Resolved mobo recommendation

Hi,
My EVGA 780i just dropped its transaxle. It's going to take several days if not longer to pull it from my machine and iniciate the RMA.

I live in Mexico now so the Advance RMA (quick turnaround) is unavailable.

My question is i want to look around and see if i can cobble a quick semi-bare bones replacement machine together.

looking for a low priced mobo / processor combination that i can hook up my 500 GB SATA hard drive and two 1GB stick of my SLI Corsair DDR2 memory into.

On board video is ok, if it has a PCI Express 2.0 that i can stuff my EVGA 8800 GTX video card in that's a bonus. I can use my power supply to feed the video card. But remember it's not necessary that it have that ability. Standard graphics is enough to get be back on the internet again from my house.


So i need a recommendation for the lowest cost, most minimal mobo and processor combination you know of.

I am sure that there are plenty of fine folks here with a lot more up to date knowledge on what's out there.

thanks alot!

 

I am not sure I can answer. I look for quality motherboards, although people might ask me to get them a "value" motherboard, my quality motherboards are still going strong when a lot of the value ones have failed.

If you have any funds to put towards a new computer (because you need to spend a few hundred anyway on a m/b + CPU combination) why don't you take the opportunity to upgrade the system. Spending a few hundred (dollars, I suppose) would be better put towards an upgrade in my opinion, it would be wasted on getting temporary computing. It might be OK as keeping as a backup system, but you would probably want to upgrade from it if you were in the same situation without being able to RMA the board.

Ask your friends if they could lend you a computer they are not using at the moment.

What you are asking is to find something low priced, look around your local area or at an online supplier and take their best price. From your question, it only has to last a short period.

Matt

 

thanks for your reply.

As usual i am inadequate when i describe a problem.

An EVGA 3 way SLI 780i mobo may not be at the top of the food chain any more but there's not much above it in terms of what i can "upgrade" to.

The less expensive bare bones mobo i am referring to is what you would find in any average computer that you buy from Best Buy etc. I just need for the specs of the mobo to be an ATX format able to handle SATA, DDR2, and a Pentium Core Duo. A 16x PCI-E slot would be a bonus.

After i get the replacement for my 780i i can take the lesser performance board and build another computer with it.

i don't need a 3 way SLI system anymore. With a new power supply and a case i can have another complete computer when my replacement mobo comes using half of the components from my existing computer.

At this point in time at least 85% of the current desktop computers out there are a down grade to my system.

ON AVERAGE EVGA 780i boards are selling for almost $200.00 new.

the quick fix mobo i am looking for should be in the $80.00 price range with those specs that i need.

i could research this myself, but not having access from my home, it costs me an arm and a leg to use the internet cafe's here.

i was hoping someone there had some up to date mobo info.

Also, i do not yet know many people here that are into computers.

Mexico is rather third world when it comes to technology. Computer stores here look like really old pawn shops back home.

 

Sounds like a good plan.

Here are 4 under $80 at Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131387
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121381 (no add-in graphics, 1 PCI, no PCI-e)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 (no onboard graphics, 4 DDR2 slots)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131393
Gigabyte, Asus and Intel, good brands in my opinion. PCI-e x16 (3 out of 4) and DDR2 RAM. [I picked an Intel CPU board because your current board is Intel.]

Since you are going to build a second computer, you should consider the long term. Those are brands I trust (not to say I wouldn't try others).

Make sure you visit the website (or ask me to) and check the CPU compatibility list.

I don't know what is an easy way for you to purchase it. If Best Buy is an easy way, I could look up something there. Newegg is probably a very good supplier around your location (the US guys recommend it).

Give me a good way for you to purchase (supplier, delivery or say, a particular brand, etc) and I will do some research for you [there were 60 odd motherboards at less than $80] .

Matt

 

Excellent Information!

Thanks very much. Now that i have this info i have a person here that can get it for me. I just needed some model numbers to work with.

The fellow that is helping me also has a complete Pentium 4 system i can purchase for $250.00. With that system, along with a separte mobo (one of those that you listed) and the replacement mobo from EVGA, once I get the RMA issues solved, will net me 3 computers for slightly more than one system's cost when its all said and done.

great forum BTW!

 

I will share since I just went through the ordeal...
motherboards from China cost less but have very poor documentation.
The AMD support boards have higher performance at a lower cost, but are made in China.
You may find yourself troubleshooting your own board on an experimental basis. I sure did.
That's why you may want an Intel board, with somewhat better support resources.
I have found some really good deals on board processor packages at fry's electronics. the shipping is very fast.

 

I will mark this thread resolved. You can still post in it if you need to.