Mobo for Switch from P4 to AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939

Nov 6, 2004
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My P4 @1.7 Ghz Willamette is beginning to show its age. The Mobo is Gigabyte GA-81RX. The video card is NVIDIA GeForce 2MX (AGP). The RAM is DDR 266 PC2100--1 x 512MB + 1 x 256 MB = 768MB total.

I'm not into gaming or any intense graphics. Computer is mostly used for music playback through E-MU PCI sound card analog output to Harman Kardon 2 channel stereo simultaneous with web surfing, email and usual desktop apps. I have about 80 GBs of MP3s and other format music tracks on the HDDs.

I currently have two 128 GB ATA 100 HDDs--the second used only for a Ghost image of the primary. The primary is about to fail--several crashes--new noises--some data/settings lost. However the Ghost Image just predates those problems. So having the ability to restore that image to a new HDD is important to me.

I would like to take advantage of this situation to do a major upgrade replacing the Mobo and CPU. I would like to keep the existing video card and RAM at least temporarily for $$$ reasons. I would like to replace the two existing HDDs with 250GB SATAs--one as primary (boot) drive--the other for Ghost image. I'll also keep the good ATA 128GB HDD for extra storage.

Once I install the new Mobo, CPU and SATA drive I would like to restore the Ghost image from the good ATA drive to the new SATA drive. Is this feasible? What are the pitfalls and booby traps in attempting this?

This is the most ambitious PC project I've ever attempted. Till now it's been swapping PCI cards, installing memory, swapping HDDs, etc. Any help/advice greatly appreciated.

BTW the CPU I have in mind is: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939 Retail. The Mobo is: MSI K8N Neo2-F.

TIA...

bc
 

imaheadcase

Diamond Member
May 9, 2005
3,850
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Well you will have to upgrade RAM if you purchase new mobo and CPU you listed. Using a ghost image is never really recommended anymore since most people just rely on a 2nd hardrive since they are so cheap and last longer than most images you make :)

Your better off backing up your data to a DVDr and fresh install of windows, then you have it handy on a DVD. Imo your setting yourself up for more touble than its worth with ghost image restoring. I have a main hardrive and a "small" 40gig HD that i just copy stuff to that i want to save. WHen i gets close to full just just burn it to a dvd. Simplifies the process, since you can install windows so fast with slipstreaming if main HD fails for some reason ( my backupdrive i have had for 4 years now without a glitch).

As for video card, it would prob be a wiser choice to get a PCIx motherboard, you can get the same speed class PCIx videocard you have now (actully faster) for cheap(less than $50). This lets you upgradeyour videocard in future, plus your CPU to duel core if need be.