prebuilt to custom?

ride3k

New Member
I have an old eMachines computer(about 3 or 4 years old i think) and my wonder is, could i take out the Mobo, and put in another Mobo with a new CPU and some new RAM? or is built into prebuilt computers that you cannot remove parts? The three things i need to address with the computer now is CPU speed, amount of RAM, and an update on the GPU, and i think instead of building an entire custom setup, the swap might be possible?
 
You can do what you want with it, check that the power supply is of a high enough wattage to support your new components, if not you'll want to replace that as well and that what you want to buy will fit in the case.
 
I remember a situaition when my friend couldnt take his Video card out of a dell system.

Kent.
 
I had an eMachines and I came upon a site that actually deals with upgrading eMachine PC's. I've lost the addrerss though. However you'll need to replace the power supply unit because as far as I know it's a Bestec and they're supposedly rubbish.
 
The only eMachine that I own is a business class machine, 1.5GHz P4, 512MB RAM, used as backup server.

The motherboard was standard MicroATX size, however, the PSU was one of those tiny ones made so that eMachines could cram as much stuff into that case as possible and hope it works (Which is what they tend to do.)

I bought this case from Micro Center: (and used a standard size ATX supply I had laying around. By luck, it was 20 Pin like the mobo)
http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0247229

And I succeeded in taking the components out of the terrible eMachine case and putting them into the new one. The only problem I encountered was that the case Front Panel connector was the newer 9-Pin single block connector. The motherboard from the eMachine still used the setup where each LED and the power button have their own connector.

So, thanks to my knowledge of electronics and my Ohm meter, I was able to cut the case's connector off, and use the wires from the old eMachine case to wire it all up. Works too. Only problem is that the motherboard from the eMachine does not have a Reset connector. You can't win at everything I guess :P
 
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