What does it cost to replace a motherboard?
 

I realize that it will vary on many factors, but give me ballpark. Best Buy is telling me $1,600, LOL. I paid $1,000 for the computer about 30 months ago, HP, I don't remember what the processor was but definitely Intel.

I just priced out a new beast at $940.

Would it be easy enough to pull the data from the old hard drives? Hard drives should be fine, they say the problem is motherboard.

Try a search on Ebay with the model of your pc. That should give you an idea of replacement cost vs best buy

Depending how old your PC is it's probably better to just build a new one.

You need to find out the socket of the board you have atm, can you take a pic of it? then grab another mobo.

What makes you think the mobo is stuffed now?

edit....

I see someone told you it was, did you have it in a shop?

That's what they told me. I don't have it right now, they had to send it someplace.

That's insane. Top of the line motherboards with all the features are about $500.

For 1600$ chances are you can get something much better now than your 30 month old rig.

Ahh kk, well basic intel boards are faily cheap, shouldn't be more then 100-200 bucks. I guess the labor to install it will be the costly part.

this is just a desktop? Even the most high end motherboards don't run much more than $300 for a normal desktop. That's even pushing it.

Should have taken it to a custom PC builder, they probably would have had an old motherboard they could have swapped in. They just would have backed up the data off your hard drive first then did a clean install of windows and copied your data back over.

That's my plan right now.

Best Buy is such a rip off. I think I remember reading somewhere that they would install the latest firmware updates on your PS3 for you when you purchase it.... for $99.

Also $99 if you want them to install all the latest windows updates for you.

turn on automatic updating? (click yes) Done. $99 dollars please. :disgust

mother board would be about 75-400 depending on what motherboard you have. What processors you have etc. a lot less then buying a new computer if yours is fairly new and works ok. As far as data goes, you can just put the old hard drive in the new computer as a slave and copy it over, should be pretty easy to do.

I built my whole desktop excluding monitors for <$800 a few years ago. It's nothing insanely nice but it rolls right along. Got a AMD Phenom Quad Core 2.3Ghz, 4GB, 500gb hd, dvdrw, case, power supply, 1gb dual dvi vid card, and a fan/temp monitor with lcd. Almost time to upgrade now but definitely no need.

I found the details.

HP Pavilion Elite m9500t customizable Desktop PC
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q8200 [2.33GHz]
• SAVE $40! 6GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM [2x2048,2x1024]
• 500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
• 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9300 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]
• LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• LAN port on system board (10/100/1000Base-T), no wireless LAN
• 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, 1394, audio, video (for TV Tuner)
• Dual (2) TV tuners, dual format ATSC-NTSC, PVR, 1 FM tuner, remote

Serial: MXV911003C

I really don't want to replace it, but if fixing it is going to be $500 or more it would probably make sense just to get a new one at $940.

Just did a quick search, but it looks like they use an Asus motherboard similar to this model:

http://www.dhgate.com/asus-ipibl-lb-...b05385ce4.html

So Best Buy is charging about $1500+ in labour.

It's an LGA775 socket, get one them on ebay for less then 100 bucks new. 1600 is a total rip for sure.

Just replaced my old P35 motherboard with a nice Z68 and an Intel i5 2500k quad and 8GB DDR31600 memory for $300.

Would work perfektly and you get a new monster.

Worst Buy
 

Start reading consumerist.com, Best Buy is fucking everybody with poor service and over-pricing. That $99 to upgrade a new computer is unbelievable. And they take every computer out of the box, so you have to pay that fee.

best buy? you just asking for them to give ya anal ;)

http://www.newegg.com for the USA peeps

That mainboard ordered from HP parts is 180 or so plus shipping, and you can buy online through other sites for 100 and up. http://www.google.com/products/catal...ed=0CEAQ8wIwAQ

Dude, just buy the exact same (used) motherboard on ebay for $40 and swap it out. Done.

I would use that as good excuse to just get a new computer...

you will likely end up paying few hundred bucks to save a few years old computer that is not worth much more than that...

+1

Getting a better mobo isn't going to do you any good unless you plan on upgrading your processor and RAM. The mobo is matched to handle the capabilities of the components plugged into it. An exception might be if the mobo has an integrated graphics card, a new mobo with integrated graphics could be better.

