my computer failed, and I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Tried a different (newer even) PSU with it and it only led to different problems (USB didn’t power up).

It was at least 5 years old – athlon xp 2600+. Getting it back to life is secondary right now.

I have parts for 2 other broken computers (each with odd problems too, but I have 2 or 3 not-so-old PSUs, shitloads of DDR2 ram, and a PCIe graphics card) – one is an athlon 64 and the other is a core 2 duo – E2160 or something like that. 1.8Ghz, but my brother says I can overclock it to 3Ghz. Nevertheless, even at 1.8 or a pile less than 3Ghz I’ll be happy because it’s free.

It’s the intel computer I want to revive (if you could call it that). So, I want a good motherboard, so I can upgrade these not-so-great parts (quad core and ddr3) down the line. Also on-board Intel video would suit me down to the ground (don’t play games, don’t want to buy a video card).

I hope there’s good boards out there. I WILL spend over 100 euro if it’s something that I will be able to upgrade later and will keep me going for now. Right now I have nothing.

Any tips, et cetera, appreciated.

ps troubleshooting hardware is a cunt!
are intels motherboards themselves good? Neither of the stores I’m looking at sell them!

(komplett.ie and overclockers.co.uk – any other stores I should be looking at that will ship to ireland for cheap enough?)

if all of your hardware is that old, you might have sockets/ports issues, as alot of things have changed in 5 years. do a little research on what kind all your hardware takes to make sure it’ll mesh well. other than that, for that price you can find a mb that will surf the internet/msword it up. hope that help s

Gigabyte GA-EP45C-DS3R or Asus P5QC will give you the option to use either DDR2 or DDR3.

if on-board video is important, nvidia chipsets > intel GMA.
the problem with nvidia mobos is that they are buggy compared to mobos with intel chipsets.
since troubleshooting hardware is a cunt, just get an intel chipset.

the latest Intel chipsets with on board graphics are the G45/G43 chipsets.
you can still get the old ones (Q35/Q33, G35/G33, etc) but you’d be better off with the latest one.

note: the E2160 uses the LGA 775 socket. the best cpu you can upgrade on an LGA 775 mobo are the current Penryn CPUs. the next Intel chips coming out will use a different socket.

intel ‘brand’ motherboards offer little or no overclocking options.
imo, they are for grandmas.

try
great stuff!

now I know exactly what to look for.

cheers!
the cheapest mobo i can find is micro atx. do i need a special psu/case for that or would atx still do the trick?

atx cases/psus will work with matx

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