Surge blew MotherBoard, what do I get now?

[drywater]

The church's computer was hit during a storm last week. The power supply and Motherboard are blown, I dont know what else may be bad. We replaced the PSU and found the Motherboard is bad.

The CPU is AMD Athlon 64. The currently dead Motherboard is an Abit UL8 939 board. The videocard is AGP.

I can only find one motherboard that has 939 and AGP... and it is out of stock. Plus I do not know if the AGP videocard is blown either. Am I better off buying a new videocard (PCI Express) so that I can find a motherboard more easily? If so, should I assume the CPU is still good and go from there- looking for a 939 board with PCI-E?

The Motherboard must have onboard audio and the video must have dual output (for a projector to connect). No 3d stuff and only used for the church so inexpensive is good. Any suggestions off the top of your head? Otherwise I'll check out newegg and follow their reviews.

Thanks!

[Shinma]

If not done so already,
Someone should check to see that the processor is in working condition before purchasing older technology mobo.

[DanceMan]

I would look for a mATX board with onboard (integrated) video and the Nvidia 6150 or Ati Xpress 200 chipset. The boards built on these have decent video and will usually support two monitors and tv out. If you google for reviews of the board you're considering, you should find info on DVI and/or VGA out and whether a tv out is included. It varies by manufacturer and model.

Unless you can test your cpu and ram to make sure they weren't damaged, you might be well advised, given the current very low prices for DDR2 ram and AM2 single core cpus, to just buy a new board, cpu and ram. In that case look for Nvidia 6150 or 7050 or AMD 690G chipset with the same advice as above. Your selection of boards ought to be better than with socket 939.

[drywater]

Thank you, I did not consider the CPU. Now I need to find a computer to test it in...

Thanks again and I'll post my results when I can find them.

[drywater]

I found this board at newegg MSI K9AG Neo2-Digital . It looks like it has integrated dual-video out and should fit the current case. I am also going to buy a cpu. From MSI's website, his board can handle the following CPUs:
• Supports 64-bit AMD® Sempron, Athlon™ 64 / Athlon 64 X2 processor (Socket AM2)
• Supports Athlon 64 CPU: 3000+, 3200+, 3500+, 3800+, and 4000+
• Supports Athlon 64FX CPU: FX-60 and FX-62
• Supports Athlon 64 X2 CPU: 3600+, 3800+, 4000+, 4200, 4400+, 4600+, 4800+, 5000+, 5200+, 5400+, and up

Although I understand this stuff more than everyone else at the church, I do not know very much! I picked the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200 but only because of the price. I know nothing about FBS, etc. With the mobo CPU setup be adequate for video editing (of the sermons) and video/powerpoint projecting? There will be no games installed but it does need to be able to edit and render video (no special FX).

I will try to current RAM in a different computer this evening, in hopes they do not need to purchase this at well, even if it is inexpensive.

The HDD, PSU, DVD drive, Monitor are all good (or have been replaced). What is your advice?

Thank you very much!

[Leoslocks]

The X2- 42300 looks like an economical match for your board.

Bad news on the Ram. The old board used DDR 400 where the new board uses DDR2.