Motherboard/CPU replacement

[ural]

I know this might be a trivial question for many of you, but I have never swapped a motherboard under a working system. I am planning to turn my current system into Media Center PC, and I don't like the power hungry P4 for that purpose since it will be on for long amounts of time (watch/record TV, watch DVD) without doing much computing. I think 45W Athlon X2 will be perfect for that job, or even 35W Conroe. My current SONY factory installed mobo supports P4 only (cheap 915G chipset), so I can't upgrade/downgrade to a less powerhungry Intel CPU (and I think Conroe is 771 socket anyway). So I am thinking to replace both the motherboard and CPU. I got XP Media Center booting from 200GB HDD, installed by SONY in 2005. It runs smooth and stable, never had any problems. NONE. So here is the question - can I replace the mobo and CPU in the first place (I suspect I can - don't see any reason why I couldn't, just wanna make sure)? Even if I do, am I risking running into hick-ups later on? I appreciate any input.

P.S. I started building the replacement PC... well, I suppose buying Antec P182 case and 500W PC Power and Cooling(is it PCP&C or PC&PC?) PSU will count as "building"...

 

[Mango1970]

If you replace the mobo and CPU with something newer, at the very least you will need to jump ship to DDR2... I am assuming that if you are going for an AMD X2 on an AM2 board or a new C2D... again both will require new ram.. I am noting in your sig you are running DDR. Anyhow that is nothing special... DDR2 is SOOOOOOOOOO cheap it's not funny or you might have already considered that.

In regards to swapping it out... I have never had any issues as long as I was going from relatively new to newer. You already have a new case (nice choice btw, it's what i have) and the new PS which looks good -- at least that way you know for sure that the case wont have any issues installing any new motherboards... whereas possibly a smaller older named case might.

I am not sure if you are just dropping in the older HD with all the OS already installed based on your older config. This might be the only fly in the ointment as you will probably run into some minor issues, but generally can be dealt with. Gennerally some recommend that when you are about to shut down your system for the last time.. go in your system - device manager - system devices and delete everything under that. When and if you do stick that same drive in your new computer, it will boot up and recognize all the new mobo chipset and stuff on there rather than having all the crap in there from the older system -- just make sure you have your OS disk handy. If you are instead installing Windows fresh.. then it will be fresh and no issues (unless there is some hardware malfunction to start with... bad mobo etc which is rare).

The X2 45W you mentioned is a great idea for a media centre PC... or heck pretty much anything really now a days. You might consider some aftermarket cooling -- helps to keep the cpu cooler and above all else.. nice and quiet.

 

[ural]

Thanks Mango, I will make sure to do that if I decide to replace mobo.
And yes I will be using DDR2 both in my new build and for the Media Center if I decide to replace mobo in it. It's hard to find one with DDR anyway.
I will keep MicroATX SONY case for Media Center, it's small and looks sleek. I will be using P182 in new build for actual computing purposes.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think that you will run into issues moving the HD between systems. Make sure you have an OS re-installation disk handy, so you can perform a "repair install" on the new motherboard.

 

[ural]

Thanks VirtualLarry,
that's the thing - the Sony PC didn't come with OS reinstallation CD. Will it be too risky to proceed without one? I guess it might not be worth it since the only reason I want to replace the mobo is the power consumption of my P4 CPU. Otherwise 3.4 P4 is perfectly fit to handle Media Center tasks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

This is what happens. A repair install usually fixes the problem, although sometimes not.

 

[bludragon]

So you're building a new pc AND upgrading the old one? I agree with above that you will need to re-install windows. Also, make sure the motherboard you get will fit in the SONY case. You should be able to tell from looking if it is ATX, mATX or whatever. The only other problem might be if the standoffs are not located in standard places. Having said all that, a new case would not be disastrously expensive.