Mobo died, need replacement advice

[asyork]

Edit:
Thanks for the help. I ended up finding another x58 sli le in evga's b stock for $80. It's a bummer to spend cash without an upgrade, but it's also a bummer to have to upgrade when what I had was still more than sufficient for my needs.

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The motherboard from the build in my sig is dead. I would prefer not to replace it with another x58 unless I can find a used one at a good price. I haven't been keeping up with the new sockets/chipsets since I built my current comp, and I need to have it running again asap for work.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
I mostly use it for gaming and web browsing as far as time goes, but it primarily needs to be able to run Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 3 with large batch processes.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I'm trying to keep it close to $200 because that is about what it would cost for me to buy an equivalent x58 motherboard new. If I would end up with a faster CPU and/or USB3/sata6 then I would probably be willing to spend about $250 with tax and shipping included.

3) Where do you live?
About 45 minutes west of the Greater Atlanta/Marietta Microcenter. Too far from Fry's unless they have a deal that would be worth the extra time and $20 in gas.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Motherboard and CPU unless my budget is too tight and I have to just go with another x58.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Everything in my sig. Unless I missed some huge change (like another CPU power connector), then everything I have should work with a new CPU/mobo.

6) Will you be overclocking?
It isn't important to me, but if there is a cheaper and easily OCable part that makes since then I can do it. I plan to use stock cooling though, so if I would need to buy aftermarket cooling to do it, then that will need to be part of my price.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
23" 1920x1080 and a 17" 1440x900. I don't game on the 17", it just gives me some extra room for windows and Photoshop tools.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP, but I can survive on my laptop for a week or two if needed. I'd prefer to be able to go to Microcenter and get the parts this weekend.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
I don't "need" any of those, but if I am going with a new chipset, then I would like to at least have USB 3.0 on it. My GPU is out for RMA right now, so onboard video would be useful for a few days, but not necessary.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? I have Win7 64 bit already installed, and I am hoping I can just reactivate it and use the same install.

 

[tiraides]

There's really nothing on the AMD side that's worth buying and the Sandy Bridge "equivalent" processor (Core i7 2600/2600K) and board would cost you over $300. You need to either up your budget to at least $400 or find out whether or not you could RMA your board for a replacement.

Is your copy of Windows an OEM or a retail version? I ask because you can transfer a retail version over to a new system, but not the OEM version.

 

[asyork]

I believe it was the retail upgrade version. I know it wasn't the OEM version. I'll check again, but I'm pretty sure my board is out of warranty.

 

[tiraides]

For $200 or less, I recommend a new X58 board. Anything from Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, or EVGA would be good; just pick one based on your immediate needs.

AMD's current AM3 lineup is more of a horizontal switch in terms of performance. Though Sandy Bridge would give you better long-term options, X58 still holds some advantages over P67/Z68 due to its extra PCI-E lanes and ability to use more RAM.

 

[asyork]

My board is out of warranty.

I just gave myself a wikipedia crash course on sandy bridge and LGA 1155 options. If I moved to 1155 I would lose some ram in the short term, but I could eventually get a 4x4 kit and be happy. I also don't need the extra PCIe lanes. Basically, I don't want to end up handicapping what I intend to use. As per the info on [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1155"]LGA 1155 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame], it doesn't look like I'd lose anything I need even going to H67.

How would an i5 2400 compare to an i7 920? My 920 is at stock, and I wouldn't bother OCing it anyway. At MC, the 2400 is $150 and the 2500k is $180. They don't have the non k version :/

After rebates ($40 IR and $10 MIR), I could get the i5 2400 and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128495 from MC for $220 + tax.

This is all based on my brief research on wikipedia and a little googling, so I'm just throwing it out there for you guys to tear apart.

If I go with a new x58 board, the EVGA sli 3 seems to be most similar to my current board. I'll probably look around for something cheaper though since I am just using 1 GPU and onboard sound. I found some used x58 boards in the fs/ft forum for as little as $99 shipped, I'm undecided on being comfortable buying a used motherboard though.

edit: I guess there is no good way to link to wikipedia now... Even editing that out it just adds it right back with all 3 links when I save the post.

 

[tiraides]

If the Gigabyte Z68 board fits your needs, then that combo with the i5-2400 would be fine.

All of the Core i7 processors come with Hyper Threading, but I can't recall how much of a performance boost Hyper Threading gives in Photoshop/Lightroom-related tasks and benchmarks.