Replacement mobo and cpu?

[Odyssey]

I have concluded that one or both of my existing AMD Athlon 64 and Jetway K8M8MSR2 mobo, socket 754 have gone toes up and must be replaced.

I have found the following mobos on ebay:

AMD NVIDIA PCI EXPRESS SKT 754 FSB 800 ATX
ASUS K8U-X
ASUS K8V-MX

with the AMD at apx $25 and both ASUS less than $20. Will anyone with experience on any of these 3 boards please share your recommendation with me?

While considering replacement/upgrade, is it sensible to stay with a socket 754? If it is not significantly more to move to a later/better socket? If the latter, which and why? TIA.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Please fill out your system specs in your profile so we can help you better. As for your query, Socket 754 is practically dead. An AM2 motherboard, CPU and RAM will cost you around $200 and last long enough, besides being a major step up from your old rig.

 

[Odyssey]

multiple beeps no video

OK, I have gone from no beeps on the old mobo/cpu to continuous beeps on the replacement (Epox EP-8KDA3+ , which arrived without a manual, and Athlon 64 CPU), each beep about 1 second in duration (I guess this is a long versus a short beep?) about 5 seconds apart for as long as I leave it on. This is true with nothing connected, i.e., no ram, no video card, no drives, only the cpu fan running and the mobo sitting on a piece of cardboard (so no shorting issues).

Plus, when I flip the switch on the psu, the computer turns on immediately, i.e., the power on/off switch on the front of the case is bypassed. I have not been able to find a manual for this mobo, so unsure which way is correct polarity, and am a bit reluctant to start reversing things for fear of blowing it up.

Is it that I have the power switch leads backward that causes the bypass, and would this also account for the beeps?

Or something else? Thanks.

BTW, I have googled extensively for a mobo manual, but not found anything helpful. The Epox support page for download for both the manual and the manual update (http://www.epox.com/usa/article.asp?ID=1731) time out with nothing happening. A message is returned saying:

"The server at ftp.epox.com is taking too long to respond." If anyone has a manual or knows where to get one, I would be much obliged.

 

[seanc]

Continuous beeps indicate faulty RAM. Do you have any more you can try?

 

[Odyssey]

Apology for disappearing, but there were extenuating circumstances.

I substituted, separately, a psu and ram from a working computer. Finally bought a mobo tester and all indicated a dead mobo. Fortunately the seller has agreed to take it back event though I was several days past the return notification date.

So will replace with a low end dual core mobo/psu, either socket AM2 or 775. Would like to keep the total spend under $150 inasmuch as this computer is not used for anything more demanding than keeping many instances of firefox open simulataneously.

Does anyone know of a mobo review site that has a fairly good number of reviews? I know about http://www.motherboards.org but so far haven't found a review of any mobos that I have been especially interested in.

Also if anyone has seen a mag article or internet resource that compared low end mobos for dual core cpu's, a URL would be most appreciated.

Finally, keeping the above 'specifications' in mind, does anyone have any thoughts about AMD vs Intel low end dual core chips or comments about boards (good or bad experience)?

TIA

 

[seanc]

I'd vote the Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L and an Pentium Dual Core E5200. The E21x0 have been discontinued.

I've been building with the GA-G31M-S2L since June and never had an issue with it. Gigabyte's warranty is excellent if you ever need it.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Try these parts:

• AMD Sempron 64 3800+ Manila 2.2GHz 256KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Single-Core Processor - Retail - $29.99
• GIGABYTE GA-M61PME-S2 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 / nForce 430 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail - $48.99
• Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail - $16.99
• Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V Power Supply - Retail - $23.99 after $15 rebate

Grand Total = $134.96, not counting the rebate on the PSU. All items ship free.

IMO, you don't need a dual-core CPU, but if you want one anyways, I recommend this one. Your budget should then go very slightly above $150.