If you were willing to spend the $1600, then tell Best Buy to suck it, and get a new computer -- which will be faster than the hunk of shit you were trying to fix. Problem solved.

Actually, you don't even have to spend $1600 to get a pretty fast PC.

I just spoke with them again.

Apparently it's motherboard and processor. New computer time.

What's the easiest way to get my data off of those hard drives?

Just keep the drives?

"it's the motherboard and processor" means "the seventeen year old tech earning seven bucks an hour has no idea what's wrong."

Have you ever noticed the Best Buy employees wear uniforms that look just like the one worn by people bagging groceries? Ever noticed they are mostly high school kids? High school kids make about $7 an hour because that's what they are worth, not $1000.

Also notice Best Buy charges $35 for a USB cable that's $3.99 on newegg and 99¢ at the dollar store.

Anyway if you really did need a new motherboard and processor, tigerdirect.com and newegg have package deals for about $120.

your better off going to walmart and buying a whole new set up for 600$, if you know someone to build you one go to newegg.com my computer cost me around $1,500. and is a BEAST!!!

my motherboard was only like 120$

lol thats it, if i were you I would keep the computer buy another one. I highly doubt the mobo and cpu are stuffed together.

Getting the data off can be done in a few ways.

Buy an external hard drive case (sata or ide I would say you have sata) put the hard drive into the case and transfer to new pc.

Put the hard drive into the new pc as a slave get the data that way.

A few of the newer computer cases (usually right on top of the case don't need pull anything apart) have a docking station on them, simply a matter of putting the hd into this and you are set.

The computer tech is just trying to get you to buy parts you don't need, they make money this way.

Get your computer parts from Newegg.com. If you newegg, you know.

I agree with this. I'm going to take it to a local shop and see what they say. I thought the fried motherboard and processor, at the same time, sounded rather convenient.

No more Best Buy. Silly business model.

Good luck buddy:)

Okay, I'm finally going to replace the motherboard. Could somebody link me to the motherboard that I need? I'm really completely clueless about this stuff and don't want to get the wrong one. I don't know if there are compatibility issues, etc.

Install cpu-z from cpuid and it will usually tell you the actual mainboard model. I can't imagine a situation where the cpu and the motherboard would both go bad at the same time.

Swapping out a motherboard is kind of a pain in the ass because you have to unhook everything but it's not actually that hard. Need a screwdriver and some new thermal paste to put your heatsink back on your processor when you're done.

holy shit! How can they do that in good conscience when you can buy a nice new computer for less money? They should really be fucking ashamed of themselves, but their usual customer is some old lady that think hamsters are running on those cute little wheels inside the case.

You could build a sick machine for well under 1600. Idk why anyone would ever take their machine to bestbuy.

you'll never be able to replace the mobo yourself.
get a new pc, an asus, not an hp, swap the hard drives (if you don't know how to do it youtube is your friend, it's very easy) and you should be good to go.

I would just buy a new one.

then just pop the memory from your old pc in the new one and add the old hardrive as a 2nd drive in the new one.

its almost 3 years old.

Buy one of the upgrade kit's from a online store. Gets you new motherboard, processor and ram. Buy a new hdd and use your old one as 2nd. Graphic card you can use the old one unless you are going to play some new games on It which I doubt(seeing the old setup). This will probably run you ~$400 and you will literally have a new computer.

chances of your mb and cpu both going bad at the same time

1:10000000000000

chances of bestbuy trying to make you pay for a new mb and cpu while the tech pockets your perfectly fine cpu
1:1

Bah I just talked myself into getting a new one.

Now the problem is I have a broken computer sitting here doing nothing. Seems like I should still get it fixed and turn it into a media center or something.

Might be worth a shot just to be able to use it in some way. You're a smart guy but based on your posts I wouldn't recommend you try to replace the mobo yourself unless you're sure you can handle it and you don't care if you accidentally screw it up. There are quite a few things which could go wrong in replacing a mobo and cpu. There's also the chance that the people who told you it was the mobo+cpu were lying or incompetent. I suggest you try to find a reasonably priced local shop and take it there for an opinion without telling them what Best Buy said. They'll probably charge you a diagnostic fee around $40 no matter what. If you want cheap then try to find someone on Craigslist but make sure they are reputable and know what they are doing.

Better yet any chance of drafting the TopBucks Techie for $100?? :upsidedow