Motherboard recomendations for an E8400

[DarkSaturn]

About 2 weeks ago I had a total system failure, I've confirmed that the memory, video-card and power supply are fine.

So either the Core 2 Duo (E6400) or MSI P965 Platinum are toast.

As I don't want to replace my 4GB of DDR2, I'm looking for motherboard recommendations to pair with a Core 2 Duo E8400 (45 nm, 3 Ghz). Looking for something mid-range.

Rest of the components:
4 GB OCZ DDR2 (800mhz, 5-5-5-12, gold series)
XFX 8800 GT 512 mb
IDE DVD-RW
Sata HD's

I've been looking at the eVGA 750i FTW, however there seems to be a lot of bios problems in it's history (anyone confirm if these have all been resolved?), or any intel chipsets supporting 45nm processors. SLI in the 750i would be a benefit, but it wouldn't be a dealbreaker to not have it.

The previous system was fine one day, the next morning it during boot the fans run for about 2 seconds, then go silent for 3 seconds and then come back to life for 2 seconds and then die again, attempts to restart did nothing until the power supply was cycled. Was convinced the PS had died, brought in a temporary replacement, but the problem persisted. Disconnected all the components with the exception of one sata HD and an old PCI vga, it would then startup with fans running for 3-4 seconds before failure, once again power supply had to be cycled to try again. I then disconnected everything (front USB connections, HD-LED...etc...) and tried to boot with nothing but a video card and the power switch connection, it would then run for 5 or 6 seconds, and would fail just as the fans dropped out of the initial full mode into the normal speed. During all of these configurations, I got no video output. Tried resetting the bios, and replaced with a fresh battery.

Cheers.

 

[fullmetall]

So im assuming you want to keep SLI open right?

Whats your budget on a motherboard.

 

[DarkSaturn]

So im assuming you want to keep SLI open right?

Whats your budget on a motherboard.

SLI would be nice, but I can live without it. I've only got a single 8800GT at the moment. I've got a 360 and a PS3, so for the most part gaming on the PC is RTS or non system-crusher FPS like TF2.

Budget is approx. $200 CDN, ultimately I'll likely be purchasing it here (http://www.memoryexpress.com/). Right now the eVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW is $200 CDN with a $30 main in rebate (can be found cheaper online, but at this point I'd prefer the convenience of being able to pick it up on the way home).

 

[fullmetall]

Well 750i is what i'd prefer for sli open, but, if you would rather go for a single

the Gigabyte UD3R pci-e x16 2.0 1 slot
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359

EVGA has has some bios problems or driver problems with there 750i board, some one else has that board and i am talking to them aswell as you and it crapped out on them.

 

[fullmetall]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188043

if your willing to spend the money.

 

[DarkSaturn]

I've looked at the 780i as well, however in my research I found a few reviews that suggested there wasn't much to recommend it over a 750i. It does seem better suited to extreme overclocking, but I don't see myself needing to push the 8400 to 4ghz and beyond.