Desperate for help finding a replacement motherboard

[Mike Anderson]

Greetings All,

I currently have an ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI Motherboard, that is no longer operational. I come to find out, this board is no longer available. In fact, I am hard pressed to find any ASUS products that support the AM2 processor format.

I spent a LOT of money on my AMD Phenom II X4 965 processor, and I just can't let this CPU go to waste. To make matters worse, I need this particular chipset on the motherboard, as I ran it with the NVIDIA RAID configuration, and I must recover my 2TB array using whichever mainboard I end up getting.

Could any of you experts please point me in the right direction, as to which board I can get now, that will allow me to use my previous processor, in addition to getting my RAID array back? I am seeing that you can put a newer generation AM3 chip into an AM2 socket, but you can't put an AM2 chip into an AM3 socket? Wow, this sounds really odd...

Thank you all in advance for any suggestions you can throw my way.

Mike

 

[Gam3r01]

The phenom II 965 is a AM3 CPU, meaning it works on AM3 and AM3+ boards.
What is your budget for the motherboard?

 

[Emerald]

the problem will be the chipset since he used the RAID

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Asus-M3N-HT-Deluxe-HDMI-Socket-AM2-AM2-MotherBoard-nforce-780a-BRAND-NEW-/121487528651?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c493892cb

 

[Calvin7]

ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe is a 2008 model. Nvidia exited the motherboard chipset business in 2009. You might look for used models on eBay for motherboards compatible with your Nvidia RAID from that time period. You might also look into RAID Recovery software.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 is compatible with current AM3+ motherboards. A Phenom II X 4 965 currently sells for $75 on eBay. DDR2 memory was phased out in 2009. Phenom II CPUs have both DDR2 and DDR3 memory controllers. So you would also need DDR3 memory if you wanted to use a current AM3+ motherboard.

 

[Mike Anderson]

Thanks for your answers guys!!!

I am no newbie in the PC/Server building game, but is this just the nature of the beast??? At the time, that motherboard seemed to be the ultimate - but in the end, is now becoming the biggest bummer ever.

Is it just a good idea to avoid things like integrated RAID when purchasing these mainboards??? I understand that nobody can be a fortune teller, but it would be nice to plan ahead for things like this.

I was trying to avoid resorting to eBay, but I think this may be my only choice... If/when I get my hands on a new board & get my computer running once again, what would be the best mainboard I can get that supports this CPU, so I can move everything over to that? My biggest problem will be the RAID I assume, if I was to look for any *other* board correct?

And price is really no object (which I why spent a mint on that damn ASUS board to begin with)...

Thank You!

Mike