Socket 478 - Can't find a new Motherboard, what the??

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davosyn

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Sep 19, 2007
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In 2004 I built a PC for the first time using an Asus P4C800-Deluxe (The original series) based around the P4 2.4C Ghz and 256MB x2 Dual Channel Corsair XMS, DDR400...details on my hardware profile/sig. Seein' as the motherboards were still fairly new (and the pricepoint!), there was a few thousand boards with a solder problem behind the CPU Heatsink/Fan mounting bracket (back of board) that would cause a large loss of power, etc. basically rendering your system No POST or no display and the infamous "System failed CPU test" voice error.

I was in a severe car accident in Feb 2006 and my comp quit working just prior. When half-way recovered around August 2006, I took a gander and determined the motherboard had to be the problem. Mailed it to Asus and they 'repaired' it for free (10$ shipping to Kentucky, USA technically) - worked fine until September 2007. It no longer boots, POSTed twice after initial routine troubleshooting (reseating graphics card), but fails to even POST. I now get the notorious "System failed CPU test" voice error each time (multiple agp, pci graphics cards tried). Most people would recommend checking the PSU or AGP slot (or chipset, etc or even CPU/RAM).

Questions
I may need to purchase a new Socket 478 motherboard with SATA 1.5 support if Asus will not service my motherboard (3 year warranty runs out soon)...This board (P4C800 Deluxe) is discontinued. I cannot find any of these boards from sites like Newegg.com or ClubIT.com. I can only find a couple Micro ATX boards...see 2nd queswtion

1. What alternatives, preferably with somewhat Overclock-friendliness, should I look for?

2. How would a Micro ATX motherboard fit properly into a midtower ATX case? and a fulltower?

Thank you in advance for your replies!
 
Hmmm... If I were you I wouldn't even bother with this, your rig is outdated, and buying another motherboard that won't improve it in any way is just wasting money in my opinion.
I would just replace everything with newer parts, and you'd probably be better off this way.
The question is, can you afford an upgrade? Mind you it can be as little as $300 or more depending on what it is you would want to upgrade should you choose to take that route (which I'm recommending btw).
As for your second question, most midtower and fulltower cases support more than one motherboard form factor.
Obviously, a microtower case can't take an ATX motherboard (as it is not big enough), but a midtower should do fine with either atx or micro-atx. Midtower and fulltower cases have mounting support for a variety of motherboards, so they will definately accomodate a micro-atx motherboard.

 
At this point, you would probably have to buy used to get something overclocking friendly, but an mATX board should fit in an ATX case. If you can't afford a new CPU/Mobo, then just buy a cheap mATX board for s478.
 
Socket 478 Motherboards a few and far between. If what's available doesn't suite your needs then your better of upgrading the whole system. :)
 
Thank you for your replies, I'm going to check Ebay and hopefully find a really good buyer who has a mobo

I neglected to mention that I would need basic DDR support, 184 pin dimms not DDR2 - kinda puts a spin on things...not to mention the only microATX boards I'm finding are all VIA chipsets...I guess you can't win 'em all...

I came back a year later after my accident and wow the whole tech field has went ahead 2 generations it seems, it's crazy...and I don't have the money as I was laid off when my FMLA wore off

Anyways, thanks for your help guys, checking out all my options right now, I'll post a link/name of the board I decide to go with if I purchase one, thx again!

btw - even though my p4c800 deluxe board gave me probs, I had it overclocked to 2998mhz with default bios voltages, 2 3 3 6 timings and 7-fan air cooled, it was a great board while it lasted!
 
Not really anything 'wrong' with the VIA chipsets, but I prefer Intel, though at this point yea, not much choice.

Actually, I did find an intel chipset, though it's not the one I want, will probably be the one get (It's at newegg.com, forgot the name of the board).

thx
 
If the board you are talking about is Newegg.com - ASRock P4i65G 478 Intel 865G Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail you would be a fool to delay. It has 800 FSB and HT. I know it has onboard graphics, but life,s a bitch. You keep putsing around and you'll have no choices.

Buying a mobo on Ebay is a fools errand, IMO.
 
try www.computergeeks.com they might have something - I've bought older motherboards from them & it worked (it's my htpc)

 
There are 478 boards out there. Try Craigslist. I've seen them in the $25 range. The one thing you need is to try to match the chipset if you intend to save the data on your hard drive. P4C800 is 875 based isn't it? That means you have to look for a high end 478 board, like a gigabyte GA-8KNXP. If you cant find one, stick with an intel chipset, 865 based, so there are as few changes as possible. Maybe the system will still boot.

Not sure if you have a budget but $70 buys you a modern LGA775 board with a Celeron 430 at Frys. Sometimes, the deal contains a Pentium E2140, which is probably a better deal.

Maybe you can find someone selling a motherboard and AMD Athlon64 X2 S939 combo. That will take your DDR ram also, and be faster than the P4 you have now.
 
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