question about a new motherboard

[wb73]

I was wanting to fix up an old computer of mine for my children (ages 5 and 6) to use. The trouble is that I beleive the motherboard is broken. My power supply will turn on if I jumper it but not if I connect to the motherboard. The power switch is working correctly when I checked it with my ohmmeter. I have a P3 500 mhz slot one processor that was working good before the motherboard went out. Anyway my question is should I look for an older motherboard that will accept the slot one processor or would I be better off trying to get a newer board and chip. I would like to stay fairly cheap but dont mind spending some money. Just didn't want to sink a couple of hundred bucks. I just wanted some opinions from others and knew this was the place to go from my years of trolling and following the site (even though I am not an overclocker myself at this time). Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. :)

[Balrog]

Welcome to the Forums WB73!

Try to find a Shuttle MN31N, they are readily available from reputable sellers on E-Bay for ~$55.00 but are harder to find through other vendors as they have been replaced with the MN31L which is junk.

The MN31N is mATX board with onboard everything, graphics, audio, ethernet, firewire its a great running board that will handle much more modern processors like a Barton 2500+ which you can grab for ~$85.00 online or cheaper through E-Bay. A couple of sticks of decent PC2700 memory like Crucial will cost ~75.00

With the state of software & games you'd be better served to get something newer as a lot of the newer learning games & educational programs for children require a decent computer to run them effectively. Add an inexpensive Lite-On DVD Rom drive for $25.00 & they will also be able to watch movies.

The MN31N also has an AGP slot so later if you wanted to improve the graphics you could add an inexpensive video card.

Good Luck!

Regards, Balrog

[wb73]

I didn't realize the newer kids games were that advanced. Thanks for the advice. I will look for what you suggested.

[Balrog]

If you have any other questions give me a yell, I built 2 of these rigs for my wife & son a year & a half ago, I've upgraded my sons with a video card & some tweaks as he plays more sophisticated games these days but both run with no issues. The onboard audio is excellent so you'll never need a sound card even if you convert it to a Media/HTPC rig later on as it has onboard analog 5.1 speaker support & Dolby Digital out via SPDIF for a Home Theather System Digital Receiver.

Regards, Balrog