Motherboard died - what are my options

sswats

sswats

sswats

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26 Mar 2004
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I have a:

NF7-S
AMD Xp2500+ mobile
1gb DDR3200 ram
9800Pro
Tagan 480W PSU.

The NF7-s died, not sure why but i tried everything.
so I bought a ASrock Nforce 2 Socket A motherboard. but its awful. Always crashing, and running the Xp2500 at only 1500GHz (NF7 ran it at 2200 with no problems ever).

I play games but not regularly enough to spend too much on a high end system. I may even just get a used NF7 replacement for £30 if a newer build ends up costing too much.

I was also considering used AMD 64's with AGP motherboard and sticking with my current GPU and memory.

Am willing to sell parts and buy used parts.

I don't want to spend more than £150 if it includes a Graphics card. if i stick with my graphics card then around £70 is my limit.

Any ideas?
 
For £150 you could potentially end up with a Venice 3000+/DFI RDX200CF/7600GT combo if you sold your XP2500 and 9800Pro on the MM or 'bay, and still have some change left over.

Other option is to hunt around for a used Socket A board.

Personally i'd go for the upgrade, it'd be a really really huge jump in terms of performance, especially for £150.
 
maybe not helpful, but how do you feel about going COnroe?

Get an E4300 and an Asrock Dual VSTA motherboard, supports AGP and PCI-E, DDR1 and DDR2 RAM. costs about 35. So the CPU and Mobo be about 130. Board is not on OCUK though I am afraid, so you will need to hunt around for it.
 
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2814

Asrock 775 Dual-VSTA Motherboard

Supports AGP and PCI-E, supports DDR and DDR2!!

If you could get your hands on the above (£35-50) you could run your old graphics and your old memory. Add in a Core 2 Duo (E4300 for £110), or any of the much cheaper options (any of the Dual Core Pentiums £50+) and you could have a bit of a screamer.

[EDIT] Ha ha - it looks like a consensus is forming.

ocUK really should carry these boards. I have seen one or two appear in the Member's Market
 
I'm a bit scared of getting an Asrock after the hassles this ones giving me. But it does look like a great option.

so

E4300 £110
Asrock dual VSTA £40
stick with ccurrent GPU.

total £150. get back around 20 for CPU thats £130 total.

Suppose its as future proof as I'm gonna get so thats in its favour over the venice.


If I check in the couch and find some loose change and sell my old graphics card, what is a good budget card to look for over the next couple months. Even if its used, I don't mind.


edit- looking over the review. the PCI-E slot on that mobo seems slow.

assuming i wait and just get a PCI-E graphics card too are there motherboards which have DDR and DDR2 option?
 
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I personally would keep the 9800 Pro.

You are not going to get a budget card that beats that. By budget I mean x300 and the slower 7300s (I think!). The 7600 GT is about twice as powerful though and start at £70.

I would be waiting till the DX10 cards are much cheaper. In the interim - say next month - get DDR2 6400 and induge is some overclocking. Then the PCI-E Graphics and finally a new mobo. Cheap steps.
 
artaxerxes said:
I would be waiting till the DX10 cards are much cheaper. In the interim - say next month - get DDR2 6400 and induge is some overclocking. Then the PCI-E Graphics and finally a new mobo. Cheap steps.
Click to expand...


I think it'll be a long while before the DX-10 would be cheap enough for me.
But I probably will follow those steps.

would I be able to get decent overclocks on the E4300 with this motherboard?
and do I HAVE to have the DDr2 to do any overclocking?
 
sswats said:
I think it'll be a long while before the DX-10 would be cheap enough for me.
But I probably will follow those steps.

would I be able to get decent overclocks on the E4300 with this motherboard?
and do I HAVE to have the DDr2 to do any overclocking?
Click to expand...

No you dont, most people say you can get to 2.7GHZ with it (I dont know, I dont own the board).

DX10 wont be that expensive for long, the 8600's will be out soon, probablly at 100 for the "lower" end cards...

DDR1 ram should be fine for overclocking, drop in to the boards offical thread in the motherboard forum, it is pretty long :)
 
thanks for the help guys.

I'm gonna order the Asrock Dual and the e4300

I'm also going to be buying the Akasa Zen case for £30.

just one thing, if the motherboard itself does not overclock that well, is it really worth me buying a CPU HSF, or just stickk with the intel one?

If I do get a HSF, I was planning on getting the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. sound about right? its only £12.
 
sswats said:
thanks for the help guys.

I'm gonna order the Asrock Dual and the e4300

I'm also going to be buying the Akasa Zen case for £30.

just one thing, if the motherboard itself does not overclock that well, is it really worth me buying a CPU HSF, or just stickk with the intel one?

If I do get a HSF, I was planning on getting the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. sound about right? its only £12.
Click to expand...

Stick with retail. My retail is letting me get over 3300 MHZ on an E4300.
 
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