22ndSAS PC Gaming Clan

Hi Folks,

My old PC (Asus P5KC with Intel C2D E6750 and 2GB Crucial Ballistix 1066 DDR2) which my bro inherited has started to go tits up.

[History]
When I had it, sometimes it would fail to boot, when doing so it would either give me 4 beeps (video card) or simply did nothing at all, the motherboard LED would be ON to indiciate it had power and the case fans would start and the SATA harddrives would spin but it wouldnt get past POST. I also noticed when it did this (failed to POST), the LEDS on the Crucial Ballistic memory where not lit. The annoying issue was intermittent, sometimes it would do it on a cold boot, other times it would do when restarting after a Windows Update, etc, then it would be ok for ages.

To eliminate the PSU as the cause, I installed a new OCZ 600W PSU. The problem still persisted, upon further trial-and-error I pinned the problem down to the video card not being seated correctly in the PCIe slot (i has to pull it out a little as it seated too deep).

I then built a new PC and gave the old one to my brother as it is still a decent spec and doesnt struggle to runs games such as Crysis.

[Present]
Recently the non-POSTing POST issue has come back. It fails to boot some times, if I take out the memory and video card it doesnt even beep at me during POST checks which im pretty sure it should. I am therefore assuming the motherboard/bios is fubard.

I am therefore in need of another motherboard that I can transplant into my bro's.

It must have:

:: Intel Socket 775 (for the C2D E6750 CPU)
:: FSB of 1333
:: Minimum 2 DDR2 slots that support 1066/800
:: 1x PCIe x16 (for ATI 2900XT) and atleast 1 standard PCI slot (for audio card)
:: Minimum of 2 SATA ports (preferably SATA II)
:: Minimum of 1 LAN port
:: ATX 24pin power
:: Frontpanel connectors for audio/usb

I think some of you have had the same CPU, or atleat a CPU of the same socket type, so can you recommend a mobo that hopefully meets the above spec?

I'd like to stay clear of Asus boards since I never really liked the Asus P5KC as it didnt do what it said on the tin (and they never acknowledged its failings and misleading marketing!).

My current mobo on my l33t PC is a Gigabyte so I have been looking at the GA-P41-ES3G however I cant find a review on the t'internet for it.

I'll await the awesome collective response of all you tech nerds

pick a gigabyte board that meets requirements, you won't go far wrong.
I'd go for one with an intel chipset though.
Does it have to be an all singing all dancing gaming board? or would a mATX with PCIe slot do the trick?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152225
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/231358
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/238925

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... x?pid=3485#

cheap as chips just remember to spend an extra £20.00 for free delivery make him buy you a gift.i suggest this
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/247811
plus you can tell me if their any good and ill get one lol you can road test it
plus u can add it to the ice t computer network
£20.00 by my googling and compairing them on the gigbyte site one has less pcie lanes and a diffrent chip
product comparison with the one sky linked with the one you have and youll see the gigabyte ig31 differs little in the bits missing department

umbongo(uk) wrote:http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... x?pid=3485#

cheap as chips just remember to spend an extra £20.00 for free delivery make him buy you a gift.i suggest this
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/247811
plus you can tell me if their any good and ill get one lol you can road test it
plus u can add it to the ice t computer network
£20.00 by my googling and compairing them on the gigbyte site one has less pcie lanes and a diffrent chip
product comparison with the one sky linked with the one you have and youll see the gigabyte ig31 differs little in the bits missing department

yeah, what he said, whatever it was he said

Cheers guys, have forwarded bongos post to Bletchley Park for the code breakers to translate into the queens English

The main difference between the G31 and G41 Intel chipsets is that the G41 supports 8GB DDR memory and PCIe 2.0. Since the PC will only have 2GB DDR2 and the Ati 2900XT is only PCIe 1.0 a mobo with the G31 chipsets should be fine.

The main difference between the G31 and G41 Intel chipsets is that the G41 supports 8GB DDR memory and PCIe 2.0. Since the PC will only have 2GB DDR2 and the Ati 2900XT is only PCIe 1.0 a mobo with the G31 chipsets should be fine.

lol thats what i fckin said ..people nowadays

Having had a look around I went for the Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L.

Cheers Guys

Just checked, I've been using one of those in my office machine for a while now, no noticable issues

Just checked, I've been using one of those in my office machine for a while now, no noticable issues

hold the door open just fine

umbongo(uk) wrote:

Just checked, I've been using one of those in my office machine for a while now, no noticable issues

hold the door open just fine

No, that was the job of the ati card I'm sending you which has now been replaced by a AT psu