Discontinued motherboard replacement

[Squidmaster]

Hi all. I'm trying to find a replacement for a Gigabyte motherboard (GA-P35-DS3L) that seems to have gone belly up. Here is a link to the discontinued item: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128059

I'm very ill so I'm going to get some help with installation, and I want to have the easiest reliable transition I can find. Can anyone tell me what the successor is to this board, or a comparable one if no successor exists?

This system uses an E8400 processor and an 8800GTS video card. We do use the onboard sound and LAN.

Thanks everybody!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Get a GA-EP45-UD3R (or UD3P, if you need two PCI-E slots). Should be a straightforward installation, shouldn't need to re-install Windows.

 

[zagood]

Good suggestion by vLarry, but you could get away with the cheaper EP45-UD3L...here's a comparison chart between the three mobos mentioned:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...ComparisonSheet.aspx?ProductID=3013,3285,2629

UD3R:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128359

UD3L:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128372

 

[Jd007]

Just a note, VirtualLarry is wrong about you don't even have to re-install Windows when switching motherboards. Windows Vista and 7's activation is tied to your motherboard, so if you replace your motherboard, the activation will become invalid. What you can do is call Microsoft and have them deactivate the product key on your old motherboard so you can re-activate it again on your new one.

Other than that all the above suggestions are good.

 

[robertk2012]

Buy this one. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2040025

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just a note, VirtualLarry is wrong about you don't even have to re-install Windows when switching motherboards. Windows Vista and 7's activation is tied to your motherboard, so if you replace your motherboard, the activation will become invalid. What you can do is call Microsoft and have them deactivate the product key on your old motherboard so you can re-activate it again on your new one.

Other than that all the above suggestions are good.

I said re-install, not re-activate. The chipset and southbridge on a P45 motherboard should be close enough to a P35 to not require re-installation, as long as the same BIOS settings for AHCI mode or IDE mode are followed.

Yes, you are right, Windows will probably want to re-activate. You don't need to de-activate the old board though, Microsoft does not support de-activation.

Sorry for not mentioning the re-activation.

 

[TemjinGold]

I said re-install, not re-activate. The chipset and southbridge on a P45 motherboard should be close enough to a P35 to not require re-installation, as long as the same BIOS settings for AHCI mode or IDE mode are followed.

Yes, you are right, Windows will probably want to re-activate. You don't need to de-activate the old board though, Microsoft does not support de-activation.

Sorry for not mentioning the re-activation.

Unfortunately, you are wrong on that. I just went from DS3L to UD3P last month and I did have to reinstall. I couldn't even boot into Windows otherwise.

 

[Squidmaster]

Great information here. I will check everything out. The computer in question currently uses XP. I have a copy of Vista but I don't know what the policy is on it compared to XP. I know on XP I could install on a few computers in the house and not get any issues.

 

[Orubasarot]

...

 

[vailr]

Ideally, you'd be able to switch to "Standard IDE Controller" (within Device Manager) while still running Windows on the old motherboard. But since you evidently can't boot the old board, the 2 chipsets are similar enough that: booting in F8 Safe Mode may work to at least enable booting to the desktop.
But if not: boot from the Windows install disk and do a repair install of the existing installation.