Yes, I do need a new computer.

[01d55]

Motherboard failed last night (we tried replacing power supply, no dice).

I'm looking to build a new machine. My plan is to get an AM3 socket in hopes of keeping this mobo as long as possible. My current Nvidia 7800 gtx is in working order as far as I can tell and I plan to keep it. I also plan to use the new power supply we used to test our initial theory (that the power supply failed) it's an Antec EA-500D green (the 500 is wattage) and the hard drive from my defunct machine.

Any advice for building the rest of the machine, or problems with the plan? My impression is that DDR3 slots aren't backwards compatible with DDR2 RAM.

[Mike McC]

Originally Posted by 01d55

My impression is that DDR3 slots aren't backwards compatible with DDR2 RAM.

This is a correct assumption. Also remember that if you want to use more than 3 GB of RAM, you will need to use a 64-bit operating system.

[Nikose Tyris]

It is possible to get an AM3 board with DDR2 Memory, but that would be a bit of an odd choice.

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...nufacture=ASUS

AM3 that supports DDR3 at a great price. It's gotten some excellent reviews, and the only major complaint is that it's not a good board for overclocking.

Sidenote:

This board supports up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 1800MHz. However, buying 1800MHz ram will burn your ass with cost, so I'd reccomend some 1600MHz ram that's running cheap:

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...cture=Kingston ~$75 for a 2Gb stick. That's honestly the best price I've seen.


Now take in consideration that I'm not actively doing builds right now, and someone else might know more then me, but bang for buck this looks like about the direction you should be looking.

[01d55]

Motherboard failed last night (we tried replacing power supply, no dice).

So it turns out that the third component that can do that to you is the GPU, which was the actual problem. So now the only thing I didn't replace is the disc drives. The fact that the guys at Central were able to figure that out the same day they put the stuff together for me 100% justifies paying 50 bucks for assembly. I would never have thought that was possible.

Oh well, I guess I'm gonna have to suffer through having a 9800 instead of a 7800 WOE IS ME.

[Preturbed]

A short there can short out the whole thing. I wouldn't have thought so either but I've learned the hard way.

In other news, the mobo that was posted here just happens to be the very one I am using.