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Motherboard/Cpu Upgrade questions?

J

JamesPhin

Junior Member
Hi this is a 3 part question-

1. Im only somewhat adpt at the inner workings of my comp. Ive installed a CD-r, and a new video card, and more memory. I now want to upgrade my Motherboard and CPU, but this looks far more advanced then just slapping it in and turning it on. Am I maybe getting in over my head here? The other upgrades seemed pretty easy for me btw. Is there a *recent* article anywhere online that could guide me through the upgrade?

2. Ive seen ads for a Motherboard/Cpu combo in a *Big* electronics store, which include a 1.2 ghz Amd Athlon and Shuttle AK12A mobo for around 150 dollars. Is this a good value? I know nothing about motherboards and dont feel like throwing away money. If not any suggestions or locations of a good combo?

3. And finally, the computer i want to upgrade is a Gateway p2 400. Im pretty sure after reading around I'll need to buy a new case? i dont know the amount of power mine needs now, but Iv'e read that the newer AMD's and motherboards need a bigger power supply than my almost 3 year old p2 400 can handle.

Thanks in advance!!😀
 
Well, I don't think you are necessarily getting in over your head.. I just think that you should try and be prepared before you just go ahead and rip down your system to replace your parts when you get your new stuff... just research a bit like you are doing now and then once you are confident it should all work out OK provided everything is done correctly.. hehe

Tweak3d has some very good how to's and such for doing this sort of thing, they are very useful, I have used theirs before when I was first starting into this sort of thing... Try checking out there to see if they have what you are looking for exactly.. it's not just one how-to.. it's how-to's for LOTS of things.

For a good mobo, I can say that I just picked up a MSI K7T Turbo-R limited edition and a T-Bird 1333.
It works SWEET.. If you want a good combo, this mobo and a 1.2-1.4 GHz CPU will rock.. there are so many motherboards you'd probably be happy with, most people in here will give you good advice on a good mobo, as we are all picky on what we like/use ( I think so anyways! ) what you are looking at is a pretty good value though yes, it is a good board which you would probably also be satisfied with!

You will probably want to get a new case as a new PSU alone is at least half the price of a good case anyways.. and you'll need a new PSU with your new high-power AMD rig. I can recommend HIGHLY Antec cases. they are great quality, nice looking cases which come with a sweet Antec high quality power supply.. that is a fail-safe route also... keep in mind that you WILL need to upgrade your small PSU and getting a case with a PSU and not just a PSU is probably a more practical idea...


If you have any more questions let me know, as I've probably missed something.. hehe 🙂
 
1. Well, removing/Installing the CPU is fairly easy. it's removing and installing the motherboard that I was scared of 4 months ago when I built my first D-I-Y. I'd suggest reading this guide to Bulding a PC.I know you are just upgrading but when you are removing and installing a new mobo it really becomes a D-I-Y build IMHO.
2. That combo is a fairly good price, a T-Bird 1.2 is about $100 so you're getting a $50 mobo. That mobo I have no expeirience with, but from what I can tell it's a KT133A mobo. It's a SDRAM chipset, and there's nothing wrong with SDRAM, but DDR-SDRAM is same price and does increase performance. Here's what I'd get:
1.4GHz Athlon-C or Athlon 266fsb CPU (about $120 at most places)
A EPoX 8KHA mobo ($100 or so) it's a very stable mobo. ECS K7S5A is also a very good mobo and cheap ($65) but there's been a few problems people have had with it that I don't know much about. Anybody care to fill this guy in on these issues? Anyway 8KHA is fairly cheap and I haven't heard of any issues with it.
And because that mobo is DDR, u will need to buy new ram, it's no biggie it's so cheap today. I'd buy a stick of Crucial.com 256MB PC2100 DDR for $40. They're the best
3. Yes, you will at least need a new power supply, but if your case is ATX, then the EPoX 8KHA and ECS K7S5A are ATX mobo's. For the p/s I'd suggest getting a 400W. Athlon 1.4's need a ton of juice.

Any more q's please don't hesitate to post here or PM me.
 
wow.. thanks a lot guys again. I have never been dissapointed when i post on this BB(all 4 times, hehe). The Tweak3d site looks very promising and the info here has been great. I think I'm gonna tackle this. It should be fun too. Maybe I'll learn something. Again thanks for the help!🙂
 
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