Good LGA 775 board that's still available?

[CurseTheSky]

A year or two ago, P45 boards were easy to find and there were plenty of great ones to choose from. These days, I'm having trouble finding anything decent.

My boss has a computer that he'd like to keep intact, save for swapping out the motherboard. The computer is used for work, but was built originally for gaming (unfortunately), and the main focus is stability and reliability. Unfortunately, we've had a myriad of problems with his motherboard (Nvidia chipset), and I suggested that he switches to a motherboard with an Intel board. Rebuilding the entire computer (processor + motherboard + memory) is NOT an option; he just bought the processor when Micro Center had it on sale a few months ago.

Specs:
- Core 2 Quad Q8400
- ASUS Striker II Forumla (Nvidia 780i SLI)
- 2x 1GB DDR2 (Corsair, standard voltage)
- ASUS 8400 GS Silent (replaced his 7800 GTX SLI as gaming is not longer a concern)
- G.Skill Phoenix Pro 120GB SSD
- Seagate 500GB 7200 RPM SATA
- SATA Optical Drive

Any suggestions? I've helped him through the thick and the thin with this computer, and I really want to get a final, trouble-free setup going for him. I absolutely don't want to make him spend money on a motherboard that's going to go flaky in under 12 months.

 

[PCTC2]

Well, newegg still have a few P45 boards available, but most are using DDR3. 2GB of RAM is a little anemic nowadays, so if he wants to upgrade to 4GB, DDR3 is really cheap.

Gigabyte P45 w/ USB3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-433-_-Product

Corsair 4GB DDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145260

I haven't used this P45 board in particular, but I currently use the EP45-UD3P and it's been a great board. I use it with a Core2Quad Q9400.

 

[God Mode]

I would get a gigabyte g31/41ish board and run it stock for stability. Unfortunately, if he needs raid or ahci etc, most of the lowend boards are using ICH7 southbridge. His only options are something in line with the gigabyte board in the second post. Personally, I would sell his ddr2 and get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-314-_-Product and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231316.

 

[GundamF91]

If it's for business and reliability, your boss should be willing to spend some money on it. I have used Asus P5Q Deluxe for 2 years now, and it's been working great. I'd say look along that Gigabyte PTC2 mentioned above, or one of the Asus boards, they're still top stuff nowadays, and get 2x2GB DDR3 memory. There's no point upgrading his 1GB DDR2 to fill all 4 banks. Just roll the memory cost into motherboard cost and he wont' know. . Above all, just don't go cheap if he wants stability.

Otherwise that Asus Rampage was a really good board at its time, I don't know why it's not so stable anymore.

 

[nenforcer]

There is no such board as an ASUS Rampage II Formula with an nVidia chipset. The original Rampage 1 Formula is an Intel X48 based board.

Are you sure its not an ASUS Striker II Formula which is exactly an nForce 780i chipset?

 

[StrangerGuy]

There is no such board as an ASUS Rampage II Formula with an nVidia chipset. The original Rampage 1 Formula is an Intel X48 based board.

Are you sure its not an ASUS Striker II Formula which is exactly an nForce 780i chipset?

Anyway, Nvidia chipset + Intel CPU and reliability does not belong in the same sentence.

 

[Rifter]

Anyway, Nvidia chipset + Intel CPU and reliability does not belong in the same sentence.

I agree. Also agree with number 2 post.

 

[iluvdeal]

For business usage, I always recommend getting a PC from one of the box makers with a support plan as opposed to a DIY rig. There's less down time and they look bad if the computer goes down, not you. Unless troubleshooting PC hardware is your job there, any money saved from building it yourself is lost and then some on you being taken away from your normal duties to work on fixing his computer. How many total hours have you spent on stuff like this? Remember, your time is money so it adds up.

 

[jjmIII]

GIGABYTE GA-G41M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

I'll even sell you a month old one with box, and all goodies.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Are you sure its not an ASUS Striker II Formula which is exactly an nForce 780i chipset?

Sorry, Striker II Formula. It was a long day.

 

[Dadofamunky]

You're gonna have a hard time. I can't believe how the top 775 boards have just disappeared lately. LGA 775 is definitely disappearing. The closest I could find was on the obvious Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128414

I would grab that while you can, it's the closest approximation and should work just fine.

I'm getting ready to transition to an i7 mobo and I suspect I may be able to do pretty well off of my board and RAM in my sig - the DDR2-1066 is very hard to find now and the board is no longer available and is a consensus best of breed. I plan to sell the board, CPU and RAM as a set without separating. I might even keep the set as an emergency spare in anti static packaging. Still performs freaking well; just decided to grab an i7 1366 setup while I still could.

 

[TekDemon]

The Asus P5K series was pretty decent as well as long as your boss doesn't have too many USB devices. I would personally avoid non-intel chipsets. The P5Q successor is also nice, though to be honest I'd just buy whatever I could find for cheap. Maybe from the for sale forum or something.

Sometimes computer geeks has older or refurbed mobos for fairly cheap, though the selection isn't always the greatest. I do see a few that would be compatible though:

http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=472

Though it might be a better deal to just sell the old CPU and buy a mobo combo from Microcenter, they have some pretty cheap Phenom II combos, and if you're willing to give it a shot the Phenom II X2 is pretty unlockable. You could reuse the RAM too since they have DDR2 boards.

 

[nenforcer]

Well this ASUS P5N-D nForce 750i (780i minus the unnecessary NF200 chip) is the closest drop in replacement

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131232

but it sounds like your boss would rather have the earth ice over before another nVidia Intel chipset board.

If you go the Intel route unfortunately an open box Biostar is the only P45 board available which is still DDR2 based

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16813138148R

Like TekDemon says here is an ASUS Intel B43 chipset called the P5QL-VM DO/CSM which is part of their "Corporate Stable Model"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131401

and may be exactly what your boss needs.

Here is the Intel version which is even cheaper if you want to get away from ASUS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121391

Only drawback is both of these boards are MicroATX so things may get cramped.

 

[jacktesterson]

Try eBay?

 

[Dadofamunky]

That's gettin' ugly, man. EBAY?

 

[chuckm]

Microcenter has a few;
http://www.microcenter.com/search/se...rt=NewProduct&