Replacing Mobo.

[Rei478]

Hello everyone! Im new to the forum so hellos all round :wave:.
Im also quite n00bish to the whole PC building so if i say anything stupid, sorry. Now down to business, Ive had a somewhat crappy :dead: Dell dimension 2400 for about a year and recently came to install a graphics card, only to find there was no agp or pci-express slot (just a nice agp sized gap to taunt me). So i have decided to screw it and build my own, first off to get a new motherboard. Then i also found out about dell's incompatable PSU so ill need a new one of those too.
I have chosen to get an ABIT IC7-G and for the PSU an Enermax EG425AX-VEG 425W(will this be powerful enough). For the moment i will be using the hard drive, cd-rom etc from the dell. Also i will continue using my Celeron 2.4 until i can get a better P4 (3.0 or more) and 2x 512Mb Kingston Ram (will be upgraded later to a few few 512 dual DDR).
Also i will be chucking a graphics card at it at some point but ill leave that open for any suggestions. Will the above config work? Am i missing anything? Any help will be amazing. Thanks in advance.

 

[EvilFallenAngel]

Will you be using a new tower, most towers now come with decent PSU. I would recomment keeping that video card for a bit, in case something bad might happen and may need it for back up.

EVIL
:darth:

 

[RealBlackStuff]

That combination would work well. The Dimension 2400 case is not all that great for expansion, but for average use it should do.
That mobo is fine, you may want to replace the nortbridge cooler+fan with a quiet fan-less one from Zalman, about US$8.-
Check the dimensions of the new PSU if it will fit in the case

 

[Rei478]

Video card?

yeah ill be changing the case, i saw a tasty looking enermax case earlier. So i know the PSU will fit. Evil, which video card are you referring to me keeping? The dell one is an onboard intel 64Mb built in to the mobo, but i will be keeping all of the parts i take out just in case. Would i need to buy a video card to set up the new mobo because other than that onboard intel, i dont have one. I just looked at those zalman coolers too that seems a better option as the case it self has multiple fans and i dont want too many because im not sure of the power supply. Thanks for the tip :grinthumb

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Get an Enermax case WITH that Enermax PSU you picked and you'll be flying.
You WILL need a graphics card immediately, otherwise that PC won't even boot.
If you are a gamer, look at Nvidia-based AGP-8 cards, the Nvidia drivers are better than ATI.
If you are a business user, go for a Matrox G550 or later model.
If mixed user, there are plenty cheap cards around with 128MB memory, that will do the trick adequately, if not superbly.
Check with friends who updated their graphics cards recently, they may have a (free?) card lying about.

 

[Rei478]

lol i asked around and my friend only 2 days ago got a new video card . Woot!! So im going to nick his spare one for a while until i can get a better one. ( i was baffled for a while as to how i was actually going to be able to see the bios on my monitor without a video card so thanks for confirming that). I have a question about my OS so ill post here because you already know my setup, can i still use the Windows XP that came with my Dell because it says im only allowed it for one computer. Cheers for all the help! Very Very helpful. :wave:

 

[Masque]

If you are a gamer, look at Nvidia-based AGP-8 cards, the Nvidia drivers are better than ATI.

Of course, that's strictly "personal" opinion.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Masque,
I mostly based my Nvidia-stuff on hearsay from this forum.
I have had Matrox cards since the early 1990s and would not swap them for anything else. I am strictly a business user, (web-designing) and the "strongest" game I ever play is the old Spider from W98SE, when I am bored.

Rei478,
If your hardware from the Dell all goes over into your new PC, you can re-install XP on the new one. (You will have to anyway, because of a different motherboard).
You'll have to reactivate XP because of so many hardware changes, but one phonecall to Microsoft, explaining the HW=changes should solve that.
You can't have it installed on 2 PCs.

 

[Rei478]

ic7-max 3?

hi again, will an ic7-max 3 work as well? Because the place i was getting the ic7-g from no longer stock it. Is my 2.4 celeron compatible? because on the website it only says P4 in the list of cpu's. Many thanks :wave:

 

[RealBlackStuff]

For supported CPUs, see here: http://www.abit.com.tw/test_report/IC7-MAX3/index.php

BUT, your Celeron has an FSB of 400MHz, and the mobo is for 800MHz, don't know if that works.

Perhaps some other TS-member knows more?

 

[Rei478]

I spotted this on the website;
Processor
- Supports Intel® Pentium® 4 Socket 478 processors (Prescott and Northwood) with 800/533/400MHz FSB
- Supports Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

my proccessor is a Intel Celeron 4A 2400Mhz , Northwood 128, 400Mhz FSB
478 pin uPGA
i dont really know much about proccessors so what the difference between celeron and pentium?
:wave:

 

[RealBlackStuff]

A Celeron is a 'castrated' Pentium. A normal P4 has 512KB onboard L2 memory, the Celeron only has 128KB. Other than that, there is not much difference.
So, you can run your CPU on that mobo.

 

[Rei478]

another CPU question,
The Celeron proccessor supports these chipsets
Chipset Intel® 845GV, 845GL, 815E, 815, 815EP, 810E2, 810E chipsets

The abit ac7-max 3 is this chipset,
Chipset Type Intel875P

does this mean they are incompatible?
i just want to make sure because i dont have that much money to spend and i might not be able to get a new proccessor for a while so if my old one wont work i may have to put it on hold for a while.
Also would a 370w enermax be sufficient because i wont be having too many drives maybe even just one cd-dvdRW. so dont think ill need to much.
Thanks for all your help. :wave:

 

[RealBlackStuff]

That support-list was made before they came out with the 875-chip. Don't worry, it will work.
The 370w Enermax will be fine, as long as you are not going into those power-hungry graphicscards from the latest generation ATI or NVidia.
Check for the P4/AMD64 powercable and SATA-cables (for future HDs) on that PSU.

 

[Rei478]

ATX 12V V1.3 compatible:Support latest P4 and Athlon 64 platforms. For P4 platforms use 865 (Springdale) & 875 (Canterwood) chipsets and even new P4 Prescott and AMD Athlon 64 or later CPU.

S-ATA connectors:Connect your system to the faster S-ATA interface for better performance

Was that what you were asking about? This was in the item description. It all looks compatible.
Also im only getting an nVidia 128 but that wont be for a while yet.
At the moment all i am going to change is the motherboard, the case and the power supply.
IC7 MAX-3
Enermax CS-527
Enermax EG375AX or EG425AX(not sure how much cash i have yet but the latter is only £12 more so i should be able to get the better one)
also a 64Mb graphics card from a friend.
thanks again realblackstuff, extremely helpful indeeed :grinthumb :wave: