Computer Savvy Folk?

[PatrickHoyt]

computer savvy friends - I'm calling out for help. My motherboard is going out like a year old fad band on roadrunner. (Was awesome for a while then just took a crap on itself out of nowhere for no apparent reason.)

Here's my predicament:

This is my exact motherboard....obviously I was a few months too late on this....

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=160882557014


but this is what I've found:

http://www.skyline-eng.com/index.cf...foxconn-bengal-rs780-motherboard-4006272r.cfm

My gateway is a DX4300, and apparently according to the site the motherboard I found on skyline-eng.com should work for it....but I don't wanna buy it then it be screwy when I replace the motherboard and be all kinds of worse off than I was to begin with.

I was hoping to find a solution to where I can just trade out the motherboard and then it work like nothing bad ever happened, but I'm completely ignorant about the hardware aspect of computers and I don't know if that's entirely possible.

 

[jaimek]

At a glance, it looks okay to me; they advertise it as matching your model.

Just remember to take reference photos of where all the plugs go; that's probably the hardest part of changing a motherboard.

 

[Mardoch]

It's generally really difficult to tell with third party hardware that's manufactured to supposedly match a certain system by a big manufacturer. It does appear to be a match, though, and the price is close to your eBay listing, which lends a bit more weight to the possibility that it's legit, imo.

Just make sure the place you're buying from has a return policy in case it's no bueno.

 

[spag]

Another thing to consider. Depending on the OS you're using, some don't handle being loaded on to a new board unless it's _exactly_ the same, as the drivers that are on your hard drive for the motherboard are different. Might not be as big a deal with Win7, but if you're still running XP, it's something you might have to worry about. There are guides online for switching the OS to very generic drivers so that it will boot and be happy, and then you can load the motherboard specific drivers they usually come with.

 

[PatrickHoyt]

Appreciate all the input. I found the EXACT same motherboard on ebay finally from a company that specializes in refurbished boards and hardware with a 30 day return policy for mistaken orders or defective product.

Hopefully I'll be able to trade it out and be on my way to recording new tunes and slaying more dragons in Skyrim.

 

[Mardoch]

Sounds like a good deal. Hope it's just a clean plug and play for you.