motherboard blew up, what should i get

[martyr]

i can't decide whether i should upgrade the system or just replace the mobo, which is a 4yr-old asus a7v pure.

it has 1gb of pc-133 and a 1.3ghz t-bird on it.

[Rbstr]

i'd rebuild, it may prove difficult to get a mobo for the PC-133

[Corrosion]

Rebuild.

[Daleon]

Hmm, find a cheap used mb replacement and turn that machine into a web browser lol. Then build a new pc.

[MattxMosh]

Go with rebuild, sell old parts on ebay, or donate to me.

[martyr]

ok.
next up, i don't want to spend much money on this thing, since i built my main machine just last summer... but until trig gets her laptop, it's her main machine too, so i won't be totally cheap with it.

i just don't know how far i should go ... should i do a middle-of-the-road system, like a 2.5-ish athlon, or go 64bit power?

[Daleon]

So your ditching the ram? A gig of ddr is going to be the expensive part.

For $200 I've seen alot of nice combos lately. AMD64/3000's with AV8's (newegg) or P4 3.0c with ECS 848's (Frys if you got one near you).

Could try the Sempron 3100. Performance will be great and price around $120.

[Sentrosi]

Semps suffer a huge performance hit. Semps are Athlons equivalent of Intels Celerons.

I'd go with a middle of the road system (2.2 to 2.6Ghz). Throw in at least 512Mb ram and at least the 9600pro or 5700 depending on your preference in video cards. Get a mobo that supports SATA.

[Daleon]

Sent - the 3100 Sempron is not an XP core, its a K8 core with the 64 bit extensions turned off and half the cache. Its extremely fast, as the 3100 equates it. It will really out do almost any XP chip unless it gets out overclocked. The other Semprons are junk and Xp's are better.

Why get a mb that supports SATA either unless he has a sata drive. Performance to price, not worth it for a mid-range temporary main machine.

[Ait'al]

Have you thought about getting a decent intel system and comparing? There are some damn nice looking intel boards that are fighting for the last 478 gen. Very nice scsi boards with non scsi versions.

And never ever ever get rid of old system stuff. Theyre way to much fun to back to and use later! 8)

Edit: Or there were some nice scsi boards!

[Rbstr]

Originally Posted by Daleon

P4 3.0c with ECS 848's (Frys if you got one near you).

That doesn't have an 848 chipset does it? because that mobo would not be advisable.

[Daleon]

Its a cheap chip set, but reviews for that board have been pretty good. Most ppl buy the combo and sell the mb. Can't complain to much, its free and will get the job done.

Best deal right now I've seen is:

AMD64 2800 OEM at Microcenter, in store only, for $109
Chaintech NF3-250 at Zipzoomfly for $78 or $82 at newegg

Thats a $200 AMD64 combo and can prolly clock the chip up to 3000+ easy.

[Rbstr]

yeah that preaty good.

Daleon you have a microcenter in your area, great deals there sometime and latley they've been carrying things i'd never have thougth a big store would carry. i have a friend that works there too, they have Big employee discounts.

[Daleon]

Yea, they opened a store here about a year ago. At first I really didn't care for it. There prices on anything "good" were usually well above most other stores. But they've improved over time. Great spot for cdrs, dvdrs, cables, etc. There selection of MB's is rather nice to now.

They have 27 and 30" Olevia HD LCD monitors they were showing off DM3 with. WOW, I want one. But holding out for a sharp 30". I WISH I knew someone who worked there or BB, I need some of those at cost discounts bad.

[NoSurrender]

yea the only alternate we have to best buy is Microcenter, that store is very hit or miss. When i get a car im gonna go drive down and apply (its a 15-20 min drive)