Computer failure and advice required on ordering new parts

[demonwolf]

Hi,
My system of about 2 years has just failed. I went out leaving the computer on and when I came back I found the system was off and wouldnt turn back on. From a complete power down by turning the powersupply switch on and off, when i tried to turn on the computer the fans would start for a fraction of a second then stop. After that nothing happens until I switch the powersupply off and then on.

I unplugged everything except the graphics card memory and cpu, same thing. I tried out the psu on another machine and it works fine. Tested out my ramsticks they are fine. I then did a benchtest taking the motherboard outside of the case and clearing out all the dust. I hadnt touched my system for about a year and the dust inside was pretty overwhelming. I took out everything now except the cpu and one stick of ram. Turned on the sytem and the cpu fan starts to turn for longer now and then a couple of seconds in I hear a sound like a pop from the motherboard and a thin wisp of smoke rises. Turn off the system and try it again.. nothing

I think my motherboard is properly dead now. But Im not sure about my cpu.
Here is my system spec@

Intel core2quad q6600 SLACR @ 3.2Ghz (Scythe Ninja Heatsink with 120mm fan)
Asus P5K Deluxe mobo.
OCZ 2x2GB PC2 6400
Pallit 8800GT
Corsair HX520W powersupply

What I want to do is order another socket775 motherboard and drop my Q6600 into it. If the system doesnt post then I will assume the CPU is also dead and order another CPU. Is this a good approach to take..?

Secondly what is a reasonably priced s775 (about £110) that is a good overclocker and good overall board? In other words what board are all the s775 overclockers using nowadays. Thanks for your time.

[Ulti]

Socket 775 boards are EOL (End of life) so you can get one for much less than £110. As a Q6600 is still good, I would be inclined to keep it as it's cheaper than moving to i5 or AM3 DDR3 system.

Ideally you'd want to get a P45 board, seeing as you've got a 8800GT you probably won't really need CrossFire. These boards might be worth looking at:
Asus P5Q SE2
Asus SE PLUS
Not sure what the differences are between the two though but they're only about £70.

You could get a P43 board which is essentially a chipset based on the P45 but with some of its features stripped out though but personally I've never owned one so I'm not too keen on that. From some reviews it seems like it has a lower FSB wall (bad for overclocking) and has no crossfire and RAID AFAIK.

[demonwolf]

Thanks alot for the info, those suggestions are very good Ill look into the asus p5Q range and see what the best one for me is.
I just went to asus's site last night and saw that they give 3 years warranty on their motherboards with instructions of sending it back to the reseller. Just went through a pile of old reciepts and found my scan invoice that is dated 7th of July 2007, I cant believe my luck that its still under warranty. Although I wonder what scan will do for me, replace the product with a similar product.. ? Or just refund its current value. Ill have to chat with them to find out. It'll be interesting to see how they treat me, I'll get to find out if their customer service lives up to their reputation.

[Ulti]

Ooo I forgot about the warranty, I thought it'd usually be with the manufacturer though, odd that it's with the retailer.

Either way, that's pretty lucky, you could try sending an email to both Scan and Asus meanwhile and see what they say to save a bit of time.

[demonwolf]

Im pretty surprised its with the reseller as well. Thats why I went to the Asus site to check the warranty information. But since 1999 Asus have been giving 3 years warranty with explicit instructions to send it to the reseller I then checked on the scan site and looked at the warranty information for an asus board and they say the same thing as opposed to other products such as processors that have 1 years warranty return to reseller and another 2 years return to manufacturer.
As of 2pm scan care centre is closed for the weekend. Ill email them and expect a reply on monday.