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Fixing Wife's HP computer

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  • Computers
  • Hewlett Packard
  • Motherboards
Last response: in Motherboards
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November 4, 2013 3:25:22 PM

Greetings,

My wife is currently using an HP Pavilion Media Center TV m8120n PC (GC674AA) for Quickbooks and Outlook and the occasional game of Sherlock or Solitaire.

However, the capacitors have overheated and are warped and the system is not working well anymore (I cannot install Vista and successfully update with SP1 even with workarounds/cannot install fresh copy of Windows 7).

Can I purchase a new mobo/CPU and get it working again cheaply? I would simply place the components into the current setup with some new memory chips if the current ones are incompatible.

Thanks in advance for the help.

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a b V Motherboard
November 4, 2013 3:33:44 PM

It's a rather old Core 2 Quad that the HP uses. It's socket 775 which is rather outdated which means finding new motherboards will be difficult. However, I did find this one that is relatively cheap. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gag41...

If you will replace the CPU too, then you will only be limited to a Micro ATX motherboard. Something like this combo would work well for you.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A4-5300 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($48.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Biostar A55MD2 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($38.25 @ Newegg)
Total: $87.24
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-04 18:33 EST-0500)
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November 5, 2013 8:51:16 AM

Blaise170 said:
It's a rather old Core 2 Quad that the HP uses. It's socket 775 which is rather outdated which means finding new motherboards will be difficult. However, I did find this one that is relatively cheap. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gag41...

If you will replace the CPU too, then you will only be limited to a Micro ATX motherboard. Something like this combo would work well for you.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A4-5300 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($48.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Biostar A55MD2 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($38.25 @ Newegg)
Total: $87.24
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-04 18:33 EST-0500)


I am going to get the 2 items you suggested as my goal is to get her computer working for the least amount of money. I don't know if you can answer this question, but will I be able to use the ram that is currently in her machine or will I need to buy a new stick or 2?

If I need to buy new, what brand/specs should I pick up?

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November 5, 2013 10:26:52 AM

Blaise170 said:
As long as the RAM is still good, it should work. Assuming the old board used 240 pin RAM, which there is no easy way to check that other than physically looking at them. Otherwise, you could pick this up.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f310600cl8d2...


Thanks for your help. Solution selected.
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