Upgrading my motherboard and CPU

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rpchewy

New Member
Hi, I have a HP Media Center PC m7277c home computer. I want to upgrade the CPU and motherboard but I wanted to keep the case. How do I know what motherboard will fit into my tower? Basically I want to upgrade them and the BIOS to a faster setup but I don't want my wife to know I did it so I wanted to keep the computer looking the same.
 
rpchewy said:
I don't want my wife to know I did it so I wanted to keep the computer looking the same.
Click to expand...

Whatever suits your sexual fantasies ;)

If you change your CPU you should be fine. If you change your motherboard a reinstall of windows is required because of the changed chipset. Why would you wanna change the motherboard? What's wrong with you're current bios?
 
I think you should be up front with your wife about spending money on a computer upgrade. It isn't good to hide spending money from a spouse.
 
your computer is 98% likely to be an ATX acceptable case, as for the hardware, I reccomend either an Asus or MSI motherboard (both are excellent names) and a AMD Phenom Quad core as the CPU. While your at it, you should probably also go ahead and change out the memory and video card, get 4gb of memory, and replace the video card with an 8800 gt, or just do whatever pleases you, after all, this is a forum for advice, you have the final say.
 
rpchewy said:
...but I don't want my wife to know I did it so I wanted to keep the computer looking the same.
Click to expand...

Don't not tell her.....just fib and tell her you got it from a buddy at work. ('It' being the new computer you will be building)

Seriously though, my experience with retail HP's has been that they are often using MATX boards, but that's not a guarantee,,,you may have an ATX.

Either way you can upgrade easily--

EDIT:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...16&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=uk&lang=en&product=1154491

yeah looks like its a micro atx mobo.
 
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If you can confirm that the case meets ATX or mATX standards, then you should be able to upgrade the mobo and CPU. You'll likely need to purchase a new operating system, unless you can get Microsoft to reactivate the product key shipped w/ the machine. Unlikely, but possible.
 
Vizy93 said:
Whatever suits your sexual fantasies ;)

If you change your CPU you should be fine. If you change your motherboard a reinstall of windows is required because of the changed chipset. Why would you wanna change the motherboard? What's wrong with you're current bios?
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know that anythings wrong with the bios but I thought that I needed a new motherboard in order to increase my CPU speed. I thought I had a fast cpu but it's been running slow and such lately. Here's what I have, tell me if you think I should try to upgrade?

System Model: ED845AA-ABA M7277C
BIOS: Phoenix - Award BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)\
Memory: 3326MB RAM
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8800 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0611&SUBSYS_C8013842&REV_A2
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1152 x 864 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
 
I don't know if it would have made a difference in the speed of the computer but I also upgraded from the PC2 3200 memory to a 4200 memory... It works so I assume that's OK but I don't know if it isn't designed for 4200 and maybe that's why it's been slower or if I just need to delete crap off the hard drive so I don't have so much running in the background...?
 
One other reason I want to upgrade my motherboard is that I only have one PCI slot on the board and I'd like to add another video card for my gaming... I have a 8800GT 512mb video card already which is a nice card but I'd like to add another so as to speed up my game play and reduce lag and hesitation. Rather than spend the money on a 1gb card I can just do another card and dual link them. So... I guess I just need a model that will just pop into my tower that I can have a couple PCI express slots and two or three of the regular PCI slots.

My main concern is not money and such it's getting one that will fit the tower and the existing screw mounts.
 
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