Replacing motherboard, help required

lincsman

lincsman

Member
I have an HP, and the CPU kinda sucks, so I want to replace the mobo when I get some money. I have a 200w power supply, will that be an issue? Also, I'm wondering if there would be any software issues. Please say if there will be any other things I should worry about.
 
I'd definetly look into another PSU... Though it really depends what all you wish to upgrade. If you're only upgrading the motherboard and not the CPU, then it'd probably be alright.
 
The first thing to mention about upgrading an HP is the power supply when going with an updated board. The newer line of processors along with a newer board will require a larger supply to meet the basics. The minimum requiredment recommended by manufacturers at this time is at least 350watts. The concern to add to that would the case itself if an AT not ATX model. Your are most likely running an atx model there.
Upon upgrading the main board even with the same hard drive in use will require the reinstallation of Winodws itself along with production activation. The hard drive will most likely need to be reformatted to remove all HP softwares and drivers in order to install a fresh copy of Windows along with the drivers found on the cd that comes along with the new board. Memory will also be a concern once the new board is decided on. Most newer boards will not accept less then DDR400 PC3200 dimms while some older style boards will still run DDR266 PC2100. Plan on replacing the video card as well especially if you decide on a PCI-Express rather then AGP model. Currently the Radeon 9250 has no updates available since it is now discontinued.
 
you said you wanted to upgrade your processor right...

if you just dont like your crappy processor then why dont you just upgrade your processor. find the type of socket the current board uses then look online for processors that use the same socket type..much cheaper than upgrading pretty much everything else on your computer...a power supply would be good to get too though
 
Thanks for the help so far. I'll defenitely consider a new PSU if I change the motherboard, since it would be for a newer processor. As for RAM I have a 256 of PC2100, and a 512 stick that's PC3200. For some reason, according to AIDA32, the 512 stick is only running at 200 mhz. I have a recovery partition on my hard drive that is specifically made for re-installing windows and reformatting c:. The downer is that it does include all the HP drivers, but it wouldn't require reactivation and would be easy to do. my video card is PCI, since my motherboard doesn't have AGP or PCI-express (I didn't know much about video cards when I bought the computer almost 2 years ago). So, considering all that I'd have to replace- the PSU, maybe I'd have to buy windows, the mobo and CPU purchase, and a new video card - maybe I should figure out all what the Trigem Glendale can recognize for processor speed and L2 cache, or maybe it would just be better to buy a new computer and sell this one. What do you guys think?
 
Once you atart replacing several things to upgrade an old case you are just about at the cost of new build give or take any extras. Once you start picking out the things you want in a new one if you go new you can save money and get more out of a custom build over a prebuilt. The reason you see 200mhz instead of 400mhz has to do with dual channel. You simply multiply 200X2 to get the 400mhz. The board setting is correct for DDR400.
 
Yeah, unless a good deal comes about my way, I think it's best I save up and go nuts with a new custom system instead of upgrading a refurbished HP that I got 2 years ago. I do like the Alienware systems. Other than that, I'll keep an eye on this thread to see if any other good suggestions come up.
 
You probably won't have to wait to long for that. But you can also use the time to look over suggestions seen on some other threads too. That would give you a wider perspective on hardware recommended as well who sells what for less at times.
 
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