Reliable System build

<Edit>

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Today
BUDGET RANGE: Let's say no more than $600 for the board, processor, and memory. I don't have to spend that much, this is a work PC.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Mild CAD/CAM (minimal rendering), Office Apps, Internet, No games, No music, No movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Case, keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, Harddrives. I should likely replace the PS seeing how the old system died (see story below).

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg has been good but I don't care much and will be shipping parts next day air to Wisconsin, USA.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Just quality parts. I don't mind using 6 month old parts if they have proven reliability

OVERCLOCKING: No
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: I'm not sure what this is

MONITOR RESOLUTION: I'm running a 21" Hitachi CRT so does this matter?

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Long term stability, will likely upgrade the processor and mem in a few years.

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The story:

I've been running an Epox 8KHA+ since 2002 and it was finally killed last night by a power surge. Obvously I don't need bleeding edge hardware but I want something that can offer that kind of reliability, I rarely shut it off. More details below.

No gaming, mostly office apps and CAD/CAM. No need to overclock but OC friendly boards tend to be robust. Budget isn't overall critical (I plan on a min of 5 years of service life). Let's say no more than $600 for the board, processor, and memory

I've simply been a PC user the last few years and my head is starting to spin from trying to catch up.

Any suggestions for a bullet proof motherboard?


Specs on system that is being replaced.
Epox 8KHA+
AMD Athlon XP 2800
1.5 Gig PC2100 Corsair
2 - 160 gig SATA Seagate barracudas running a raid 1 on a Promise PCI controller
300 gig IDE and 80 gig IDE running on an Adaptec PCI controller
Generic PCI video card
4 80mm case fans
350 watt PS

Thanks
Tim

Oops just noticed that you had given total $600 for just the board, processor, and memory ...
You can get better mobo but again you wont need more features than that Gigabyte offers...
You can try the i7

CPU - i7 920 - $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115202
Mobo GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R - $195
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128375
RAM - $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231247

Total - $570
I guess filling this would avoid misunderstandings and would give us more info...
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ild-advice

Doing some more reading and I think I'm going to go with:

BFG Tech LS-450 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817702014

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

Also Arctic Sliver 5 and a Sony SATA optical drive

It looks I need to do some price checking though. I really have no need for a couple of 15' USB cables and magazine subscription.

For anything other than serious gaming, a mb with a 790GX chipset combined with an AM3 CPU is a good choice for and office computer.