Upgrading cpu and mobo

[EvilEVO]

I'm taking on a challange of a different nature by aquiring a core 2 duo processor e6300 1.8Ghz by accident the other day for about 30 bucks on ebay.

I bought a compaq evo d50 on ebay at the end of last year for my office computer just to do word processsing network etc. spent 30 bucks and put a new lite-on cdrw and usb 2.0 plugs and recently upgraded the ram to 768 ( random number but I had some left over from another computer so I through it all in there!)

Anyway, the processor will be here in a day or two and I want to put it in the EVO, however I dont really want to buy a new tower etc.. I like the "Rat Rod" look. I know Im going to have to upgrade the power supply and possibly fan but could someone recommend a good Motherboard?

Im not a gamer so thats really not important, probably just the onboard graphics will do.

I may end up taking it home and hooking it to the flatscreen and using it as the media hub down the road but not sure..

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated also any pitfalls I should look out for. I have never changed out the MB and Processor before. In my mind i take it all apart put the new MB and processor in hook it all back up and it would be nice if it fired right up off the old HD and here we went. However, I'm not that nieve and am sure I will be back on here saying it was the dumbest decision ever..... Im not to that point yet.



Thanks guys, I look forward to furthering my computer knowledge!

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Do you have a link to your current PC? I took a quick look around but I didn't see it on HP's site etc. It'll help to know what form-factor your case supports when you try to purchase a new motherboard. Also, depending on your current RAM's specifications, you may want to consider upgrading that (might have to).

You're confident that the E6300 you purchased for $30 is in working condition?

 

[EvilEVO]

Sorry I forgot a 0 its an Evo D500
the form factor is "desktop" with the drives being on the right of the case.


And yes it comes with a warranty and its in a sealed box, not really sure but if something goes screwball ill le tyou know.

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Based on what I've seen if you're going to upgrade your motherboard you are probably the most safe buying a Micro-ATX motherboard.

You will also have to upgrade your RAM as I suspected in the post above.

I am assuming both your HDD(s) and optical drive(s) are of the PATA interface so you may run into issues finding a board that has multiple host adapters available for your setup. You're probably best off buying a PCI PATA card to support your devices. Just a suggestion anyway.

This motherboard will support your new CPU, it is of the Micro-ATX form factor and has an onboard VPU: GA-G33M-S2L.

Some spiffy new RAM: G.Skill 2 x 1024MB / DDR2 1066MHz.

 

[EvilEVO]

Ecs?

What do you think about an ECS G33T-M2?

No prefrenece one way or the other just curious as to your thoughts, They have a rebate and I can pick it up @ Tiger down the road.

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

The ECS G33T-M2 has no PATA host adapters at all (from what I can see). Might be kind of hard unless you are definitely to accommodate your current drives going to buy a PCI controller card or you're going to upgrade your drives to SATA.

The only other thing worth noting is that the ECS G33T-M2 is about 1.4" wider than the GA-G33M-S2L (9.6" x 9.6" vs 9.6" x 8.2"). You might want to measure your current motherboard and how much space you have to be sure of the fit. The rest of the important specifications are close enough.

Personally, I'd go with the Gigabyte board over an ECS. I have nothing to back it up, and it's honestly only due to my biased view of the brands .

 

[EvilEVO]

Ok so I went a totally different direction and went with the INTEL D945GCPE.

Got it all home plugged it up and now nothing will power up. The standby light on the board comes on and the fans spin about an 8th of a turn every 7 seconds???
Its strange, any ideas?

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Stick to the thread you started here:

https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic101125.html