Possible fleecing?

[Mooney]

Ok, I have a bit of a scenario for you guys, my uncle called me last night, he says to me that his eMachine has stopped working, it ceased operation while he was on it.

They took it to a local computer repair shop, and the gentlemen there (according to my uncle) initially said that it was probably the PSU, since eMachines PSU's are known to be unreliable. When they came back, he said that it was the motherboard instead, and he could replace it for "$200, parts and labor inclusive"

Seems high to me, but here's what got me, he also says that the new motherboard will be slower, from a "2600 to a 2200," now i'll admit i don't know anything about this computer, but this seems fishy to me, my uncle says the guy didn't say anything about a processor, but there shouldn't be any reason he can't put the same processor in...

I guess my immediate question is, Can i replace the mobo with any processor and RAM compatible board? or is there some eMachine black magic designed to thwart me?

I will keep you guys posted, if i get some responses.

Thanks in advance

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

If you are talking about an AMD 2200 or a 2600 processor then they are the same socket type and will both work in any compatable motherboard. I have no idea why a new motherboard would slow down the computer.... That does seem odd. As for the ram, if it is DDR ram them it will work on any DDR compatable motherboard, though if it's pc3200 ram and you have a pc2100 motherboard, which i doubt is the case, it will be slower or underclocked to the speed of the motherboard. The only way that I can see the motherboard slowing down the computer is if they give you a 266FSB motherboard with your 333FSB processor.. that would slow it down. See if you can get some more info on the processor and motherboard they are trying to sell your uncle.

Seeing as the 2600 processor has 333Mhz fsb and the 2200 has 266Mhz fsb, that sounds like what they are doing.