The last pc I bought is almost four years old (ready for the smithsonian). It suddenly froze up and died on me. Power light and fans come on, but no signal ever goes to the monitor. No bios. Lights on the dvd drive come on briefly then go out. Restore disk does nothing.The hard drive is brand new and seems to be functional. I inserted an older graphics card to rule that out...nothing. I have also tried removing the battery for a few hours and replacing it, as well as re-seating all cards and drives with no luck.If anyone knows anything else I could try before sending it to the funeral home, please let me know.So, here I am, someone completely addicted to their pc...cut off and shaking like a crack baby.I am looking to replace it quickly and as cheaply as possible until I can save up to get the monster that I want. My problem is that I've gotten out of touch with the newer pc hardware. There were no dual core processors or hyperthreading the last time I purchased one...I think. So, my question is, what equivalent hardware to I need to adequately replace my previous pc? Here are (were) my general specs:P4 3.0 gig1024gig ram150 gig internal250 gig externalNvidia 6800Creative Audigy 2ZXI'm only running FS9 for now, until the majority of my add-on aircraft can be made workable in FSX. I generally got between 25-30fps at a high res, but I dont recall exactly what I had it set on at the time of death.My graphics and sound cards, as well as all drives seem to be in working order and can be placed into the new pc, if they arent obsolete.Thanks in advance for your time. Please let me know if further info would be helpfull.Cannikin

Hello Cann,Seeing how your peripherals still work I'd just pick up an nice new Intel mobo that will support the New Intel CPU's. One with an P35 or X38 chipset..whatever budget allows.I dont know what your HD interface is, IDE or SATA? in anycase when you buy a new mobo, be sure to check the connectors, as some newer mobos only carry 1 IDE interface.You can use all your old things and your 775 Socket CPU with that, and by the time you want to upgrade those you'll have a mobo already for your monster machine.As to the obsolete part, ANY piece of the computer becomes obsolete the day it leaves the factory, thats just the way the business works.If your content with the FPS you have now with your 6800, and are content with your ZX, I don't see any issue to force yourself into upgrading the lot. Wait until you are ready to build your monster.Regards,

>My graphics and sound cards, as well as all drives seem to be>in working order and can be placed into the new pc, if they>arent obsolete.In what type of slot is your current video card installed? (AGP or PCI?)

Good call totally forgot about the old AGP, been so long since i've come across one..so if it is AGP, you can have a look at the ASrock 775Dual-VSTA which hold both an AGP and PCIe slot. Now its not a new board, and holds and older chipset, but it is very cheap,supports upto the Core2Duo and both supports DDR and DDR2. Could be a good interim board.Regards,

Hi guys, it might be easier to find this one with dual functionality: Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2Some quick infos I could gather: The PCI-e slot doesn't have the full 16 lanes (4-8 only) and there seems to be an issue with the fan adjustment at the moment. FWIW and as Davis indicated with his 'could be a good interim board', these kind of boards are often a matter of luck to a certain extent (compatibility issues). Hope this adds to thoughts, kind regards Jaap