What motherboard should I get?

[garym]

My emachine T2825 motherboard went belly up. I have never replaced a motherboard so I thought since I'm replacing it I might as well try and to upgrade it to a faster one. Can I do this? How will I know what model board will work in my PC? Also will these boards come with a processor on them and if not how will I know what processor will work on the board I get? and should I get another power supply with more wattage? I have a 250 watt PS now. Where can I get these items? Sorry for all the questions but thanks for any advice.

Gary

 

[vnf4ultra]

Almost all motherboards have a socket for a processor so the processor can be upgraded, and do not come with the processor. The manufacturer will say what socket type it supports and also usually will have a processor compatibility list on their website. 250W isn't a lot, but will power a basic system. If you'll be significantly upgrading the computer a higher power supply would be better. A good place to buy in the US is newegg.com.

 

[CraigMc]

You'll also need to take into account what other items you have in your PC, for instance are your Hard Disks IDE or SATA, which AGP version is your graphics card, do you have a seperate sound card or is it on-board.

The best thing to do is look around and do some research. ebuyer.com is also a good supplier and often recommends processors to go with the boards they sell and/or offer them as a bundle deal at a reduced price when you buy them both together.

Things to take note of when looking to updrade your motherboard:

* Intel or AMD Chipset
* which socket is used for processor
* number of IDE and SATA controllers
* onboard devices
* format i.e. ATX, EATX, Mini ATX, Micro ATX
* power supply - 20 or 24 pin
* Graphics card compatability i.e. PCI-E or AGP
* RAM format

You should start by locating the technical specifications of your machine as asvertised on the suppliers website and use that as a base reference for your new motherboard.

Have fun

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Make sure you tell us your budget, if you want us to help with the purchase. Also, make sure you know whether or not the video card and other cards (including the RAM cards) on the motherboard, as well as the processor are working or not. You can easily verify this by using them in another PC, although the RAM, processor and video card may not fit if they are of different types, making it absolutely necessary to get a new mobo to check them.
According to the eMachines website, your machine has 512MB of DDR (PC2700) RAM. Check on the motherboard whether you have one stick of 512MB RAM or two sticks of 256MB each. Also, I guess you were running on integrated graphics. All your LAN and sound ports were also onboard. It's an Athlon XP 2800+ motherboard so assuming your processor is intact, and taking all the other information into consideration, I'd recommend this motherboard. It's nearly identical to your old one and will allow you to reuse your processor and RAM, provided they are still intact. Also, I'd recommend upgrading your PSU to this PSU, since eMachines PSUs and mobos are of equally crappy quality and are prone to going bad without warning.

 

[CraigMc]

If you were using integrated graphics you would also need to purchase a Graphics Card to use with the Motherboard Rage recommended.

 

[garym]

Thanks for all the replies! From what I'm told, changing the MOBO's out is pretty simple but RAGE_3K ask about a budget. I'm just wondering if it would just be as cheap to buy another desktop. My PC does have the Athlon xp 2800+ board and the video and sound is built into the mother board as well. We don't do any gaming, just basically email and surf the web. Any opinions on the cost of replacing the board and PWR Supply versus replacing the PC with a new one?

Thanks,
Gary

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Replacing the PC with a new one will involve a substantially higher cost, so get a new mobo and PSU instead. And for surfing the web and sending emails, you don't need a spanking new dual-core PC, your current one will do just fine.

 

[garym]

I was looking over this board that rage recommended, PC CHIPS M848A SOCKET A, and it is almost identical to the one I have but it seems to be missing one port in the back, the monitor port. If this board is a replacement for my board, where do I plug my monitor into?

Thanks for helping

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

For the monitor, you'd need a cheap video card like this that goes into the AGP slot on the motherboard.