Need socket 478 mobo recommendations please

[MPTech]

After exhaustive testing, I believe (with the help of this great forum, I never would have found it otherwise) that the source of my father-in-law's PC problems (inconsistent freezes and various other quirks) is a bad mobo, due to blown capacitors.

Ok, I don't have an issue with repalcing the mobo, done it many many times.

What I'm having troubles with is locating a good one for a reasonable price.

Can anyone suggest some brands (and even better) particular models?
I've been trying to locate an ASUS or Gigabyte, (looking on ePay and Craigslist). (he's on a fixed-income, so I was going to buy it for him, but wanted to keep it under $50 if possible).

I'm looking for:
socket 478 (Pentium 4, 3.06 800fsb)
DDR memory
AGP 8x
IDE support (HDD & DVD burner)

Suggestions / links / recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Guys!

[photolady]

You might want to try these guys:

http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=469

They list 8 socket 478 boards. Most are Intel.

[MPTech]

Is Intel a good mobo?

ASUS, Gigabyte, and ASRock were recommended. (I'm having trouble finding 478, 800fsb, AGP 8x).

MSI, PC-Chips, Jet(?), BIOStar were to be avoided.

any others (in either group?)

[jdc2000]

Intel motherboards are good. I have also used the Biostar boards I posted links to in your other thread with no problems, as well as MSI boards. PC Chips and Jetway are junk.

[Midknyte]

Intel boards are stable. They just lack all the tweaking features that other boards have.

[MPTech]

That information helps considerably. I don't plan on any tweaking, stability is more important.

This one looks like it will fill the bill:
Intel D865GLC Intel 865G Socket 478 mATX Motherboard w/Video, Audio & LAN for Gateway E4100


Features/Specifications:
Intel D865GLC Intel 865G Socket 478 mATX Motherboard
Support for an Intel Pentium 4 processor in an mPGA478 socket with a 400/533/800 MHz system bus
Supports up to 4 GB DDR system memory
Two (2) IDE connectors (UDMA 33, ATA-66/100 support)
One (1) AGP slot


My only concern is that this is for a Gateway E4100, will I have trouble getting drivers? (I'll check when I get home tonite. and is it AGP 8x (I'm assuing).

Any comments on this one?

Thanks Again guys!

[Train]

Gateway E4100 Computer downloads.

http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/E410...800471nv.shtml

Looks like you may need a lot of them.

[MPTech]

Thanks Train! U D Man!

Question, I had XP installed on his old system, but I was actually thinking about installing Win7 on the new system. Would that work with these drivers (XP?) or would I be asking for trouble?

[Train]

Trouble is what I think will happen. I would stick with XP for him.

But Win 7 may have all the drivers needed for that board. They are use to XP, that is what I would install.

[Steve R Jones]

This one looks like it will fill the bill:
Intel D865GLC Intel 865G Socket 478 mATX Motherboard w/Video, Audio & LAN for Gateway E4100

Condition: Refurbished

[MPTech]

I was aware that it was refurbished.

IMO: refurbished are cheaper (I would not have paid $100+ for this mobo) and have had additional testing. maybe I'm wrong, but I've bought 3 cell phones (Blackberry,iPhone, and a Txt-phone for my daughter and have had 0 problems).

just curious what the downsides could be (I understand it's not new, but it looks and acts like it, the only person that knows it's not new is me (and now you). )

thanks guys! I ordered this mobo today. I'll post back when I get it built and hopefully it addresses my orginal "bad mobo" issue!

[MPTech]

Well, the good news is: the mobo arrived today and I picked up a new P4 3.06 for $20 last week. Had to remove the CPU HS mounting hardware from the new mobo (looked like some proprietary setup), but was able to install the new cpu & HS just fine. Hooked up everything and installed Win7 for kicks (if it doesn't work I'll go back to the old XP SP3 I had on it before).
Fired up and seems to be running VERY well!
I do have an issue with sound (I have none!). I downloaded the drivers and attempted to install them, but they are not compatiable with Win7. No biggie, I'll look for a cheap sound card.
Other than that, the only other issue is there was only 1 fan plug, for the CPU HS, but I didn't see one for a case fan. Seems like I've seen adaptors that should work for that.

I think this will get him a slightly faster PC that won't crash!

Thanks!

[MPTech]

Stupid me, here I go assuming again that I can find a simple (all I need is 2 speakers) sound card that will plug in a PCI slot and has Win7 drivers.

searching newegg & tigerdirect, I found 5.1 & 7.1 cards (way more than I need) but it didn't say anything about Win7.

looking for something cheap & easy. I'll kepp searching, but if you have a suggestion, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks again!

[jdc2000]

You might check out reviews for these:

http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/...atdoineed.aspx

http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/...atdoineed.aspx

[SuperSparks]

Though 7.1 is more than you need, it will work just as well with a stereo speaker set up, and it's cheap enough. You can't go wrong with Creative, there are drivers for everything

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102012