Motherboard dead....confused whether to go for a total overhaul

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mithun

mithun

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Hello friends,

A couple of days back my old and trusty XFX 650i died on me. Here are the rest of the equipments i currently have with me in working condition :

CPU : E6750
RAM : 4 X 1 GB XMS2 800MHz DDR2
GFX : XFX GTX260 C216
PSU : Corsair VX450w.
CABBY : CM690
Screen : 22" full hd
alongwith several HDDs and an ODD,etc.
The setup is almost 4 years old, so i dont have any grudges on the mobo failing, it has served me well withstanding substantial OCs and prolonged gaming sessions.

However, i have not been into gaming for the last 7-8 months and have no immediate plans to resume. The rig was lately only being used for surfing, downloading, Ms Office and watching HD contents.

Seems i have two options :

1. Just replace the motherboard - not much choice here, may have to settle for a G31....or are mainstream/enthusiast grade mobos for LGA 775 available for cheap? Dont want to invest much in this option, but would like to have a full-ATX board if possible. New or used..again a confusion?

2. Sell the rest of the hardware and build a swanky new HTPC! That's what i'm more keen on honestly as i dont see myself playing games on PC in the near future. Will have the peace of mind of warranty coverage and lower electricity consumption as well. But here again, i'm totally unaware about how much can i get in disposing the rest hardware and how much more i have to invest to build that new HTPC?

To summarize, for intended use in watching HD contents, surfing, downloading,and Ms Office ., what would be the smarter option, (1) or (2)?

Please pour in your advices as i'm in a dilemma on which course to chose?

TIA
 
I'll say go for plan 2) --

AMD Phenom IIx4 840 ~ 5200/- AMD Phenom IIx4 840 review - Google Search, more then enough muscle for what you intend to do plus some extra in-case you want to extract something extra from your system, over-clocks well too.

ASUS M4A78L-M ~ 2700/- ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Motherboards- ASUS M4A78L-M LE, continue using your DDR II RAM as well.

HIS IceQ / Sapphire Vapor-X edition(s) HD 5670 512MB ~ 4400/- (your nVidia GTX 260 will add to noise and power consumption in my views, you're better off with-out it and the 5670 will handle most upcoming titles on low settings)

Add to this whatever rig you have currently and you should be good to go. Please mention cabinet and screen size. I'm unaware of what prices you'll get on selling your old components. All prices I've mentoned are from Bangalore S.P. Road, Golccha Inter-trade. Hope this helps.
 
Do i really need a quad in a HTPC? And can i do without a dedicated gfx card, now that onboard solutions offer almost the same functionality as entry level discrete gfx cards in terms of multimedia playback?
 
My take:
Sell everything if you ain't gonna need it!

Probable prices:
CPU : E6750 - 1000
RAM : 4 X 1 GB XMS2 800MHz DDR2 2000
GFX : XFX GTX260 C216 4000
PSU : Corsair VX450w. 2300
CABBY : CM690 2200

Earns you a cool 11500 plus minus a couple of Ks.

Not putting a little more you can grab the latest sandy bridge i3 with a mini itx/mATX H67 board a coupe of gigs of DDR3 goodness and you are set. If you get a decent mATX cabinet line the Lian-Li PC-V351 you can continue using the Corsair VX450. Or else get the Antek ISK series case which gets you a PSU as well (under 4K last i saw).

On a second thought get a G31/41/43 for about 2-3K and get a decent HD media player like the XTreamer/O'Play HD/WD Player for anywhere between 4-8 K and you are still good to go.
 
As of now just get the Intel G41 Combo ~ 2.4k (Has both DDR2 and DDR3 RAM slots)

Sell off the 2GB XMS RAM as there are only 2 DDR2 slots.

Sell off the GPU and get a HD5670~4.4k now or wait for 2 more months for Llano to release. They have the HD56xx class integrated GPU which is ideal for HTPC and light gaming.
 
Darky's suggestion seems feasible but i would want to retain the 4 gigs of ram as i'm on 64-bit OS. So selling off all the 4 ddr2 sticks and buying 2x2gb ddr3 would make sense? Also for the GPU part, how good is the onboard video on the G41 for HD Playback, no HW acceleration i guess? In case on non availability/cost effectiveness of Lian-Li HTPC cases, what are the cheaper options that can accomodate the vx450 + a basic discrete Gfx card? What is the availability/price of P45 boards?

