New MB needed

[jlehnert]

Well, the worst case scenario has come to pass and the MB on my HS server is DOA. I need to buy a new one. Problem is that I haven't been following the current state of PCs for the past few years. Don't know whats out there, what's good, and what's bad. I normally would hit a computer show and do some looking, but the next show in this area (that I can find) isn't until the third week of October.

Any suggestions? I would like to keep it under $300 for MB and memory. I can reuse my old drives, video card, and multiport serial card.

 

[Skibum]

What about CPU? 775? 478?

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

What about CPU? 775? 478?

939, 754, 462??

 

[jlehnert]

I should have clarified that. I need a MB, CPU, and memory. I don't have a clue what socket/cpu/MB combination is the best.

 

[Mike]

Under $300... you may want to check that $216 computer everyone was talking about...

You can put the extra $84 into more ram Was tonight the last night?

I'll have to look at the latest prices, for cpu, motherboard and ram that might be tough (I know the latest stuff will blow that number away...)

 

[jlehnert]

I don't need the latest and greatest. HS has been running nicely on the P-850 box up to now. I guess I'll rephrase my question.

What should I avoid, ie CPUs at the end of the life cycle, crappy quality MBs, etc? What features are "must haves"? I need USB 2.0, and I'm pretty sure about SATA. Anything else? Are there combinations where the price/functionality are at the sweet spot? I want to stick it back into the rackmount case the old board came out of, so it's MB combo only, no full computer.

Time for me to go back to bed. I was in bed when the pager went off for a MVA. I bolted out the door, only to find out that a couple had a fight in a car and drove into a ditch in the process. The male half was still hiding out in a cornfield from the PD when I left.

 

[Skibum]

Hi J

You with the local FD like me?? I spent 12 years answering calls like that in the middle of the night.
I was the Lifestar helicopter landing coordinator for this area....Talk about
stress..

Back to the subject. If you ever want to give me a call or chat over VOIP I'd be happy to go over various options with you. (I build machines all the time - It's my business)

If you are even considering a machine like the one for $226 we are speaking different languages... (not that there is anything fundamentally wrong with those machines.... they are just a different animal)

 

[Mike]

What should I avoid, ie CPUs at the end of the life cycle, crappy quality MBs, etc? What features are "must haves"? I need USB 2.0, and I'm pretty sure about SATA. Anything else? Are there combinations where the price/functionality are at the sweet spot? I want to stick it back into the rackmount case the old board came out of, so it's MB combo only, no full computer.

Asus makes great motherboards and have been the maker of all the ones I have built.

Your budget may adjust this but:

CPU: I believe Intel won the earlier rounds in the battle, but if you are looking at dual core CPU's AMD does have better performance in this case (but will be much more than your $300 target).

Assuming you are avoiding the bleeding edge, and that Intel makes sense for you, you may want to try to get into a socket 775 motherboard so you have PCI-express. You may get better deals on the socket 478's it just depends on what kind of life you want it to have (some SATA cards for example will be PCI-express). You will get basic SATA on the motherboard and most likely gig ethernet as well depending on the model.

I've bought corsair memory myself.

Check between zipzoomfly.com and newegg.com and you should get a good idea on the prices.

Something like the below may work for you (if the dollars are ok and you dont expect to use PCI express and the like in the future):

CPU:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...uctCode=80661-1
$179

Motherboard (there are a bunch to choose, look at the features you want, this one had GB ethernet RAID SATA and the like). If I remember correctly, the major difference between 865 and 875 chipsets was the ability to use ECC ram (which you wont be I suspect) so you shouldnt need to spend the extra money.:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...ductCode=240327
$95

Memory: (you can save a few more getting the 'value' brand one if you want to shave a bit more
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...ctCode=80092-16
$72

 

[jlehnert]

Thanks Mike, that's exactly the type of information I was looking for. I might be able to stretch the budget up to $400, but money is a little tight right now. As for the $226 special, no way. If I'm going to do this, I want it to be good for several years, at least until HS3.0 comes out.

No Ski, I'm not nuts enough to run into burning buildings. A guy could get burned that way. Also, combining permenantly damaged lungs from asthma with smoke conditions is not a winning combination, I'm a EMT with the rescue squad, so I get to deal with all the late night drunken fights ("Officer, these two guys just started attacking me for no reason"), MVAs ("I only had two beers"), heart attacks, and other assorted medical problems. I'm a little cynical today, as I had 1 major MVA from drunken driving, a suicide attempt by OD, an accidental OD from a child getting into the medicine cabinet, and a physical assult (not sexual thankfully) on a 14 Y.O girl yesterday, amoung other things.

I have VoIP, but it's of the commercial packet8 variaty. I might drop you a PM later after I've done some research though.

 

[rocco]

If I'm going to do this, I want it to be good for several years, at least until HS3.0 comes out.

Then I would suggest a 256-core Optical-Pentium with a Carbon-Nanotube motherboard and holographic memory.

 

[jlehnert]

Where did you find the 256-core? I can only find 128.

 

[jlehnert]

Well, one problem gets solved and another pops up.

Picked up a Asus P4P800SE on ebay, along with a fancy Abit AN8 SLI and misc. other stuff. The guy selling it tossed the Asus in as a freeby to compliment the main sale of the Abit. I was only looking for the Asus, but liked the price for the entire mess. Figure I might fiddle with a HTPC using the Abit sometime in the future.

Back to the problem. Did they change the cards between 4x AGP and 8x AGP? My old AGP video card doesn't fit into the new board. The slot in the connector is on the opposite end from the old one. I tried a old PCI video card in one of the PCI slots, but nada. Those $226 specials are looking better all the time, just to get HS back in operation.

 

[WayneW]

I am no video card expert, but the different slot configurations probably means your card is a different voltage. For some silly reason there are different voltage cards available and they don't relate directly to the speed of the card. So you probably need a new card. If the PCI card didn't work, there may be a BIOS setting you need to change, but that would be a dilemma if you cannot even see the BIOS via PCI.

 

[electron]

Is this the Fatal1ty board? Almost sounds like PCI Express.

 

[jwilson56]

I would agree... sounds like you might have PCI express... most if not all new MB have that. AGP is going the way of the ISA bus.

John