ASUS CUBX mobo got fried

[paopao]

A tragic event happened to me...
I left my PC on, and went for my classes. When I got back, my computer was off. Hummm... I pressed the start button, nothing happened... I opened the case. Doh! Smell bad! After careful examination, I found a little transistor got fried.

Is there any place (except eBay) I can still buy ASUS CUBX mobo? Or any equivalent mobo I could replace? Man, I don't know if my CPU and RAM are still functional...

Help is really appreciated!

 

[AndyHui]

If you can't get a CUBX, the TUSL2(-C) is an excellent replacement.

 

[paopao]

I checked newegg.com, the only ASUS FCPGA mobo is this:
Asus VIA VT82C694T Chipset ATX Motherboard Model TUV4X Pro133T Tualatin

How is this board compare with ASUS CUBX? I am currently O/C my P3-700 to 933. My another concern is that I don't want to reinstall Windows 2000, and my ATA100 HD. Will change the mobo force me to reinstall my OS?

Thanks again.

 

[AndyHui]

I'd definitely prefer the TUSL2 board over the TUV4X. I'm not saying the TUV4X is bad, it's just that the TUSL2 is better. It should be available, as it is actually more common than the TUV4X.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I definately second the TUSL2 (-C). They are hands-down (in my opinion) the best FCPGA/FCPGA2 motherboards you can buy with PC133 SDRAM. Get one of these and put your old CPU in there, then once you get tired of the "slow" speed you can buy a new Tualatin Celeron 1.0 or 1.1 Ghz and overclock them to 1.3-1.4 Ghz easy. Celeron 1.0 costs about $70 US btw.

This might be the best excuse you have for a nice computer upgrade for yourself .

 

[paopao]

Great! I will take the advice! For TUSL2-C, is the on-board audio good? At least better than my SB Live Value? Any good place for me to order one on-line?

Would my current Windows 2000 OS be ok with the change of motherboard? Hoping to avoid reinstalling everything again...

BTW, I am still happy with my P3-700 o/c to 933, and want to get my PC up and running quickly. The laptop is just suck at gaming

 

[AndyHui]

Stick with the SBLive. The onboard audio is decent, but the Live is better.

Going from a BX chipset to an i815EP chipset is not too bad....just make sure that you download and install the latest Intel Chipset Inf drivers. If you are going with Windows 2000, you may also want to consider the Intel Application Accelerator drivers. These are souped up IDE drivers for i8xx chipset based boards.

 

[paopao]

Last question (I hope)

Difference between i815EP and i815E? The later (TUSL2) is $30 more expensive. What's with that?

 

[AndyHui]

The EP lacks onboard video.

The TUSL2, apart from having onboard video (it also has an AGP slot, so onboard video shouldn't make much of a difference), also has an onboard Promise ATA100 RAID Controller.

 

[paopao]

Andy, JeffyLube,
Thanks a lot for the advice. You know what. I went out and bought the ASUS TUSL2-C board ($105). Installed it, and it's running perfectly! As a matter of fact, I am playing Dungeon Siege while I am typing this (on my laptop).

Andy, you mentioned I should "download and install the latest Intel Chipset Inf drivers. If you are going with Windows 2000, you may also want to consider the Intel Application Accelerator drivers. These are souped up IDE drivers for i8xx chipset based boards."

I checked the ASUS web site, there isn't much to download. Where is a good place for me to get the upgrades you've mentioned?

Thanks again folks!

 

[AndyHui]

Intel Chipset Inf Drivers

Intel Application Accelerator Drivers