Want to upgrade my motherboard and cpu

[jbaker2345]

Yes this is my first time posting here. I have a Emachine W3410 With an MSI RS480M-IL motherboard and a AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz processor. What I'm trying to do is figure out what size motherboard and what kind of mobo i can use in it and what i would need to do to replace it. This is just an upgrade so I can run my games better. Also you may need to know that I want to stay with my PC3200 DDR 400MHz Ram chips which I have 2 that equals 2 gigs and want to stay with my new Sapphire ATI Radeon X1600PRO Advantage Edition 446MHz DDR clock speed at 256 MB Video Card And all the other stuff it came with from HD to my two dvd/cd burners to which all is IDE.
Also would I have to do anything to my current windowsXP sp2 home edition because emachines told me i would have to get another copy of it and install it and would it be a good idea to upgrade my psu as well and if so what kind do you recommend.

 

[GameJunkie72792]

PSU upgade definately, i believe its just a atx case i know my compaq presario is...

 

[foozy]

Before you do anything: replace the power supply with something more reliable

If you got your hands on a OEM/retail Windows install CD you could just reinstall it using the same key that eMachines gave you.

Beyond that it seems like all you really need is a motherboard that supports 184-pin DDR and has two IDE slots.

Whats your budget at? I'm sure lots of people could recommend good mobo/cpu combos depending on the price range.

 

[jbaker2345]

I'm looking to do it pretty cheap found a mobo for 39.99 which is a ASROCK P4VM890 VIA P4M890 CHIPSET MICRO ATX FORM FACTOR 1x PCI-E(X16)/3xPCI/1xAMR/2xDDR W/INTEGRATED VGA,SATA,LAN,USB 2.0 & AUDIO (CPU TYPE:INTEL - SOCKET 478) which is 9.6x8.0 don't really know if it will fit in my case the length is the same but width is different but everything is the same other than siz of mobo and processor. would this one work. I alos found a pentium 4 3.0GHz Prescott processor 800MHz fsb 4 35.99 new on e-bay. will i also have to get a new heat sink and fan for the processor. But anything will be helpful to know.

 

[foozy]

Are you sure you want to...upgrade...to a socket 478 rig? You can spend 10-15 dollars more, if that, and get something that is much more in line with current technology. There are plenty of Socket 939 and LGA775 boards that support two PATA channels and DDR400, and the processors for these sockets are usually cheaper (negating things like eBay) than their earlier counterparts. You could also get a retail box that way and avoid having to buy a new heatsink/fan.

If the board is MicroATX it will more than likely fit just fine in your case. Dimensions are always a little different, form factors give a little room for them to be, its the ATX or MicroATX label that matters.

If the processor is OEM, which 99% of all socket 478 cpus are nowadays, you'll need a new heatsink and fan.

 

[jbaker2345]

ok thank you for the info but now i might just upgrade my brother in laws old dell dimension XPS B1000 it went out one day with a system 32 dll message and a security issue so might use his case and power supply and put a new ATX form factor with a LGA775 socket in it. do you think this would be better and cheaper because his processor fan is built into the tower under the PSU all i would need is a new heat sink right or will i have to get another fan two.

 

[jbaker2345]

Please reply back need to know what anybody thinks about this