Fried my motherboard last week and need to get a new one. I have an older processor, Core 2 Quad and wanted to make sure it was compatible with the new mobo. I also need to upgrade my ram so I was wondering if I should go with this 2 pin mobo and just buy 2x4G ram:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128527

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157256

A friend suggested this one, but it's almost twice as much and not sure if it's actually that much better than the second one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00518M77U?ie=UTF8&tag=cursegaming0f-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00518M77U

I use the computer for online gaming and I was happy with the previous performance. I don't bother overclocking anything so I'm not concerned with advanced power management functions, just looking to really get the best bang for my buck while making sure it's compatible with my old processor. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

2/19/2012 1:28:53 PM

the first two are microATX the third is ATX, what size is the motherboard you are replacing and what size case do you have?

2/19/2012 1:51:09 PM

I'm not at my apartment at the moment, but its a gaming case that's pretty damn big. Offhand I'd guess my current mobo was about 1 square foot, maybe bigger. Pretty sure it's not a micro size board.

2/19/2012 2:02:35 PM

Ok well if its a large case the old MOB is probably an ATX, in which case you could get a new ATX or microATX, so any of those three would work as far as fitting in the case and having the rear outputs lineup

the 3rd one / regular sized ATX board has more expansion slots than a microATX so you need to determine if either of the newegg boards have enough slots for your video card, NIC, whatever else is plugged into your old motherboard

2/19/2012 2:14:39 PM

I can check to make sure when I get back to my apartment. Assuming it has enough slots for everything though, are all these cards compatible with my old processor?

2/19/2012 2:30:01 PM

actually i don't think any of them will work with a Core 2 Quad

those all have LGA 1155 processor sockets, i believe you need an LGA 755 board for your particular CPU

unless its a Core i3 or i5 or i7

2/19/2012 3:00:40 PM

Ya still rocking that old processor. After some searching I'm thinking this might do the trick:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131794

Has the LGA 755 sockets and its not a micro board. See any glaring problems with this one from the info you have?

2/19/2012 3:15:47 PM

None of the first ones will work. As mentioned, you are looking at boards for a different series of processor. That board there is kinda meh IMO, but it will do for basic stuff.

Edit: Here is a decent ATX board - lots of expansion and SATA ports.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138157

Your Core2 Quad is a *LGA 775* and you need to limit your searches to these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600007879&IsNodeId=1&name=LGA%20775
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lga+775+motherboard&x=0&y=0

Chances are the only card you have is a video card, which any board will accommodate. You'll usually get a PCI-X 1x slot and a PCI slot or two PCI slots in addition to the PCI-X x16 that your video card uses. If you're doing SLI, you're probably SOL, because nobody makes high-end boards for LGA775 anymore.

Also, if the friend that recommended that board knew that you had a Core 2 Quad, I wouldn't ask them for any more computer-related advice.

2/19/2012 3:26:47 PM

^^that actually is a microATX board, but assuming you don't have a video card that requires two full sized PCI Express slots, it should work

[Edited on February 19, 2012 at 3:29 PM. Reason : ^^]

2/19/2012 3:28:58 PM

What makes that board I just linked meh compared to yours? Was looking to a board that accepted DDR3 ram, but is there something else on the board I linked that's just lacking?

Haha the friend I knew to be shady at best on computer related issues, hence bringing it here before purchasing anything. Thanks for your help so far guys!

2/19/2012 3:51:59 PM

i saw that Biostar T41 earlier but the reviews didn't look great, and even though its a full sized ATX it still only has one PCIe x16

2/19/2012 4:18:29 PM

Is the only negative to a micro board the lack of expansion capabilities? I don't plan on upgrading this computer much more, just looking for a cheap fix to have it last a couple more years. Next time something breaks, probably going to just build a new one and pass this one on.

[Edited on February 19, 2012 at 4:54 PM. Reason : a]

2/19/2012 4:42:53 PM

install Linux, problem solved

2/19/2012 5:46:29 PM

Quote :

"Is the only negative to a micro board the lack of expansion capabilities?"

pretty much and if you don't plan on really expanding it should serve your purposes...they were made for more compact cases but with the ability to be backwards compatible with full sized ATX and since it sounds like you have a full tower case you'll have plenty of physical space if you wanted to add a few more HDDs...only thing you need to make sure about is that your video card doesn't need two fulls size (16x) PCIe slots

2/19/2012 7:47:50 PM

Sorry, I missed the fact that the Asus board had a PCIe 1x slot. That should cover most conceivable scenarios short of SLI video cards. Some still don't and I do not understand why. You will most likely have to get new memory for that board though, since pretty much anything 775 more than a couple years old will have DDR2 in it.

2/20/2012 9:33:42 AM

Ya my video card is pretty new a gtx 550, but im pretty sure it fits in one slot. Already had a couple sticks of ddr3 from a friend which is why I was looking for a board that at least supported it. Thanks for the help guys, feel like there's a good chance I don't have to send anything back now.

2/20/2012 5:13:44 PM