"Wes Newell" wrote in message
news:X4xLj.23738$4O1.21096@trnddc03...
On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:51:01 -0400, Lee M. wrote:

I am perfectly happy with the performance of my Epox 8RDA3+ and Athlon
2700+ CPU with WinXP SP2 and 1.2GB RAM. I had an 8RDA+ die due to bad
caps and while my 8RDA3+ runs fine, it occasionally fails to boot,
especially on a warm start, until the 2nd or 3rd attempt. I've read
that this is a symptom of failing caps so I'm looking for a
replacement/backup. Would like to stick with the nForce2 chipset.

I want to stick with a major brand (Abit, ASUS, etc.) Are there any
brands of socket A mobos that weren't susceptible (or less susceptible
than most) to the bad cap problem? I've always been an Epox guy but my
impression is that Epox boards may have had more capacitor problems than
some others. Plus they are out of business.

Any thoughts?

Don't waste your time (or money) with socket A. I just bought a couple of
AM2+ (supports new quad core Phenoms) MB's at Fry's for $59.99 each. And
that included dual core X2 4200+ 65W cpu's. So, it will be at least twice
as fast as any XP cpu, and gives you an upgrade path to boot. Today I
bought 2GB of DDR2 PC6400 ram for it for $20 after rebate. And they have
onboard video (Nvidia Geforce 6100/430 chipset).

Other thoughts. Find a $10 socket A MB on ebay.

--

I plan to buy used on Ebay which is where I got the 8RDA3+. Going to AM2
will require me to get new memory and video card plus processor. Might was
well just buy a Dell or HP box and not have to worry about compatibility
issues.