the computer Power LED and HDD LED both blink rapidly, and the computer emits a fast clicking sound, like a floppy being read, or rapid power-ons and power-offs. No obvious damage (melting, burning, etc) can be seen on either the CPU or Motherboard, at least not by an untrained eye.

So, I went to google and newegg to look up buying a new motherboard and CPU.

I need a CPU with:

>= 1.8GHz

Don't really care what kind, Pentium 4 with HT sounds nice though.

And I need a Micro ATX motherboard with:

>= 2 PATA slots

>= 2 DDR184 RAM slots

>= 3 PCI slots

>= 4 built in USB (would be nice if it also had pins for additional USB to be plugged in, so I could use the two USB plugs on the front of my machine. I assume those pins are standard but I'm not sure.)

Onboard Video (because I don't have a graphics card yet)

Based on what I needed, newegg came up with these. How do they look? Would anyone recommend/warn against any of these?

Intel Pentium 4 520 Prescott

5 Micro ATX Socket T (LGA 775) Motherboards (Currently deciding between the five...leaning toward either the Biostar or Gigabyte one.)

Before I close, I have two last questions:

Is there anything else I should look for in getting a good board?

I must admit, I'm not entirely sure which part is defective...my motherboard, or my CPU, or both. If I can, I would prefer to save some cash and only replace the defective piece, but I don't know how to find out what piece is causing the problem. Does anyone have any tips for discovering which part is the real culprit?

Thanks in advance for any help. Now, it's off to get some more cold medicine... :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites


You wouldn't be interested in getting a platform based on the new Core 2 Duo? What budget are we looking at? Here is a "budget" system for a Core 2 Duo platform...

Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813130052

Cpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115005

Ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820145526

Total is $415.98 for just that, but the board is ATX...this would be enought for a system assuming the case fits ATX, and you still have a working HD, CD/DVD/RW rom and PSU, and video card (PCIE though)

If you are not a gamer, you can easliy pickup a PCIE card for around 70...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130030

Bringing the total to $485.97

Edited by JuMz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I must admit, I'm not entirely sure which part is defective...my motherboard, or my CPU, or both. If I can, I would prefer to save some cash and only replace the defective piece, but I don't know how to find out what piece is causing the problem. Does anyone have any tips for discovering which part is the real culprit?

For 80% sure it’s your motherboard, but you already gave that answer your self.

There are nice setups that you could think of with onboard VGA, PCI-E and DDR1 RAM. I would go for a motherboard with a nVidia nForce6100/6150 and a Sempron64 for budget. If you could sell you RAM I would by an AM2 motherboard and some DDR2 667/800 with a Sempron64 so you could upgrade later to a X2 CPU. If money isn’t an issue and you like to get the newest stuff that runs great for 32bit apps then go with JuMz, but the market is still new for the Core 2 Duo, Intel is having his new chipset with onboard VGA released soon (if they already did ;) and they say it´s with DX10 support).

I hope this helps.

EDIT: I´m sure you are looking for budget, else you already would have had a VGA card ;).

Edited by puntoMX
Link to comment
Share on other sites

BTW, your old PSU was probably fine. It was the mobo that died (probably a short circuit). The processor might've gone with it too...

I recommend an Asus for the new mobo.

Edited by LLXX
Link to comment
Share on other sites

JuMz, it's a nice setup, and a nice price, but unfortunately ATX is too big for my tower. Not only that, but the budget won't allow for it. The budget is "as cheap as possible", at least for the moment. What I'm looking for is more of a replacement than an upgrade, at least not that much of an upgrade, not yet anyway.

puntoMX, why would I want to sell my RAM? What's the difference between DDR1 and DDR2 anyway? Is the difference in performance actually noticeable, or is it just one of those things based on numbers and benchmarks?

Well, after a bit more searching, I found a setup that I think I like...

AMD Athlon 64 3500+

Foxconn 6100K8MA-RS

How does that pairing look? That board is my favorite AMD-based board I've found so far. 4 DDR1 RAM slots, a PCIE slot, 2 PATA and SATA connectors, and Athlon 64 X2 support. And judging from the pictures, it looks like the power, floppy, and PATA connectors are in good positions, so the wires and all that other junk will fit nicely in my tower, which is more than I can say for some other boards I've seen. Based on what I have now, that board has got more expandability than I’ll probably ever use.

The only things I don't like about that Foxconn board, are the nVidia chipsets...I've read that their actual quality is..."questionable". Eh, I don't know, or care...just so long as it displays Windows and Linux correctly. I intend to get a REAL graphics card and sound card soon after this whole issue is resolved. I couldn't play games using Intel Extreme integrated graphics, why should this situation be any different? :rolleyes:

I still haven't found a good board for the Pentium 4 I listed earlier; I'm still trying to narrow down my search. When I find one, I think I'll compare that board with the Foxconn one and see which setup I like better. I still have to look up Asus and ASRock, maybe I’ll find something good there.

Before I head out again, I've got two questions that have been bugging me that Google hasn't yet been able to answer for me...

