Stepping into the realm of Core 2 Duo.

[leecho7]

My computer was destroyed by a power surge last week. The only thing that is salvageable was the processor, memory, and the graphics card (thank God).
However, my friend decided to buy my proc and memory. I saw this is an opportunity to step into the realm of Intel Core 2 Duo. I am getting the 6400. However, I am wondering what type of motherboard and memory I should get, for I am not experienced in this part of computer geekdom yet. Anyone have suggestions? Im trying to limit myself to about $400 for the mobo + memory.

 

[Greg King]

Well you have 400 to work with. My first question is how much RAM capacity are you looking to get? 2GB/1GB?

Obviously a 1GB kit will cost less than a 2GB kit and would allow you to spend more on a mobo. I am currently trying to find a good C2D mobo and I will keep you informed of what I get. Let me know what RAM you are looking to get and I will help you with a mobo. Rob can help you more than I can with the RAM.

 

[Rob Williams]

Good C2D motherboards are rather expensive... starting out at around $250. You can get decent ones for around $200 though. If you want a solid rig, you may want to spend more around $450 or $500.

Mobos I recommend:

ASUS P5B Deluxe
ASUS P5B Deluxe
ASUS P5B Deluxe
ASUS P5B Deluxe
ASUS P5WD DH

Or, anything else in the $200 range should suffice. As for memory, get at least a 1*2GB kit for PC2-6400 speeds. Like I said, for good memory and a motherboard it will cost more than $400. Going to be hard to keep it under without comprimising quality.

Definitely depends on what you want to use the PC for also I guess. Sorry to hear about the surge :/

 

[leecho7]

To be honest, I'm mostly going to use it for casual purposes. I'm willing to dish out an extra 50-100 bucks if necessary. I'm not looking for top-o-the line kick you in the nuts type of hardware. Something that'll handle WoW and Oblivion decently. Since I still have the x1900xtx that didn't get fried (thank God), I don't think that should be too much of a problem.

My surge protector failed me. Oh well. Everything happens for a reason right? Look at me now, ready to get into Conroe.

 

[Rob Williams]

Haha aye, that's a good spirit to have. I'll shoot off Mark an e-mail to see if he has any ideas. I haven't looked into many budget Conroe boards so I would hate to steer you wrong.

 

[Rob Williams]

Mark recommended a few things... I can't believe I forgot about this Gigabyte board:

Gigabyte DS3 - $149.99
ASUS P5B (Non-Deluxe) - $156.99

 

[Verse914]

Im using the Asus P5W DH Deluxe mobo with my C2D E6600 and it works great. It does have alot of extra features that I dont use though (remote, wifi). You can probably find a used board for cheap...