Phuncz
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2009
- Messages
- 2,630
After having used my current setup (see signature) for years without much problems, lately I have been having SATA-controller issues. When I connect all 5 drives, my system will probably not boot. It doesn't matter which of the 5 drives, by the way. Buying a PCI or PCI-e 1x (only slots available) controller is also out of the question, as most are host-based anyway (lousy performance) or terribly expensive.
Anyway, because the system itself is still very powerful in my opinion and is more than enough for my needs, I'd like not to throw everything in the waste bin because the world seems to have given up on Socket 775. In my search for a replacement motherboard (note that I live in Europe) I have found nothing useful.
Most replacement micro-ATX Socket 775 motherboards are equiped with 2 RAM slots (I have 4x 2GB), 4 SATA-connectors (I have 5 drives, but not really an issue) and almost no decent selection of ports available, like only a few USB-ports. Also, almost all are G31 or G41 chipsets which are just so basic it's stupid.
The better chipsets are X38 and X48 but I have found no-one ever produced a micro-ATX motherboard with those chipsets. The P45 is a decent alternative but they are also not sold anymore. The only SFF systems which had X38 or X48 chipsets are Shuttle, which have a nice package but are also impossible to find or cost upwards of 350,- for 3-4 year old tech without warranty.
I've come to terms that it's time to move on to a newer platform (Socket 1155 probably) but I don't want to throw this stuff away just yet because it still works and it's still powerful enough for virtualization, gaming or any other higher end stuff.
So my question is, what can I do with my Core 2 Extreme Q6850 and 4x 2GB DDR2 RAM ? I've looked on eBay and local second-hand sites but it's very rare that I see something useful. I still have an empty Silverstone SG02B-F lying around.
Anyway, because the system itself is still very powerful in my opinion and is more than enough for my needs, I'd like not to throw everything in the waste bin because the world seems to have given up on Socket 775. In my search for a replacement motherboard (note that I live in Europe) I have found nothing useful.
Most replacement micro-ATX Socket 775 motherboards are equiped with 2 RAM slots (I have 4x 2GB), 4 SATA-connectors (I have 5 drives, but not really an issue) and almost no decent selection of ports available, like only a few USB-ports. Also, almost all are G31 or G41 chipsets which are just so basic it's stupid.
The better chipsets are X38 and X48 but I have found no-one ever produced a micro-ATX motherboard with those chipsets. The P45 is a decent alternative but they are also not sold anymore. The only SFF systems which had X38 or X48 chipsets are Shuttle, which have a nice package but are also impossible to find or cost upwards of 350,- for 3-4 year old tech without warranty.
I've come to terms that it's time to move on to a newer platform (Socket 1155 probably) but I don't want to throw this stuff away just yet because it still works and it's still powerful enough for virtualization, gaming or any other higher end stuff.
So my question is, what can I do with my Core 2 Extreme Q6850 and 4x 2GB DDR2 RAM ? I've looked on eBay and local second-hand sites but it's very rare that I see something useful. I still have an empty Silverstone SG02B-F lying around.