TIA
 
Last I checked with Phoenix (last week) the PC-V351 was in stock. It takes a regular PSU like yours and full length GPU. sTALKEr has the same case housing a GTX570 afaik. P45 sounds overkill at this point since your CPU is probably counting its last few months going by the 4 year round the clock OC you mentioned above.

The onboard of G41 is nothing to sing home about but you already have a decent enough GPU not to worry about it.
 
I was in a similar situation a couple of months back.My MB Asus P5NE- Sli had crashed & i did not want to give up on the E8500 , Ati 4980 + 4Gb GSkill PI blacks.
So the hunt started & I was able to get a Biostar TP43 E-combo motherboard (Intel P43 express chipset + 2slots each of DDR2 & DDR3 ram etc).
This combo has been running stable since then. I had paid about 3K for the board in Bangalore.
You can try contacting Abacus Peripherals if you need the same.

Rgds,
Jerry.
 
mithun said:
Darky's suggestion seems feasible but i would want to retain the 4 gigs of ram as i'm on 64-bit OS. So selling off all the 4 ddr2 sticks and buying 2x2gb ddr3 would make sense? Also for the GPU part, how good is the onboard video on the G41 for HD Playback, no HW acceleration i guess? In case on non availability/cost effectiveness of Lian-Li HTPC cases, what are the cheaper options that can accomodate the vx450 + a basic discrete Gfx card? What is the availability/price of P45 boards?

TIA
Click to expand...
its enough i have tested g41 on my gigabyte mobo can run mafia 2 on lowest settings

movies run fine as well
 
sarang said:
your CPU is probably counting its last few months going by the 4 year round the clock OC you mentioned above.
Click to expand...

:eek:

Really?!?! I mean it was taken care of properly, provided with reasonable cooling, run at lower than stock voltages and only a meager 30% OC from day 1, but has been profusely used though. Getting outdated is something totally different (in-case u meant that), but dying in few months? That would flush out Option 1.
 
mithun said:
:eek:

Really?!?! I mean it was taken care of properly, provided with reasonable cooling, run at lower than stock voltages and only a meager 30% OC from day 1, but has been profusely used though. Getting outdated is something totally different (in-case u meant that), but dying in few months? That would flush out Option 1.
Click to expand...
This was a conclusion drawn on the available information and the circumstantial evidence that the mobo conked off :P. If it was properly taken care of then I'd say go the P43/G41 way and save some moolah.
 
There is another option. Get your motherboard repaired at Chandni. It will cost you 500 - 700 bucks. And they will give you 30 days warranty. My friend had a similar problem in late 2008 and he is still using the repaired board without any problem.
 
G31, G41 series motherboards (G series mATX) consumes less power then any ATX mother boards because they offer (performance chip-sets) lots of options for user. Now power consumption depend on usage factor more you use computer more the electricity bill.

Options are:

Second hand motherboard under warranty - sell two sticks. Second Hand Mobo Rs. 1400.00 - Sale of 2GB RAM Sticks for Rs. 1000 (aprox). Total Payout Rs. 400/-

New DDR3 Motherboard G41 with DDR2/DDR3 both slots - (A) Pay Rs. 2475.00 - Sell two RAM slots for Rs. 1000 (aprox). Total Payout Rs. 1475/-.

(B) Buy a DDR3 supporting board for Rs. 2375.00 + New DDR3 4GB kit for Rs. 2200.00 - sell all the Memory Rs. 2000.00. Total Payout Rs. 2575/-

If you are using the current setup for HD, Net, Office then I think 2 GB RAM is enough.
 
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Repairing is out of the question, as stability/reliability is the need of the day. Moreover, the board has served its useful life imo.

As of now, i'm going for a cheap G31/41 board(as i couldn't find a better used board within 1.5k) and will retain 2 gigs of ram. Also retaining the gfx card for now, as the 6670 looks like a promising HTPC solution.

Thanks for all your inputs.
 
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