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Is my motherboard dead? And upgrade advice needed :)

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  • #1

    Is my motherboard dead? And upgrade advice needed :)

    First off I think my motherboard may be dead. Last night I went to turn on my PC and it didn't post. So I tried the following:

    - Hooked it up to another monitor. That didn't help.
    - Changed the video card. That didn't help.
    - Unplugged anything that was not strictly neccesary so I only had the system disc and the video card connected.
    - Then I switched power supply. That didn't help.
    - THen I tried a stick of RAM i borrowed from a friend. That didn't help.
    - I tried my own RAM in his machine and it worked fine.

    So far I can conclude that it's not my monitor, video card, RAM, optical drives OR PSU causing this. All I can see left is either my processor or my motherboard, in which case it may be time for a general upgrade.

    Does anyone see any flaws in my logic or do you all agree my motherboard is dead?


    Which brings me to the next point. I haven't researched the hardware market in 2 years now, so I have no clue what to get.

    I'd like to use whatever parts from the old system I can. Optical drives, Hard drives, PSU, RAM and video card if possible.

    I take it the drives and PSU (360 watt Thermaltake, 2 years old) will not be an issue. But:

    - Can I still use my 512 MB DDR RAM (PC2700)?
    - IS my PSU still up to the job?
    - My video card is obviously AGP. Can I still get a motherboard with an AGP port or is it time to switch to PCI-E ?
    - I'm thinking of going for either a Sempron or Celeron processor to save cash (I wasn't really planning on this upgrade). I know they are fine for office applications. Will they perform ok for some casual gaming?

    And last but not least.... recommendations of motherboards would be greatly appreciated... we're talking boards in the 100-150$ range.

    Ow and IF I need new video as well which it looks like..... how will a GeForce 6600LE (256 MB) compare to my current Ti4200?

    EDIT: Looking around it seems the socket 754 platform is on its last leg... is that correct? If soo then would a socket 939 be a better option?
    If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."
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  • #2
    Your logic seems sound.

    I can't really recommend any recent hardware, but if you don't want to upgrade your video card and found your system adequate for the gaming you do, I'd just get a very cheap socket A board and CPU - or do a bigger upgrade at least to a PCIe GF 6600GT and at least 1 gig of RAM. Anything in between would be wasted money, IMHO.
    There's an Opera in my macbook.

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    • #3
      Point taken

      It makes no sense to upgrade to a system that is maginally better than what I have and on top of that offers little to no options for future upgrades. I've been looking around, and I am definately going with AMD this time. I just can't justify the price of an Intel processor.

      Perhaps a stupid question but, does buying an Athlon 64 (socket 939) mean that I need a 64 bit version of windows?

      For now I will stick to a new motherboard and a new CPU, so I'm looking for something that will allow me to use my current 512 MB RAM (for the time being) as well as install a PCI graphics card until next payday (or onboard graphics).

      The processor will probably be an Athlon64 3500+.

      For motherboard I am considering:
      - MSI K8N-NEO4-F
      - Asus A8N5X
      - Asus A8N-SLI/SE
      - Gigabyte GA-K8NF

      Any recommendations for or against?
      If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Chris B
        Perhaps a stupid question but, does buying an Athlon 64 (socket 939) mean that I need a 64 bit version of windows?
        No.
        There's an Opera in my macbook.

        Comment

        • #5
          I have the msi on that list - using an opteron 165

          as for your current ram, you *should* be able to use it with a memory divider, but, it will slow your pc down - A LOT

          no, the Athlon 64's are backwards compatable with 32 bit, and clock for clock, they will run 32 bit apps quicker.

          if you get the msi - or any nforce 4 chipset mobo - make sure you read the istructions regarding installing the ram really carefully, the chipset is prone to static damage if the psu is plugged in while playing with your ram. follow instructions, and there is NO PROBLEM
          Juu nin to iro


          English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

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          • #6
            Just remember to send all the old hardware... to ME!
            The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

            I'm the least you could do
            If only life were as easy as you
            I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
            If only life were as easy as you
            I would still get screwed

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            • #7
              So what are you ganna do with a broken MB Gurm?
              Join MURCs Distributed Computing effort for Rosetta@Home and help fight Alzheimers, Cancer, Mad Cow disease and rising oil prices.
              [...]the pervading principle and abiding test of good breeding is the requirement of a substantial and patent waste of time. - Veblen

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              • #8
                Well it came in a really "pretty" box which I still have if that counts as a plus!?
                If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."

                Comment

                • #9
                  Originally posted by Umfriend
                  So what are you ganna do with a broken MB Gurm?
                  Pssss!!! Let him have it, I'm next in line for free/trash stuff!

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Bump....

                    Well I just ordered new parts:
                    - MSI K8N-NEO4-F
                    - MSI GeForce 6600GT
                    - Athlon64 3500+ In-a-box

                    As I mentioned I have 512 MB pc2700 RAM, but I want to go to 1 gig ASAP. Is there anything I should be aware of.... pitfalls!?

                    The vendor where I ordered the other parts is selling 2X512 MB Kingston pc3200 at just under 100$. Seems like a pretty good deal to me! Can I go too cheap?
                    If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      thatll be a real solid computer, that kingston ram should be fine
                      Q9450 + TRUE, G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2, GTX 560, ASUS X48, 1TB WD Black, Windows 7 64-bit, LG M2762D-PM 27" + 17" LG 1752TX, Corsair HX620, Antec P182, Logitech G5 (Blue)
                      Laptop: MSI Wind - Black

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Chris B
                        Ow and IF I need new video as well which it looks like..... how will a GeForce 6600LE (256 MB) compare to my current Ti4200?

                        EDIT: Looking around it seems the socket 754 platform is on its last leg... is that correct? If soo then would a socket 939 be a better option?
                        Try a x1300 or 6600 pure if you're willing to spend a bit more.
                        Motherboard, I'm pleasently surprised by my new aquisition, Asus A8R-MVP. If you're for Nvidia, A8N SLI.

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                        • #13
                          I think a 6600GT offers better bang for the buck (if you have the money, of course) than a 6600 - I don't know, though.
                          There's an Opera in my macbook.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Well I ordered the parts last night and picked them up this morning.

                            - MSI K8N-NEO4-F
                            - MSI GeForce 6600GT
                            - Athlon64 3500+ In-a-box
                            - 2 X 512 MB Kingston DDR400 (value RAM)

                            And a copy of windows XP, I figured it was to go legal at least on the OS

                            I looked around at some tests for GeForce 6600 vs. 6600GT, and the GT version just seems like the best bang for the buck, so GT it was.

                            Installed this afternoon, and happy so far. I have yet to do some real testing but I haven't run into any issues during installation.

                            I'm pleasently surprised at the noise level of the AMD referance cooler as well as the cooler on the graphics card.
                            If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Chris B
                              I'm pleasently surprised at the noise level of the AMD referance cooler ...
                              If you have Smartfan (or whatever MSI calls it) enabled in the bios just wait till your cpu gets a bit hotter

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