What's the difference between "USB" and "Onboard USB", as listed on Newegg? I'm guessing Onboard USB is a term for pins on the board, that allow you to connect additional external USB ports if you have them. Is that right?

And are "VGA card" and "graphics card" interchangeable terms? :lol:

Same question goes for the terms "onboard VGA" and "integrated graphics". :whistle:

If not, then what’s the difference between the terms?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are right on the USB ports, and onboard VGA and integrated graphics is the same indeed.

939 motherboards are not interesting any more, 754 motherboards when you think about a budget system with Sempron64. I would sell the RAM and move to AM2 with DDR2, you could by Sempron64 and Athlon64 for AM2, but I would go for Sempron64 and upgrade later to an X2. With that your budget expenses stays low and there could be space for more RAM or a video card.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

939 motherboards are not interesting any more, 754 motherboards when you think about a budget system with Sempron64. I would sell the RAM and move to AM2 with DDR2, you could by Sempron64 and Athlon64 for AM2

How are 939 boards not "interesting" any more? :lol: It seems that it would suit my needs well enough, and I could still upgrade to X2 later. Unfortunately switching to DDR2 isn't an option for me at the moment, which means neither is getting AM2. :(

I would go for Sempron64 and upgrade later to an X2. With that your budget expenses stays low and there could be space for more RAM or a video card.

Eh, I'm kinda trying to steer clear of Semprons...from what I understand, Sempron is pretty much the equivalent of Celron, which is what I had before. And since the possibility of upgrading to X2 seems quite a ways off yet, I figure why not just make a halfway jump up to Athlon64 until then?

Thanks for the suggestions, though. I'll definitely have to look into DDR2 and AM2 in the future. Now that I've read the difference between DDR1 and DDR2 I'm very eager to make the switch, but for right now, circumstances prevent it...so, I'm kinda stuck with what I have. :}

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still haven't found a good board for the Pentium 4 I listed earlier; I'm still trying to narrow down my search. When I find one, I think I'll compare that board with the Foxconn one and see which setup I like better. I still have to look up Asus and ASRock, maybe I’ll find something good there.
ASUS P5P800SE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131574

It uses the common and very compatible i865 chipset which has been around for some time, so there should be no unexpected problems as can occur with the very new chipsets.

Just read that you needed a smaller one, here's another 865-based microATX board from ASUS:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131008

Edited by LLXX
Link to comment
Share on other sites

here's another 865-based microATX board from ASUS:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131008

That's a great board, very similar to the Foxconn one. I wish you had posted that sooner!

I went ahead and ordered the Foxconn one already. I need to get my computer up and running again by Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest, and at this rate I'll hopefully get it by Tuesday. Sorry, I wanted to wait longer just in case someone posted an alternative but I was kinda pressed for time. (Same reason I couldn't sell my RAM for DDR2 and AM2.)

Oh well, shouldn't make much of a difference. Thanks anyway. :thumbup

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Sempron64 is the same as the Athlon64 with 128 or 256KB v.s 512KB cache and single channel RAM (dual channel RAM doesn’t give a boost any way). Low budget is simply Sempron 64 with ALL the features you need, who needs QnQ any way ;). Any way, you already bought your mobo so you have to live with that. By the time you want to switch to an X2 you will be surprised that there a re NON any more (or it must be in the next 3 months or so :P) so if you upgrade later then go directly for an X2.

To jump from a Celeron (D) to an AMD Sempron/Atlon is a BIG change any way...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Sempron64 is the same as the Athlon64 ... Any way, you already bought your mobo so you have to live with that.
Dang, I guess that's what I get for jumping ahead too fast...oh well, not much to be done now. Billing information has already been received, says it'll get here Wednesday. :wacko:
By the time you want to switch to an X2 you will be surprised that there a re NON any more (or it must be in the next 3 months or so :P ) so if you upgrade later then go directly for an X2.
Don't worry, I intend to. :D

But, why wouldn't there be any left? Are they just so popular that they'll be a lot harder to find within the next three months? :unsure:

To jump from a Celeron (D) to an AMD Sempron/Atlon is a BIG change any way...
Heh, at least I did something right. (It was a regular ol' Celeron, not a Celeron D. 1.8GHz. Great for everyday computing, surfing, and web design, terrible for all my audio and video editing projects.)

I just recently realized, (don't know why this didn't occur to me sooner) I have no clue what condition my RAM is in after my motherboard was fried. There's no visible damage to it, then again there's no visible damage to my board, either. Is there an easy way to find out what condition its in?

I'm assuming I can just test it in another computer, but are there any risks to the other machine if I were to do this? I'm assuming if it's bad, the computer will act like it's not there or something, but what exactly happens to a computer if you try to boot it up with bad RAM, or for that matter no RAM at all? Would it just not boot up? Maybe give an error? Or...fry?

In any case I would much rather risk killing the old, slow, on-the-edge-of-death Win98 machine, than to buy all this new hardware only to kill everything all over again once it arrives. I think it's probably fine, it looks perfectly fine, but it's always nice to be absolutely sure. :whistle:

Edited by Whulph
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...