Instead of spending on a new mobo, why not get a PCI LAN card and a PI usb card?
Its will be the most eonomical one, and the proccy is LGA775 one, so your another choice will be to get a new g41 mobo from asus, gigabyte suporting ddr3.
About the existing mobo, isn't it under warranty? Intel usually provided 3 years warranty.
go with a Gigabyte G41Mt-S2P for 2.5k its a decent motherboard but the overclock is limited to the FSB i.e. 1333mhz u cant increase the northbridge voltage to go feather![]()
@gurujee, first check your warranty, since g41 is a new chipsets, your mob should be in warranty, so it will be better to RMA the board
ENTER PCI USB 2.0 / 1.1 4+1 5 Port Card BOXPACK CD
go with a Gigabyte G41Mt-S2P for 2.5k its a decent motherboard but the overclock is limited to the FSB i.e. 1333mhz u cant increase the northbridge voltage to go feather![]()
...wow...thanks...i also found it...but was confused....then will have to go with G41M Combo one..THe mobo OP mentioned ie intel dg41rq supports DDR2 mem only and G41Mt-S2P supports DDR3 - so if he goes with G41Mt-S2P his friend have to buy DDR3 mem as well
@ OP - go with CA50 suggestion but also note that if your friend have a gfx card the pci slot next to the pci-e x16 slot may be blocked by the gfx card - so you can only use one pci card on that mobo and if you need to get a new mobo look for Gigabyte G41M Combo - supports both DDR2 and DDR3 mem![]()
IF you get the Gigabyte G41M Combo then you will be able to OC the cpu - even with a cheap cpu cooler like Cm Hyper TX3 which is around ~1.2k![]()