Motherboard Died - Need Advice About What to Buy

[Tyler2000]

I had Gateway 700XL 2.4Ghz with 1GB rambus memory. While upgrading to a BFG Nivida 7800 GS OC graphics card, my motherboard died.

So....I could send my system back to gateway and get the same motherboard for $345 or I could upgrade to something better. With so many options and not a whole lot of money to spend on a new system I'm having trouble deciding what to do. For now, let's say I want to spend less than $700 on a new system.

Questions I have:
1. I have Windows XP Home, should I get Windows Professional or Media Center? Is there anything special I should have to be compatible with Windows Vista, when it is released?

2. I had 1GB memory, but could 2GB work better with future games and smooth HDTV watching? I did watch HDTV with the ATI HDTV Wonder(but not with their software) with my old system. 720p broadcasts were fine, but 1080i was never quite as smooth as it should have been.

3. I had 2.4ghz P4. Should I consider a dual core cpu?

4. I just bought a BFG Tech nvidia 7800 gs oc for $300 because my old motherboard had 4x AGP and I thought it would be the last graphics card I bought before I get newer motherboard with PCI-e. It is too late to return it, so I'm going to have to sell on ebay for maybe $100. I could buy a pc with an 8x agp, but I don't think it would be good in the long run. I think I should get PCI-e. Then what I PCI-e graphics card should I buy? I don't play games everyday, but when I do, I want games like Doom 3 and Half-life 2 to play really well.

5. My old system had a firewire connection built into the front of the machine. I used this connection a lot to upload video from my camcorder. I'm not finding a lot of systems with this connection in the front. The local pc repair guy told me, 'firewire isn't used, people use usb'. Did he just not know what he was talking about? Even usb 2.0 isn't fast enough to capture full resolution minidv video, right?

6. My old system had a CD-RW and a DVD-R/ROM (I never used a DVD-ROM) drive. I would like a DVD-RW, but they may cause problems with compatibility with dvd players. My DVD-R/ROM was 1x speed, faster would be great, but don't faster writes cause problems, too? What about dual layer DVDs? My video editing program supports dual layer. Are dual layer dvds getting any cheaper?


6. If I sell my old agp graphics cards and some parts of my old PC, let's say I could get $280 for all of it to offset the cost of a new system. That gives me $980 to spend on a new system. I don't want to try to build a pc by myself. Even if I could find the parts for cheaper, I still want to have someone else put it together.

[budz]

Replacement motherboards by Gateway, Dell & HP are always expensive. I see you have RAMBUS memory which is expensive in itself therefore find another motherboard for your P4 2.4 processor but you'll probably have to buy new memory as well. I haven't seen many P4 motherboards that are still available that use RAMBUS memory. The one's I've seen all use DDR 184 pins. Replacing the motherboard would be the less expensive. Is your P4 processor a socket 423 or 478? Socket 423 motherboards are hard to find but 478 is stll available. Or build a new computer by buying the parts yourself and have someone else build it for you.

[aedipuss]

if you are not comfortable building it, pick the best dell you can afford, some have optional firewire for $30. if not the local guy should be able to install one for about the same price

[Tyler2000]

Ok, I looked on dell.com and picked this system:

How much would a similar system cost if I bought the parts and built it myself? A few things I would change in this list, would be that I don't need new a 56k modem or the integrated audio, or new virus protection. I would install my old sound card and my old hard drives. The new hard drive only has to be large enough to hold Windows.



XPS 400 Qty 1
Pentium® D Processor 940 with Dual Core Technology (3.20GHz, 800FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 Unit Price $1,480.00
Catalog Number: 29
Module Description Show Details
XPS 400 Pentium® D Processor 940 with Dual Core Technology (3.20GHz, 800FSB)
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Keyboard No Keyboard
Monitors No Monitor
Video Cards 256MB nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX
Hard Drives 160GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ 8MB cache
Floppy Drive and Media Reader No Floppy Drive Included
Mouse No Mouse
Network Interface Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Modem 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
CD or DVD Drive Single Drive: 16x DVD+/-RW with double layer write capability
Sound Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No Productivity Suite - Corel WordPerfect® word processor only
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee SecurityCenter with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months
Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support
Internet Access Service 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Optional Ports IEEE 1394 Adapter
Future Operating Systems Windows Vista™ Capable
Dell Digital Entertainment Starter Entertainment Pack -Basic digital Music, Photo, and Casual Gaming

TOTAL1,480.00

[Soopafresh]

Sounds like you're headed for a completely new system. As far as HDTV playback is concerned, there will be no difference in performance if you have 1 GB vs 2GB.

