Motherboard died and need suggestion for new one

[laurieny]

My son's board died - and he is suffering serious WOW and COD withdrawal so this is a medical emergency. ;-)

We built the system about two years ago, and I am no longer current with boards and chipsets. I went AMD before, but would like to go back to an Intel dual core that supports the cards, drives etc that he already has. Unfortunately I just don't have time right now to do the research again and am hoping for good suggestions so I can go it ordered asap. And obviously if I am switching boards I will need a new CPU as well so please suggest some compatible CPU as well. I would prefer to buy one generation back from whatever is the latest actually shipping new board-so something really good but not at the top of the hype cycle in other words.

The current system is as follows:

MB: ASUS AMD A8N32-SLI Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual-Core
HSF: ZALMAN CNPS9500 PSU
PSU: ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W
Video: ATI X1900XT 256MB
Sound: CB Audigy 2 Z
Memory: OCZ Platinum 2 GB (2 pcs 1GB) DDR (400) PC-3200
HD1: WESTERN DIGITAL 74 GB SATA 10K Raptor
HD2: SEAGATE BARRACUDA 300GB 7200 RPM
DVD: SONY DRU-S810A
FD: MITSUMI Floppy 7-in-1
Mouse: LOGITECH MX518
Case: CM Stacker 831 SE

Any help will be most appreciated!

Thanks,
Laurie

 

[veg1992]

Its a Socket 939 board, but those are hard to come by (outdated), I don't think Newegg even stocks those anymore, might want to try to get an old one of eBay or Craigs)

so if you upgrade...

you'd have to change the following:

- New board
- New CPU
- New RAM (Socket 939 uses DDR newer ones come in DDR2,3)

EDIT: forgot to mention a need of a budget

 

[laurieny]

I wasn't thinking about needing different memory, so that ups the cost, but budget isn't much of an issue (fortunately for spoiled son). I would probably go with 4GB of RAM if I had to change it out anyway. And yes, I was looking to upgrade the board, not replace it.

Thanks,
Laurie

 

[veg1992]

Since you didn't post a real budget I made a build that works

q6600 or e8400
4gb G-Skill RAM Cas 4
DFI lanparty DK
expect a bottleneck with the x1900xt though

 

[laurieny]

So I should upgrade the video card too? What do you recommend?

Thanks for the real time responses.
Laurie

 

[therascalking]

Since you didn't post a real budget I made a build that works

q6600 or e8400
4gb G-Skill RAM Cas 4
DFI lanparty DK
expect a bottleneck with the x1900xt though

hmmm... kinda pricey build there for just casual gaming, vernong... but if price is no object... by all means... budget has a huuuge influence on what we recommend, but check out the pricing on what we say, and if its not doable, just let me/us know and well look for something more in your range... whether its higher or lower... no worries :]

ill hook you up with some links right now if youd like...

i agree with vernong, if you have cash, go for a e8400... you dont really need a quad for just basic gaming...
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors
for RAM, id go with 4GB of some G.Skill PQ's... if youre running a 32-bit OS, 4GB is overkill and not utilized, but... again, if moneys no issue... otherwise, just bump down to 2x1GB and youll be fine...
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
only other stuff id recommend is some Crucial Ballistix, but its out of stock on newegg right now... heres the link tho, if you want to wait...
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

on a kinda off topic tangent, has anyone else seen this RAM from G.Skill yet? the PI series? check it out, it has these crazy new heat spreaders, it looks like...
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

anywho, for your mobo... a nice X38 or P35 board will do you fine, since im assuming youre not going to SLI or OC too much...
heres the board vernong recommended, which is a legit board to be sure:
Newegg.com - DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
but if you want to go X38, heres an Asus board that id recommend:
Newegg.com - ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

if you want to upgrade your video card too, the Geforce 9600 series cards are pretty stellar, and the GT isnt that expensive atall... check those out:
Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N860-AR GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

only other thing that i can think of is whether or not your power supply will handle all of this... i forgot to look at what you have currently... but this isnt tootoo stressful, so odds are good youll be alright...

anywho, hope i helped, if you need anything else let us know, and good luck with your build! - RK

 

[veg1992]

hmmm... kinda pricey build there for just casual gaming, vernong... but if price is no object... by all means... budget has a huuuge influence on what we recommend, but check out the pricing on what we say, and if its not doable, just let me/us know and well look for something more in your range... whether its higher or lower... no worries :]

ill hook you up with some links right now if youd like...

i agree with vernong, if you have cash, go for a e8400... you dont really need a quad for just basic gaming...
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors
for RAM, id go with 4GB of some G.Skill PQ's... if youre running a 32-bit OS, 4GB is overkill and not utilized, but... again, if moneys no issue... otherwise, just bump down to 2x1GB and youll be fine...
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
only other stuff id recommend is some Crucial Ballistix, but its out of stock on newegg right now... heres the link tho, if you want to wait...
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

on a kinda off topic tangent, has anyone else seen this RAM from G.Skill yet? the PI series? check it out, it has these crazy new heat spreaders, it looks like...
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

anywho, for your mobo... a nice X38 or P35 board will do you fine, since im assuming youre not going to SLI or OC too much...
heres the board vernong recommended, which is a legit board to be sure:
Newegg.com - DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
but if you want to go X38, heres an Asus board that id recommend:
Newegg.com - ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

if you want to upgrade your video card too, the Geforce 9600 series cards are pretty stellar, and the GT isnt that expensive atall... check those out:
Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N860-AR GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

only other thing that i can think of is whether or not your power supply will handle all of this... i forgot to look at what you have currently... but this isnt tootoo stressful, so odds are good youll be alright...

anywho, hope i helped, if you need anything else let us know, and good luck with your build! - RK

I was talking about the PI's actually lol

but about what you said about the RAM, I don't see getting 2gb anymore, seeing as you can get 4gb Kits for half the price as people got 2gb kits 2 years ago (thank you for price fluctuation)

 

[Trotter]

A top end CPU and vid card... to play World of Warcrack? WoW will play on integrated graphics, so there really is no need to go all-out on a WoW build.

The 9600 is a good bang for the buck card, so I would keep it. A low-to-mid range C2D would be plenty enough to handle the game. The mobo does not have to be bleeding edge or thee digits to do good service.

WoW is an older game, and the expansions are not much more intensive than the original game. We don't have to recommend over-the-top builds every time... let the build suit the purpose.

 

[therascalking]

We don't have to recommend over-the-top builds every time... let the build suit the purpose.

oh for sure... i said something like that in my original post tho...

i also saw that she said her son plays COD on it, which is more intense... and also that price was not really a limiter...

if the thread starter comes back and objects, like i said in my first post, we can always recommend some cheaper/more economical parts if she gives us a more definitive budget...

whatever works - RK

 

[Trotter]

I play COD4 on my seetup. It, too, does not need top of the line.