Need to upgrade my Mobo

[wanderica]

I have an MSI K8N neo4 Platinum SLi that I am running an X2 4400+ on. I put this together back in November of last year and have experienced little bugs and glitches ever since. Through trial and error, blood, sweat, and tears, I have narrowed it down to the Mobo. In short, A lot has changed since I researched this build and I'm incredibly ignorrant on what is out there today. Just several questions I was hoping you all could answer for me:

1.) Is now a good time to bite the bullet and upgrade both the Mobo and the CPU? If so can you provide me links to some good reviews and comparisons of what's out there now?
$500 - $600 is my spending limit for this option.

2.) If I do not upgrade at this time, how much longer is my current setup going to continue to provide me with the performance I desire? Gaming is pretty much all I do on this system.

3.) If I do not upgrade at this time, what are some good Mobo recommendations for keeping my current setup?


Thanks in advance,
Wanderica

 

[christopherzombie]

This is what I'd buy, again...
Abit AN9 32X $160.00 @NE

G.Skill 2GB PC2-6400 GBHZ @NE
1GB is $140.00

AMD X2 4000+ AM2 $260.00 @NE
$198.00 over @ ZZF

$160+$140+$198=$498.00

Add in a quaility HSF and you should get ~2.7ghz out of it. ZZF has free shipping, but they don't carry G.Skill and the AN9 is $20 more than NewEgg. Stay away from the Fatal1ty ver. of the AN9, unless you like goofy blinking LEDs. See them in action over at DriverHeaven. The standard AN9 32X is the same board, but without the g@y lights. Google G.Skill's F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ and read the reviews and forum posts.

 

[taltamir]

Upgrading a computer is not realistic, you get a fraction of the power for almost the same cost a brand new system. Either replace the mobo with the same kind (or something comparable for ~50$) and stick it out alittle longer... or build a whole new system and sell the current working parts online. (or, replace the mobo with same kind, give it to someone, and build yourself a new system...).

When you have to actually upgrade your mobo you have to upgrade your CPU and RAM and video card; and potentially the PSU... thats 90% of the cost of the computer. Since all those components use different slots now (AGP8X turned to PCIe, DDR turned to DDR2, socket A turned to 939 which turned to AM2) your old components are not compatible, so either you get compatability components (where you are paying extra for the compatibility, same cards cost less using the new connectors) or you replace everything, in which case you might aswell get a new case and actually keep the old computer functional... harddrives should be shuffled around to keep the best ones in your new case.

Worse mistake is to only upgrade SOME components... then you end up with bottlenecks and only get a fraction of the power your new components are capable of, thus wasting money...

 

[Skitzer]

Checked out your rig .... very good components.
My opinion: RMA the mainboard if you can. If not spend about 80 - 90 bucks on a new one and keep the rest of your stuff ...... they should last you at least a year or so more, and should play just about any game out there rather well.
Recommendations on a mainboard would be either an Abit KN8 Ultra $79.99 with a 20.00 MIR or an Asus A8N-E $85.99. Both can be found at Newegg.
Overclock your 4400+, I have mine at 10x250 1.5v 32C idle and 49C full load (I've had it up to 2.7GHz but it would get very hot, sweet spot is 2.5GHZ)