[ROF]

Total price is around $1000 for the computer Dell is selling you. Although they are probably giving you the bottom of the barrel Motherboard. Ever notice how they do not tell you about this? It's the most important part of the system and yet they never discuss it. Odd or creative marketing, you choose.

In my opinion the 7800 is a waste of money. You can find much cheaper graphics cards that are not so draining on the wallet and will provide ample room to work. The 7600 is a good choice for higher end applications and it can be found for half the price of the 7800.

[CrayonEater]

First of all, don't get all worked up over Vista. It's greatest new feature is apparently it's new look. And the TCA crap, if it's implemented to the extent some think it will be, means you will lose a lot of control over what you do on your machine and possibly even have to put up with a lot of snooping. Plus, there is no evidence you will need it to do HD.

Are you averse to building your own machine? You can build a pretty nice machine in the $600-$800 range (possibly including a nice video card), and you will get a nicer machine than that Dell, and without the spyware and junk Dell puts on to boot. While I recommend Dell to non-DIYers, you save significant amounts of money when building mid-end or high-end machines versus buying pre-made. The only way I'd spend the kind of money you are looking at if for a CAD machine.

As to XP Home v. Pro, I've found Pro to be more stable. I do not use Remote Registry and a few of the other features that the sales literature listed as being "improvements" over the Home edition, but I like Pro more. YMMV.

I think 2Gb might be overkill; many apps won't even use that much. Stick with 1Gb unless you know your apps that will use more than that.

A far as firewire, a $5 card will take care of that.
http://www.chiefvalue.com/product/productdetails.aspx?item=15-124-032

I believe MiniDV can run about 25 Mbps, or 125 Mbps uncompressed. USB 2.0 is 480 Mbps. Firewire (1394a) is 400 Mbps and Firewire 800 (1394b) is 800 Mbps. USB isn't going to be your limiting factor: A bigger concern is whether your HDD will be fast enough to spool data to.

As far as the DVD burner, I'm surprised that you can actually find media that works well in one as old as yours. I've had trouble getting old 4x burners to recognize 8x and 16 media. In any case, an NEC ND-3550a is $35 a chiefvalue.com, and nice Benqs and Lite-ons are comparably priced. While DL is still rather expensive (good media is often $2.00/disc in stores, occasionally less online), it's come down quite a bit, and will probably come down even more now that HD and Blu-Ray are becoming the "all new" hi-capacity format.

[smitbret]

I just worked up exactly your Dell system on New Egg, with the exception that you'd have to get the Wordperfect Suite instead of just the Word Processor and you don't get the Dell 24 hour support. Total price with shipping on standrad UPS is $1,365.53. Now keep in mind that the 7800GTX is probably not the way to go, try an ATI X1800GTO or a 7900 GT and save $200. Then with the money you save, pick up an AMD 3800+ Dual Core and a bigger hard drive. I'd build, but that's if you don't want the 24 hour support.
-Brett

[MJA]

all prices are ganna go down on CPU's next month when Core 2 Duo aka Conroe launch next month. be sure to use coupons when u shop on dell.com you can save tons of money
so check http://www.techbargains.com/query.cfm


http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2531

[budz]

Since you've decided on a brand new computer then purchase your hardware from newegg.com and have someone build it for you. As already mentioned Dell fills their pc's with bloatware full of software that you'll never use. Oh! and don't forget they'll load AOL into your pc as well.

I'm working on yet another HELL (DELL) PC that needed a hard drive replaced and had my friend buy a OEM version of XP PRO. I told her I didn't need the cd's that came with the pc. She had a restore disc of WINDOWS ME & a disc of AOL as well.

Prices of processors will be going down and that'll be the time to order your hardware for your new computer.

[Tyler2000]

I can't wait another month for processor prices to come down. It has already been almost 2 months since I started having trouble with my old system.

If I buy the parts from newegg.com, is there some helpful 'customizer' that helps you find the right parts, or do you have to know what are you looking for?

This is my old motherboard:
http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/INTEL/2516011/2516011mv.shtml
http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/INTEL/2515762/2515762fp.shtml

Its part number is: 4000779

Now I'm considering purchasing a refurbished motherboard from eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/GATEWAY-4000779-Intel-Pentium-4-Skt-478-LEXINGTON-Gate_W0QQitemZ88...QQcmdZViewItem

[SingSing]

I think it is worth while to buy the refurnished motherboard to extend the life of this Gateway 700XL for another few years.

