Motherboard and RAM Decision

[jondiehl]

Ok, I have kinda a weird situation.
So I built my own computer then my motherboard died and I RMA'd it to NewEgg, except apparently they suddenly dont carry it anymore. I bought it in a combo deal and when they went to give me the money for it back they subtracted the combo discount from the boards price which was $67 minus the $24 combo discount price which leaves me with $43. So I see it two ways. I can take the money and go upgrade to a DDR3 board with features like USB 3.0 and SLI. Or ask them to give me a board that is equal or greater value on Newegg.

The current hardware I own is:
Phenom II x3 720 BE
Patriot Viper 1066 DDR2 4GB
BFG 650W PSU
WD Caviar Black 640GB
BFG 9600GT OC
(THE BOARD THAT DIED) Biostar TA785 A2+

So basically I am wondering if I should just ask for another DDR2 board or equal or greater value. (I will list some here)
Or if I should take the money I get from Newegg and sell my very good DDR2 RAM then go buy a new DDR3 Board with RAM. (I'll post links for what I'm looking at)

Original Board I had:
http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138282


Equal Boards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128394&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL092310&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL092310-_-EMC-092310-Index-_-AMDMotherboards-_-13128394-L03B

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131595


New Board to upgrade to:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130275

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128443


Upgrade RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220436


The RAM I have goes for an avg. sold price of $83 so along with the $43 I can get from newegg I'd have roughly $126 to spend before I start spending money.
I'm just wondering if upgrading to DDR3 1600 is better than my original DDR2 1066 and if the chipset will be better and whatnot.
Any help is appreciated a ton guys!

 

[Wolygon]

Hello. There is no reason to really upgrade to a new board at the moment. You won't really require USB/SATA 3 and most boards are not SLI capable unless you go for a nVidia chipset.

The DDR3 will not benefit you. Also the new sockets are coming out soon with Bulldozer support, so I would not be grabbing a new board when it won't be able to get any better processors.

So I'd say just grab a replacement board.

 

[saint19]

Hi jondiehl and welcome to Tom's hardware forum.

Get the Gigabyte as replacement and wait for Bulldozer.

 

[jondiehl]

ok, thanks alot guys. this was helpful!

 

[jondiehl]

Best answer selected by jondiehl.