MSI G41 mATX LGA 775 mobo, DDR2 or DDR3, $59.99 + tax @ Microcenter B&M

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.microcenter.com/product/408923/G41M-P33_Combo_LGA_775_mATX_Intel_Motherboard

If you've been needing a replacement S775 board, here's your chance.

Edit: Newegg has 'em too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130675

$59.99 + ship

Seems like a new production run? Or someone discovered a bunch of new old stock at a disty.

 

[Samus]

interesting board...

 

[drshivas]

Great boards. I have a gigabyte G41 running built about two years ago after a s775 mobo failure. With DDR3 and a 3.2ghz wolfdale pentium, it's a pretty snappy machine.

 

[Staples]

Decent deal and Core 2 duos are cheap on EBay. Upgraded a 775 to an e8600 last month. The fastest C2D I got for $37.

 

[qliveur]

There's also the LGA 771 mod to consider. It lets you drop in a quad-core xeon, which costs a lot less than a C2Q.

YMMV, of course.

 

[Samus]

There's also the LGA 771 mod to consider. It lets you drop in a quad-core xeon, which costs a lot less than a C2Q.

YMMV, of course.

For those interested in LGA771 mod:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1431723/mod-lga775-support-for-lga771-xeon-cpus

I've performed this mod many times, all worked fine in the end. I've even done it on a Dell OptiPlex 380 and an HP dc7900 uSFF (a uSFF with a XEON!) Make sure you update to latest bios, stick with the E5450 Xeon (it's the most compatible/least expensive/highest performance chip IMHO) and don't attempt to make your own adapter out of packing tape like other people have. The adhesive will just eventually melt and ooze resulting in a good day gone bad. Unless you were already having a bad day, then it'll be even worse.

The Xeon E5450 is always detected as a C2Q Q9650 (they have the same microcode) in a LGA775 board. So if your board supports the Q9650, odds are it will boot a E5450 with a pin mod and the alignment pegs removed (use a sharp razor to make ~20 light incisions then snap off with precision needle nose pliers)

The Xeon E5450 is comparable to a Haswell i3-4130 ($100+) and the Xeon's overclock extremely well if your in a non-OEM system that lets you change the FSB. All my E5450's hit 1600Mhz FSB and 3.4GHz at stock voltage. When you consider these chips have 12MB Cache, they're competitive in some tasks with an i5. And they're <$40 bucks.

I can't speak of this MSI board, although it looks interesting, but if you wanted to experiment (and have a ton of Xeon's lying around like I do) it could be a fun project. I always enjoy reverse engineering/modifying stuff. Especially Intel stuff since it's often so rewarding.

The adapters can be found on eBay for $3.

 

[you2]

Why would you buy this when you can get a G1840 or G3240 for under $40 (or $50) and a micro-itx board for $59. Mind you the E5450 is a bit faster but these LGA 1150 pentinum are fantastic deals (esp when you consider power et all).

 

[Replay]

Why would you buy this....

OP suggests this is useful as a replacement for a bad board. Would not build a new system around S775. MSI uATX is not built for overclocking quads (current or frequency). The popular 771 45nm Xeons start at 333 Mhz bus speed.

Xeon 771>775 is fun to tinker with. Did my 3 old 775 boards, two dual cores and a quad Xeon (6 or 12 Mb L2 cache, have soldered on heat spreaders). $6.50 delivered X5260 C0 3.33 GHz dual core ($853 at release) at 3.7 GHz is on par with new G3258 Pentium at stock speed. $10 E0 stepping will go past 4 GHz. $30-$40 or so for a quad (I also recommend the E5450 E5440 E0 steppings, X5470 is the top chip for OC but pricier).

 

[VirtualLarry]

That's interesting to learn about the 771 mod stuff. I never really got into that, I stuck with 775, and just overclocked. Still pretty rewarding.

 

[kmmatney]

That's interesting to learn about the 771 mod stuff. I never really got into that, I stuck with 775, and just overclocked. Still pretty rewarding.

You only really needed to do the 771 mod if your motherboard had no built-in overclocking. I used the mod to good effect on an old MSI G31 motherboard, which had no overclocking features whatsoever.

 

[Samus]

You only really needed to do the 771 mod if your motherboard had no built-in overclocking. I used the mod to good effect on an old MSI G31 motherboard, which had no overclocking features whatsoever.

I've tried running a Xeon 5450 in a G41 without the adapter pin strip and it wouldn't POST. Maybe G31 is different?

So you're saying all you did was remove the socket peg's that prevent LGA771 CPU's from seating in the socket, and it worked? Wow, that's like pure laziness on Intel's part.

 

[nusyo]

Very interesting & tempting...
I see there are 2 versions of Xeons E5450 : 80W & 120W TDP
The 80W one should overclock better (it produces less heat at stock speeds), unless I am missing something.

 

[Wedge1]

Is this be compatible with Windows 8.1?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is this be compatible with Windows 8.1?

You would have to purchase a video card.

 

[Samus]

Very interesting & tempting...
I see there are 2 versions of Xeons E5450 : 80W & 120W TDP
The 80W one should overclock better (it produces less heat at stock speeds), unless I am missing something.

There is an E5450 and an X5450. The only difference is the binning, and X doesn't work in multicpu configuration.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=154873

There is NO reason to get an X-series Core-based Xeon. They're all crap, and the E series is cheap as it is.

 

[Ranulf]

Why would you buy this when you can get a G1840 or G3240 for under $40 (or $50) and a micro-itx board for $59. Mind you the E5450 is a bit faster but these LGA 1150 pentinum are fantastic deals (esp when you consider power et all).

Because $59 is cheaper than $109 when I have spare s775 chips laying around.