1. This PC did serviced about 4 years.

2. The RAM and CPU most likely can be recycled.

3. You are not into building PC with MOBO/RAM/Case etc.

[Tyler2000]

I really would like to buy the motherboard on eBay, but I need to know if it won't burn up again. See, I just bought a BFG Nivida 7800 GS OC and a new 500w Startech power supply when my motherboard went bad. I installed the 7800 before I uninstalled the drivers from my old graphics card, so I installed the new drivers and restarted my system.....and that's when the motherboard died.

So do you think the graphics card or the power supply is what caused the problem? The 7800 card works with 4x or 8x. My motherboard was 4x. The power supply requirement of the card was 400w, and I put in a 500w watt. Should I buy a different graphics card and 400w power supply just to be safe, or could they have had nothing to do with the motherboard?

[lenti_75]

there are different voltages for AGP, 2x used to be 3.3V and an 8X agp card is 1.5 or something like that....

MAKE SURE YOUR CARD IS THE SAME VOLTAGE AS YOUR MOBO.....

[budz]

If your gateway motherboard is a socket 478 then I would just buy a brand new motherboard from newegg.com. I've bought used motherboards from ebay with little success because most of them were defective. IMHO just buy a new socket 478 motherboard from newegg.com.

I'd start with buying a ANTEC power supply then buying a replacement motherboard & 1gb pc 3200 ram from newegg.com. That's just my 2cents worth!

here's some links for motherboards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131546

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131460

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131484

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131527

[CrayonEater]

I would go with a non-Gateway IF you can find one that fits your power supply connectors (that should not be a problem) and will fit in your case. Then you will not be beholden to Gateway amd probably will get a higher-performance motherboard for less. You might have to look on eBay, though, to get one that supports 4x AGP, though there are a few retailers that might still have 4xAGP Socket 478s. I'd get a MicroATX unless you are sure you can fit a full-size mobo in your machine. Of course, the size and power supply compatibility can be taken care of with a new, cheap case and PS.

Your existing machine is modern enough that you should get quite a bit of use out of it, and if you can repair it for $100-$200 it's cost-effective to do so. Otherwise, you can build/buy even a bottom-of-the-line for maybe $350-$600 that's more modern and faster than what you have now, and that includes a decent video card. While there is no "customizer" as such, there are a lot of helpful customizers here, at motherboards.org, afterdawn.com etc. that will help you either determine what system is right for you or will let you know if you post a selection of parts whether they meet your needs and are compatible with each other.

[Tyler2000]

The socket 478 motherboards you listed on newegg.com use PC3200 memory. My old motherboard used PC800 memory.

Where the listed motherboards say, "1x AGP 4X/8X", does that mean the motherboard will handle both 4x and 8x graphics cards? And if you put in a 4x/8x graphics card it will default to 8x?

The specs of my motherboard on gateway.com say it is "Form Factor ATX 12.00 × 9.60 inches". So as long as I find a motherboard listed as '12" x 9.60"', it should fit perfectly, right?

[aedipuss]

i would suggest determining exactly what is dead first. just installing a new vid card without removing the old drivers would only effect windows, not any of the hardware. at most a format/reinstall of the o.s. would be required. have you tried putting the old vid card back in? setting the m.b. bios jumper to configure? does anything turn on - fans, leds, h.d.s spin up? it may be more or less than the motherboard. was there smoke/bad smell/flash of light/shorting noise when the unit was powered up?

[ROF]

The socket 478 motherboards you listed on newegg.com use PC3200 memory. My old motherboard used PC800 memory.

Where the listed motherboards say, "1x AGP 4X/8X", does that mean the motherboard will handle both 4x and 8x graphics cards? And if you put in a 4x/8x graphics card it will default to 8x?

The specs of my motherboard on gateway.com say it is "Form Factor ATX 12.00 × 9.60 inches". So as long as I find a motherboard listed as '12" x 9.60"', it should fit perfectly, right?

As long as the pin configuration is the same you can use your RAM. I don't recommend that though since this will slow everything about your computer. Yes, if you use an 8x video card in a 4x/8x slot it will run at 8x. No, You should check to see that you can rearrange your motherboard standoffs. More than likely the new motherboard will require you to reconfigure these.

[Tyler2000]

I just remembered something the local pc repair guy told me. He said my copy of Windows XP is designed to only work in a Gateway computer(motherboard). So if I get a non-gateway motherboard, I would have to buy a new copy of Windows XP.

[SingSing]

That's a good question, technically you can call MS to request transfer of license, if you have a non-gateway specific XP install Cd.

