OK sorry for the long-winded post...You guys really helped me very recently with my selection of parts to build my new i5 2500K based machine for which I thank you and which I will be starting to build in the next two weeks, as soon as I have got my order sorted and my Inland Revenue accounts out of the way, at the end of the month.
Now I have another problem...my existing base unit which I am replacing is a 5 year old Compaq AMD Athlon 64, 3400+ machine. twin optical drives, twin HDD, card reader, fire wire etc which has served me well and although excruciatingly slow by today's standards, would be ideal as a backup for my photographic needs but, it has a problem which has been occurring for the past 9-12 months in that it will just simply drop power when left unattended and idling!
It never happens when being used and I know the fans etc are working as, when it gets under really heavy load when I have to edit several large image files at once in Photoshop, the fans blast away and it cools down quickly without problem. It is also unpredictable in that once it drops power, it can run for the next 18 hours without problem or may happen a couple of times if it is left unattended. I suspect the mobo as, a few months back I heard what I thought was a " high tension" spark-crack sound from the innards on two occasions, like a pot going out!
I've recently added an AGP graphics card and to see if it was the 300W PSU that might have been breaking down but seems to handle that ok, so I strongly suspect the mobo.
Now rather than bin the old computer I'd like to fit a new mobo and modest ( well cheap really LOL) processor to use it in my photo studio area just for viewing files and leave the heavy editing for my new machine. I'll just use the on-board graphics so I won't need a bigger PSU, otherwise it would become uneconomical.
I guess any processor made these days will be faster than what I have now so, all I need is a modest micro-atx mobo that will take 2-4 Gb ram and any processor that will give the machine a new lease of life without costing an arm or leg !
Any suggestions for the mobo and processor? Oh! The mobo will need to have an IDE connection as well as SATA!
Now I have another problem...my existing base unit which I am replacing is a 5 year old Compaq AMD Athlon 64, 3400+ machine. twin optical drives, twin HDD, card reader, fire wire etc which has served me well and although excruciatingly slow by today's standards, would be ideal as a backup for my photographic needs but, it has a problem which has been occurring for the past 9-12 months in that it will just simply drop power when left unattended and idling!
It never happens when being used and I know the fans etc are working as, when it gets under really heavy load when I have to edit several large image files at once in Photoshop, the fans blast away and it cools down quickly without problem. It is also unpredictable in that once it drops power, it can run for the next 18 hours without problem or may happen a couple of times if it is left unattended. I suspect the mobo as, a few months back I heard what I thought was a " high tension" spark-crack sound from the innards on two occasions, like a pot going out!
I've recently added an AGP graphics card and to see if it was the 300W PSU that might have been breaking down but seems to handle that ok, so I strongly suspect the mobo.
Now rather than bin the old computer I'd like to fit a new mobo and modest ( well cheap really LOL) processor to use it in my photo studio area just for viewing files and leave the heavy editing for my new machine. I'll just use the on-board graphics so I won't need a bigger PSU, otherwise it would become uneconomical.
I guess any processor made these days will be faster than what I have now so, all I need is a modest micro-atx mobo that will take 2-4 Gb ram and any processor that will give the machine a new lease of life without costing an arm or leg !
Any suggestions for the mobo and processor? Oh! The mobo will need to have an IDE connection as well as SATA!
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