trying to reconstruct a failed computer

[calin27]

I bought a computer online 2 years ago after returning from Iraq and it bombed. It would randomly shut down on me and after replacing the power supply and trying to cool it off in various ways I've come to the conclusion that the mother board must be the problem as the BIOS is what's giving the error. Now that I have the time and money to put into fixing this issue I figured I'd use what parts I could to build a decent machine. The parts that I'm willing to use again are:

Power Supply: Antec EA-500
Video Card: EVGA e-GeForce 7600 GT
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
RAM: 1g 184 - Pin DIMM 128M x 64 DDR PC3200 x2

I'm sure some if not all of these are a tad out of date but I haven't been keeping up with the new hardware and I need to know what I can do for a gaming machine that's not too pricey. The different drives shouldn't be an issue so I omitted them. If you need to know them I'll post them too. Please help! Thanks.

 

[calin27]

Any advice would help. Thanks again.

 

[Nick]

What motherboard is it? If you've replaced the PSU then yeah I would say it's the motherboard, is it possible to RMA It?

 

[calin27]

Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe. I'm sick of trying different things just to have it not work. It's been 2 years so I just want to build a new rig. Any advice preferably using the parts I listed would help.

 

[Dauntae]

One big issue I'm thinking of is it a AGP video card or PCI-E if it's AGP then your going to be very limited on finding a MB and that's about the best GPU your going to get for AGP if it's PCI-E I would also get some DDR2 Ram, That cheap now (about $40 for 2 gig) A quick search on Newegg and all I found where 2 that had AGP and one has both PCI-E and AGP but I've heard there where a lot of problems with the boards that had both.
Newegg.com - Foxconn 915PL7AE-8EKRS LGA 775 Intel 915PL ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - Foxconn 661GX7MJ-H LGA 775 SiS 661GX Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
That's all I could find with AGP

Dauntae

 

[saltynay]

Budget?
If it is AGP then selling the 7600gt would be best and updating to a 8800gt as your looking for the cheap. Your Pentium 4 might be reusable they are still good processors although fairly antiquated and could be a good stop gap if your short on funds providing its a socket 775 although more likely to be 478 though and not compatible you will need to look up the motherboard model to tell whether its AGP and 478.

 

[Redmo0n]

It's been 2 years so I just want to build a new rig.

Got a price tag? $500-$1000 will build you a great rig that will play almost anything. Also what do you use the computer for? You could probably reuse the power supply.

 

[calin27]

The Power Supply and the graphics card are new and have only been used to see if that was the problem with the computer. If I could still use those I'll be happy. The sound card was in the comp from the beginning.

I'd be willing to toss in another $500 or so. I figure I only need a new case and motherboard and chip. I don't know a lot about motherboards though and how to install them. The hard drive, floppy drive, DVD-rom, and such I would just reuse.

I'm really looking for the most bang for my buck that I can get to bring this thing back from the dead.

I'd be using it for gaming mostly. My laptop isn't cutting it anymore.

 

[calin27]

One big issue I'm thinking of is it a AGP video card or PCI-E if it's AGP then your going to be very limited on finding a MB and that's about the best GPU your going to get for AGP if it's PCI-E I would also get some DDR2 Ram, That cheap now (about $40 for 2 gig) A quick search on Newegg and all I found where 2 that had AGP and one has both PCI-E and AGP but I've heard there where a lot of problems with the boards that had both.
Newegg.com - Foxconn 915PL7AE-8EKRS LGA 775 Intel 915PL ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - Foxconn 661GX7MJ-H LGA 775 SiS 661GX Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
That's all I could find with AGP

Dauntae

It's a PCI-E. I wouldn't mind upgrading the RAM and was thinking about it anyways.

 

[calin27]

Budget?
If it is AGP then selling the 7600gt would be best and updating to a 8800gt as your looking for the cheap. Your Pentium 4 might be reusable they are still good processors although fairly antiquated and could be a good stop gap if your short on funds providing its a socket 775 although more likely to be 478 though and not compatible you will need to look up the motherboard model to tell whether its AGP and 478.

It's actually a 939 socket. I don't want anything to do with the motherboard except get a little warmth from the fire it'll be in once my new comp is up and running.