[Tyler2000]

aedipuss, yes I did try the old video card. I'm not sure what else the repair man did, but he did determine the motherboard was bad. He said the the capacitors were not burnt up, so it must be something else on the board.

What are 'standoffs'? Is it something related to getting the motherboard to fit in the case?

[ROF]

Good luck. Ever read the Gateway software licensing agreement? The word non-transferable appears several times throughout.

[aedipuss]

standoffs are the little spacers under the motherboard that keep it from touching the case and most also serve as screw inserts. as long as you have the windows serial number you can at least try to use it in a complete reinstall. provided you have a winXP disc and not just a "recovery" disc.

how about trying the old power supply again? turn it on for yourself and see if anything lights up/spins/make noise.

[budz]

The socket 478 motherboards you listed on newegg.com use PC3200 memory. My old motherboard used PC800 memory.

Where the listed motherboards say, "1x AGP 4X/8X", does that mean the motherboard will handle both 4x and 8x graphics cards? And if you put in a 4x/8x graphics card it will default to 8x?

The specs of my motherboard on gateway.com say it is "Form Factor ATX 12.00 × 9.60 inches". So as long as I find a motherboard listed as '12" x 9.60"', it should fit perfectly, right?

Any ATX motherboard will fit in your GATEWAY case. I suggested those motherboards knowing your memory is RAMBUS PC800. I should have said replace your RAM as well. Finding a motherboard that supports RAMBUS memory is hard to find which is why I suggested getting PC3200 MEMORY. IMHO it would cost effective to buy a socket 478 motherboard that supports PC3200 RAM than to buy a motherboard off of EBAY. You could sell the RAMBUS PC800 memory on Ebay. The ASUS P4P800SE motherboard will fit in your GATEWAY case. Corsair PC3200 1gb (2x512mb) runs about $82.00 and the ASUS P4P800SE is about $92.00 last time I saw it at newegg. That would be about $180-$200 depending on the shipping costs. That's just my opinion if I was in your situation.

Your graphics card would be fine to use in that ASUS P4P800SE.

[Tyler2000]

Ok, so if I buy the ASUS P4P800SE motherboard and Corsair PC3200 1gb, I would also buy a copy of Windows XP Professional. If I buy all that from newegg.com the total would be $324.70. I also need a third hard drive to load Windows on to. My other 2 hard drives are 120gb each. The new hard drive would be for windows and for loading games onto. What hard drive would you buy?

I also need a new power supply. My bfg nvidia 7800 gs oc graphics card requires a 400w power supply at least. Since I'll have the graphics card, 3 hard drives, & ati hdtv tuner card, would I need any more than 400w ? What power supply would you buy?

Will I notice any speed difference with the new ram I'm getting? What about a 10,000rpm hard drive?

[budz]

I'd suggest you buy a ANTEC TRUE POWER II 550 watt power supply. If you want a 10,000rpm hard drive get a WESTERN DIGITAL 74GB RAPTOR or if you don't want to spend that much get a WD 36GB RAPTOR. I have the 36GB RAPTOR which does load windows quickly.

[Tyler2000]

You think I really need 550 watts? I thought 500 watts was overkill. Does a 10,000rpm hard drive add much power requirement over a 7,200? I couldn't find the 36GB raptor on newegg.com. What would be a good price for it?

How much will windows professional fill up the 36gb?

[Tyler2000]

Would a 10,000rpm hard drive work at full speed even though my other two drives are 7,200? I think the 10,00rpm drive is Serial ATA and the 7,200 drives are IDE.

[CrayonEater]

Yes, the 10,000 RPM drive will work. As to the PS, 550W is a lot, but if you plan to expand you may need it. Systems use more and more power these days. Personally, I think 400-450W is enough, but you have an idea better than anyone what you will be doing in the future.

You may still be able to use your existing OS, regardless of the motherboard or other hardware. The software does (usually) account for the fact that stuff breaks and needs to be replaced. Whether your license permits it or not is something you'd have to find out by reading it, but $324 for a motherboard, 1 Gb of memory, and XP Pro is really steep. I'd shop around heavily because that memory is also way overpriced; in another thread I priced two sticks of Corsair 512Mb memory (using two pieces so you get Dual-Channel) at $72, and Corsair memory is great stuff. XP Pro is $131 at mwave.com while Home is $81. And finally that Asus comes in at $92 at newegg but is cheaper at mwave.com and a couple other places. It pays to shop around. And only buy Windows if you are sure you need it, especially if you value your current configuration and installed applications.