Gateway 820GM salvage with bad motherboard

[oilboy123]

I have come to the conclusion from my other thread that I have a bad Intel 915 motherboard. It has Microsoft Media Center Edition OS. I was using it for an entertainment system and DVR. The model, specs, and component list are below with link to Gateway site, if you care to look.
I have a restore CD that it comes with. I am trying to decide to get same exact motherboard so that I can use the restore CD and get it going. On the other hand it was only run three years before the motherboard went bad? So do I even want another that will go bad?

Or I could maybe get another motherboard and run another OS 99$ or so? Or maybe cut my loses and get a barbones kit from Tiger Direct or somewhere? So am I pouring money down the drain...........
Can the DVDRW and DVD player be used in another system from this gateway? The front of them are curved so I don't know if that part will snap off.

I put this quote down because my CPU is a 3.0 Pentium Hyper Thread that is not the high end now.

"Quote From PandaBear" Pentium 4's frequency can't be directly compared to Core2, Athlon, or Phenom. Any of the newer processor other than the Athlon X2 you mentioned running at 1.6Ghz will eat a 3Ghz Pentium 4 for lunch.

http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/4055/4055nv.shtml


Specifications
Part Number: 4055Gateway 820GM Media Center Computer
Model: 820GM


Processor Brand: Intel® Pentium® 4 with Hyper-Threading Technology
Speed: 3.0 GHz
System Bus 800 MHz
Cache Memory 1 MB on die Level 2
System Memory (RAM) 1.0 GB
Expandable to 2.0 GB
Type of Memory (RAM) PC3200 DDR SDRAM
Hard Drive Type: Serial ATA
Size: 250.0 GB
Video Memory 128 MB
Graphics ATI® Radeon™ X300 SE PCI-Express
MPEG Yes
TV Tuner Card AVerMedia® M150
Audio Intel high-definition
Speakers External amplified stereo speakers
Modem 56 Kbps* ITU V.92-ready PCI internal fax modem
*Capable of receiving 56 Kbps downloads. However, current regulations limit download speed to 53 Kbps.
Network Card Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
Optical Drives

* DVD-ROM drive, maximum speed 16X
* Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW drive, speeds: 8X/4X/12X DVD+RW; 8X/4X/12X DVD-RW; 32X/16X/4X CD-RW

Removable Storage 8-in-1 digital media manager (media card reader)
Expansion Bays

* External 3.5-inch bays: 2 (one used for media card reader)
* Internal 3.5-inch bays: 3 (one used for hard drive)
* External 5.25-inch bays: 2 (both used for optical drives)

Expansion Slots

* PCI-E x16: 1
* PCI-E x1: 1
* PCI: 3

Input/Output Ports

* 7 USB 2.0 ports; one front in media card reader, six on rear of computer
* 1 10/100 Ethernet
* 1 Parallel port
* 3 IEEE 1394 port; two on front, one on rear of computer
* 1 Serial port
* 1 PS/2 keyboard port
* 1 PS/2 mouse port
* 7 Audio ports; two on front, five on rear of computer

Keyboard Premium multimedia
Mouse 2-button wheel
Other

* FM tuner and antenna
* IR receiver
* Media Center remote control

COMPONENTS:


Components list for

Accessories
arrow101585 - FM Tuner Antenna
arrow101587 - IR Emitter Cable
arrow102424 - Media Center Remote Control R0
arrow102434 - IR Receiver for Media Center PC

Hard Drives
arrow102131 - 250-GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive

Keyboards
arrow102030 - Premium Black PS/2 Keyboard

Media Card Reader
arrow100712 - 8-in-1 Media Card Reader
arrow101313 - 8-in-1 Media Card Reader

Memory
arrow102133 - MEM DDR 512MB PC3200

Mice
arrow102423 - Silver and Black PS/2 Wheel Mouse

Modems
arrow101197 - 56 K PCI Modem
arrow101198 - 56K PCI Data/Fax Modem

Motherboards
arrow102129 - Intel (South Lake) P4 Motherboard R0

Optical Drives
arrow102011 - DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive

Power Supplies
arrow102015 - 300-Watt Power Supply

Speakers
arrow102033 - 2.0 Analog Speakers

TV Tuner Cards
arrow102435 - AVerMedia M-150 TV Tuner Card

Video Cards
arrow102221 - ATI Radeon X300 SE 128

 

[PandaBear]

Your risk is form factor of another board. Does gateway use standard mounting points for ATX or uATX? If not another board may not physically fit. I say you look online and see what other people use to replace it and fit your case.

Alternative is if you have another case (or can get one free from a friend, or recycle center) and move all the components over. This will look ugly if you are picky about style, but will let you have the freedom of any motherboard with minimal cost (assume free case).

I know DELL used to use a special ATX power supply pinout that you have to manually swap the pin if you plug in an ATX board, or will nuke the board. Not sure if gateway did this.

Most OEM board are low quality and won't last more than 3-4 years. If you buy premium board (i.e. Gigabyte or Asus), their overclocker series usually have better power regulators and capacitors that last longer. My 7 year old used ASUS A7V266-E is still humming along nicely on daily usage.

 

[oilboy123]

Form Factor D915GSN: BTX
Dell and Gateway used it for a while but did away with it in 2006. Just read about it online.
My Gateway had a harness adapter when I upgraded the power
supply. I don't think I want to invest in another of the same motherboard because the first one did not last.

Looks like I might just get a motherboard or motherboard/CPU combo and try to build another computer. I think I will take your advise and get a Asus or Gigabyte motherboard with a new case. I built the computer I am using so I think I can do it again.

Guess I will do some more shopping research. Thanks

 

[eljefino]

There are linux "freevo" distros that are a cinch to use. They also have automatic commercial skip features that search for black spots in known intervals... eg 30 seconds. I built one for my in-laws: they have cable, I don't.

If you have a tuner card, big HD, DVD etc you're mostly there.