My mobo has given up in my current system: Asus P5KC 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 nVidia 8800 GTS 320Mb Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz Intel 80Gb X25M SSD 2x Hitachi 160gb old HDDs IDE ASUS DVD RW I don't really have the cash for a new Core i7 1366 system and 1156 seems a bit of a dead end (and still very expensive) I'm pretty happy with current performance though a graphics card upgrade is probably the next step (will be ATI 5850 unless something better comes out before next year when I'm looking to get it but have always been an nVidia fanboy really) I think the best thing is to get a new core 2 mobo to replace the dead one (which I hated anyway.) Please can you recommend an inexpensive mobo replacement that will allow a decent overclock on the Core 2 Duo, will be stable, has an IDE connector (though I guess I could get an SATA DVD-RW) and won't cost the earth. Cheers for the help.
I've got a p5kc and i find it top notch.... wondering why you don't like it ? (apart from it dying of course) , i'd probably get a biostar tpower i45 is if was replacing it (cpc recommended)..
I've always had startup problems with it. Vista x32 and win 7 x64 both hung regularly on startup and I could never find out why. Selective msconfig startup didn't help but I think memory incompatability might have been part of the problem. The Gigabit ethernet also caused some problems. Finally the Jmicron chip necessary for the IDE controller delays boot times. Apart from that it was great!
I would say get either this board MSI P43 Neo-F Socket 775 £49.83 Inc VAT @ ebuyer or Asus-P5Q-SE-PLUS-iP45-S-775 £68.97 Inc VAT @ Scan I would go for the Asus one personally but the MSI board isn't crap by any means. And the reason I haven't mentioned any more motherboards is because you said you wanted an inexpensive replacement so I figured just to replace the motherboard that some of the other options other members have posted at almost £100 would be out of your price range right now, would that be right? Also I'm intrigued why you say the 1156 platform is a bit of a dead end when the 1366 is going to be/already has been? made HIGH END and the 1156 platform will be the more mainstream option for most home pc users, therefore cheaper and more easily accessible for the masses who want decent performance and a good i5/i7 processor.
I take your point about 1156 but it's still too expensive for a modest upgrade, money would be better spent on updated GFX. The DFI JR is too small really, I have a large case so no probs with ATX boards. My budget is up to about £85. The ASUS looks like a good bet but what does it have over and above the MSI? i.e. what is the performance/specs difference between the P43 and P45 chipsets?
