Help choosing.

demon8991

demon8991

demon8991

Soldato
Joined
7 Jan 2003
Posts
4,458
Location
Gold Coast, Australia
In the last 2 weeks ive bought two computers both with very similar specs.

First Comp

Sempron 3000+ AM2
OCZ 512mb DDR2 533 PC4200
Asus M2NPV-MX (Socket AM2)
Western Digital 80gb 7200rpm
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W PSU

Second Comp

Sempron 3000+ AM2
OCZ 512mb DDR2 533 PC4200
Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2)
Western Digital 80gb 7200rpm
Antec NSK1300 ATX Cube Case - 300W PSU

Basically ive had

2 x Asus M2NPV-MX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-149-AS)

and

1 x Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-145-AS)

None of these have managed to even post or get to the bios.

Its actually driving me crazy RMA'ing these boards.

So im ditching ASUS whats the best and cheapest motherboard around £55 that is socket AM2 and has integrated graphics one must full size and the other must be Micro ATX.

Thanks guys.
 
MSI K9VGM-V Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-074-MS)

Price: £36.99 (£43.46 Including VAT at 17.5%)

MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-071-MS)

Price: £46.99 (£55.21 Including VAT at 17.5%)
 
Also:
Gigabyte GA_M51GM-S2G Micro ATX
£58.74

Don't take this the wrong way but you are sure it isn't your memory right? Soooo many compatibility issues for DDR2 and boards at the mo.

Oh and that MSI 550 isn't integrated graphics, if you wanted that in the full size board.
 
Last edited:
Ive tried OCZ DDR2 pc4200 533 two sticks of 256mb also tried single sticks in all dimms.

Also ive tried another manufacturers ram DDR2 pc4200 533 one stick of 512mb in all dimms.
 
demon8991 said:
In the last 2 weeks ive bought two computers both with very similar specs.

First Comp

Sempron 3000+ AM2
OCZ 512mb DDR2 533 PC4200
Asus M2NPV-MX (Socket AM2)
Western Digital 80gb 7200rpm
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W PSU

Second Comp

Sempron 3000+ AM2
OCZ 512mb DDR2 533 PC4200
Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2)
Western Digital 80gb 7200rpm
Antec NSK1300 ATX Cube Case - 300W PSU

Basically ive had

2 x Asus M2NPV-MX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-149-AS)

and

1 x Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-145-AS)

None of these have managed to even post or get to the bios.

Its actually driving me crazy RMA'ing these boards.

So im ditching ASUS whats the best and cheapest motherboard around £55 that is socket AM2 and has integrated graphics one must full size and the other must be Micro ATX.

Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

That sounds horrible! It's very annoying when you buy a system (hoping it will work perfectly) and infact you end up with loads of spurious/random problems with it...

Can I suggest the following:-
1) Ensure the motherboard is fitted correctly. Sometimes incorrect risers and/or incorrect screws can be used. If particularly bad, this can actually leave the motherboard to flap around wildly.
2) Ensure PCI and AGP cards are correctly screwed in. Sometimes (1) can mean they cannot even be screwed in at all! Or potentially they may be screwed in but this results in the entire motherboard being bent!
3) Ensure USB connectors are wired correctly to the motherboard.
4) Ensure drivers are correct - This can sometimes prevent a machine from even booting into Windows.
5) Ensure the CPU is actually as described/sold and is not infact overclocked! Overclocked CPU's can cause spurious errors (eg: hanging or blue screens of death).
6) Check hard drives are working correctly. Again, if a hard drive has a problem, this can cause spurious errors (eg: hanging or blue screens of death).

These are some of the problems I've experienced when buying second hand machines... You wouldn't believe what some folks are willing to sell as supposedly "works perfectly"!

Anyway, hope some of this helps.
 
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