Which mobo to replace Asus A8N-SLI

[dekarth]

Hello everyone.

My system is around 2 years old and has recently stopped POSTing after a few weeks of locking up or throwing BSOD screens.

MB : Asus A8N-SLI Basic NFORCE4
CPU : Athlon64 3500e 512kb cache 939pin
RAM : Patriot 512mb DDR PC3200 x2
Video : EVGA nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB PCIe
Audio : on board sound
PSU : 650w ATX2.0 24P

I bought the system from Alienware and is out of warranty.

I tried most if not all the steps to diagnose a no POST power up for a system.
And the best guess I have is that the motherboard is fried. The chipset fan has failed and is off center in its housing, hence not spinning. I think this may have been the root cause of the system's failure and subsequent no POST power ups.

My questions are : Should I even endeavor to replace both the motherboard and/or cpu while salvaging the rest of the system?
Which motherboard should I look into purchasing like an Asus A8n32-SLI Deluxe?


I am a little technically inclined and can try it to fix my system myself.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newbie post and the effort of your replies.

 

[Mousemonkey]

A new mobo, CPU and RAM would be the best/easiest way to go although just replacing the mobo would be the cheapest, if you can find a good one in your neck of the woods.

 

[dekarth]

Thanks, Monkey, your reply makes a lot of sense. That occurred to me while searching for a new mobo. I guess it is just a matter of how much I am willing to spend. Is there something you yourself can recommend in the neighborhood of $500? mobo cpu and ram of course.

 

[evongugg]

GA-P35-DS3L
e8400 or Q6600
4GB OCZ, Corsair, Patriot or Crucial