Cooling

[Duffman]

how is this one?

[kaiweiler]

not completly familiar with the chipset, but it doesnt look bad for the price, no SATA though
still it doesnt look bad
need a second opinion though

Kai

[Duffman]

i don't know anything about mother boards and if i plan on spending 60% on a new psu and case i want a cheap motherboard

[kaiweiler]

okay, but most people dont really cheap out on the motherboard as it is fairly important and is usually one of the last components to get upgraded again

Kai

EDIT try asking muchspl2, or DWK, as they are the guys that helped me out a lot
they know their stuff more then I do

[Duffman]

well i gotta goto work now so hopefully theyll leave me with some good info be back around midnight

[kaiweiler]

Okay, good luck!
sorry I couldn't help more

[lynx]

Have a close look at the back of your case. If the area around the external connectors (keyboard, mouse, usb, serial, parallel etc) is a removable panel (slightly larger than a front panel insert) then you can insert your existing mobo into a new case. You will have to take this panel across too if the mobo doesn't fit the new case without it.

If there is no removable panel, you need to make sure that the layout of your existing boards's backpanel connectors is standard, and I suspect this is unlikely. You can always run without this panel of course, I've done that in the past without any problems, and it isn't too hard to make one out of thin aluminium plate.

From experience, I can assure you that Compaq use standard psu connectors on their mobo's, so that won't be a problem.

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by Duffman3@9 January 2004 - 16:45
i don't know anything about mother boards and if i plan on spending 60% on a new psu and case i want a cheap motherboard

Small thing here.

No wait, big thing here

You do NOT want a cheap motherboard. IN both the quality, and price aspect. Because most of the time, you get what you pay for.

If you want to we could help you pick out a case, PSU, and Motherboard, and use the entire pot of money to flex around with.

If you want a budget board, this is pretty much the one I hear to get.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc....y=BROWSE&depa=1

Go read some of the MANY reviews it has, which shows it does get its fair share of customers, and mostly happy ones at that.

And btw, YOU DO NOT NEED ONBOARD SATA, IF YOU BUY A RETAIL HARD DRIVE, MOST OF THEM COME WITH A FREE SATA CONTROLLER CARD.

How many freaking times do I have to say that.

[Duffman]

well lets start here, i just got home from work, telling myself if i racked in 50$ big ones id buy the case, i usually make more, i set low cause i wanted to buy a case, but anyways i made 51$, i think it was a sign so im gonna choose a case now

this one?
or
this one,
well now im gonna take a shower and ill be back in 15 - 30 mins

[clocker]

IMO,this one.
Better PSU.
All of the included case fans ( both cases) are "thermal controlled", i.e.crap.
Plan on replacing them at the earliest opportunity ( in the meantime you can disable the thermal control function and perhaps they might actually move some air).