[ale] Mobo + Intel chip recommendations, please

[Brian Pitts]

Jim Popovitch wrote:
> Need to replace a dead Mobo/CPU combo... was Asus A8N-E w/ AMD Athlon
> 1800 (~2.2Ghz) dual core, would like to move to an Intel 3Ghz dual
> core or greater.  BUT.... don't want to heat the house with the thing
> ;-)    "Power saving" features aren't important as the PC is either
> 100% used or hibernated/shutdown, although low power consumption is
> appreciated.   Need 4 SATA ports, at least 1 ATA port, no built-in
> video necessary, an a PCIE-16x port.     Any recommendations?


What constitutes 100% used? I know that most of the time when I'm using 
my laptop (email, surfing, writing) its CPU is still running in low 
power mode. Processors can ramp up/down from these modes much faster 
than you can notice.

It sounds like you've got some good intel advice, I'll just chip in with 
some AMD recommendations in case you change your mind. The advantage for 
AMD right now is that you can get low electricity usage or quad core for 
less than intel, plus by all accounts the 780G chipset is very nice.

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$99.99

AMD Athlon X2 BE-2400 Brisbane 2.3GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W 
Dual-Core Processor
$99.99

AMD Phenom 9500 Agena 2.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 
95W Quad-Core Processor
$168.30

-Brian