MB Possibly dying - should I upgrade?

Associate
Joined
28 Jan 2005
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237
Location
Ireland
Hi All,

I am currently running a [email protected] CPU on an Abit IP35 Pro motherboard.

One of my (5) SATA disks has starting going weird, and I'm in the middle of a very long-winded troubleshooting exercise to ascertain whether it's the disk, cable or board, but based on the evidence so far I'm leaning towards board.

In the interests of being prepared for the outcome, I'm looking for advice as to what to do if the board is at fault. I don't want to keep running this board if one or more of the SATA channels is dodgy, as I'm paranoid about data loss.

So, questions are:
1) Looks like this board is probably not available any more. Are there any good alternatives that would allow me to OC to the same level (3.3Ghz from 2.4Ghz stock)?

2) Should I just bite the bullet and look at one of the OCUK i7 bundles? I'm out of the loop on hardware these days - would that be enough of an upgrade to warrant the ~£450? Especially as a new board would probably run to at least £150 anyway. I can't really afford it right now, but if it's a good upgrade, I'd probably rather hang on until I can do it rather than blow £150 to get me back to exactly where I was a few days ago.

3) What's the score with AMD these days? Worth a look as an alternative?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Associate
Joined
25 Jun 2008
Posts
637
If you want a good board thats going to last a while and be a good home for that q6600 have a look around the web for some very cheap X48 and X38 boards :D

I picked up a DFI DK X48 for £65 inc this week.

Think ocuk have a foxconn for £79.99 but it is ddr3 so not a great choice for you.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
28 Jan 2005
Posts
237
Location
Ireland
Thanks for the info!

I can't seem to find the DFI for sale anywhere, but I might consider the Foxconn - looks pretty nice, and at least if I have to buy new DDR3 RAM, it will be good for a while. The really annoying thing is that I just ordered 4GB of DDR2, which hasn't even arrived yet, and will likely never be taken out of the packet.

I suppose it just depends how much I need to spend on the RAM.
I imagine given the overclocking going on, I'll need to be careful which I choose. I'll go and check out the memory forum to see if there's any info there, unless anyone reading this has any input?
 
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