Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Motherboard compatibility?

Aug 20, 2004 8:08AM PDT

I have an HP Pavilion 7966 that's less than 3 years old but recently died. A Tech Support friend from work has done some diagnostics and says it's either the power supply or the motherboard. I don't know how to buy something like a motherboard -- the pc is an Intel 845, Pentium 4 1.7 GHz/400. I've searched on "Intel 845" & am a bit overwhelmed by the choices that I'm seeing -- beyond that, I don't know what's really important that I should be looking for in a motherboard. How should I narrow my search? Thanks for any help you can provide --

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re: Motherboard compatibility?
Aug 20, 2004 10:12AM PDT

You said a tech support person said it was either the power supply or the motherboard. Has the PS been ruled out yet? Your motherboard will have the CPU and memory on it and either of these could have failed. Just what does it do and not do? The 845 designation on the board is the chipset and you would not be limited to this as there are new ones that support better RAM and faster CPUs but, being a brand name such as HP, you may not be able to find one that will fit properly. At three years of age, you have no warranty and might want to weigh the cost of repair against getting a new box. You might post back with some symptoms and get some decent clues here as to what might have failed.

- Collapse -
Re: Motherboard compatibility?
Aug 29, 2004 4:39PM PDT

Go to www.tiger direct.com and shop around for Motherboard/CPU combos. You can find what ever you want at good prices. As long as you know how to configure and build a PC of you're own, you're in good shape.
I just ordered a new combo the other day.