Motherboard Switching!

Exactly! That motherboard that you gave me a link to is a 754 Socket motherboard. That's why I picked out that one.

But, as I said before, it has 5 PCI slots, while my motherboard only has 4. The case of my computer only has 4 slots in it for the PCI cards. Is this a problem? What do I have to do to get them all functioning correctly?

And what about the memory? My current motherboard has SDRAM, but this one has something different. Am I going to have to spend even more money to get new memory?

Thanks!
-Jamxx
 
I use one slot for video (AGP or PCIex16), one for sound card, another one for modem (if going dial-up), and another one for some sort of exhaust blower (optional, I like to install this to push some warm air out from the bottom of the case--not necessary though). That's it. You just used up 3-4 slots. Sometime when installing the video card, it takes up so much space that the PCI slot right under it is unusable. If you add a TV tuner like I plan on doing, I'll need an additional PCI slot. In my case, I better be sure that my case can support enough slots for my needs. I have seven openings on mine which is pretty good. You can always buy a new case and it even comes with a power supply.

You need to buy memory too because the motherboard doesn't come with one. I forgot what motherboard you want, but in general, most memory technology today use DDR SDRAM which is better than older SDRAM. I would look at the speed of the motherboard and buy according to the highest speed the motherboard can support, which most happends to be PC3200. You'll see some motherboards support Dual Channel while others don't. Dual Channel may be a little better but you have to buy 2 separate memory sticks to make that work. A single stick is ok if you don't want to go dual channel. It is common to go that way too. Everyone I know don't have dual channel capablility anyways or don't care about it.

I would suggest 184pin 512MB DDR SDRAM minimum. I'm getting 1GB myself because of all the stuff I plan on doing (intense 3-d gaming, photoshop and elements too, a little video editing, burning movies and all that good stuff. Manufacturers like Corsair, Kingston, Crucial are ver popular. If you look at various signatures in this forum you'll see a lot of Crucial Ballistix (high performance RAM and some Corsair XMS including me).
 
The motherboard I would like to have is the one you mentioned earlier. Here's the link to it.

ASUS "K8N" NVIDIA nForce3 Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 754 CPU
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-512&depa=1

So I need a new case AND new memory??? My case only allows four PCI slots, and one AGP slot. That motherboard has 5 PCI slots, so I'm guessing none of them will work with my current case...

How much money, in total, will I have to spend to get that motherboard, a good AMD 754 socket CPU (here's another link: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-483&depa=1, or this one: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-486&depa=1a new case, and a good amount of that new memory?

Thanks!
-Jamxx
 
Those links aren't working...
For a basic system, you can look at spending around $500 more or less depending what you want inlcuding a new case. For memory I would just get 256MB now and add another one later for a total of 512MB DDR:

Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 256MB DDR PC-3200
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-478&depa=1

That's not the best memory, but it will do the job. That motherboard is fine. I would save some money on a sound card too if you try the onboard audio. The Realtek 8 channel sound that comes with it seems pretty good, but a dedicated sound card is always better. Since money is a factor here, we will on onboard for now. If you come up with some cash later, just buy a new Audigy 2 sound card or a cheaper 5.1 SoudBlaster card.

That brings total price at around $125. Not bad in price. Then you need CPU and you said you have the video card already? Maybe a hard drive next, floppy drive, DVD/CD+RW combo drive, case, cables, system fans.
 
Weird... The links work for me. I had to edit them a lot, you might want to try them again. Okay, 125 bucks isn't bad. But then the CPU, which is about 150 bucks (2 GHz Athlon 64 - here's a link and I hope it works: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-486&depa=1a) and a case... How much is a decent case with 5 PCI slots?

And you mentioned something about hard drives, fans, and other stuff. Well, I have a good hard drive I want to keep, I have a floppy drive, and I have a DVD RW combo drive. But fans? And cables? Don't I already have that stuff if I'm just switching out a motherboard? I'm assuming I can put my CD drives, floppy drive, hard drive, and all that good stuff in the new case. Since I have cables connecting my motherboard to my computer already, and I have a fan on my computer now, can't I just switch those out?

Thanks!
-Jamxx
 
Yeah you can use that processor. If you can get a new case, you can definitely reuse your floppy, DVD drive, etc. Salvage anything you can find. I just bought these new rounded IDE cables for my DVD burner to replace the old IDE ribbon and it looks really good. It's suppose to help airflow within the case because it's so thin and rounded up instead of a flat, wide ribbon cable. That's like another $7 if you're interested, but not necessary (luxurious stuff).

If you get a new case, the price range from $30-$200 but I doubt you want to get a $200 case. Somewhere in the $40-$60 range case would nice for you. Make sure you have enough fans that the case will hold. Good cooling is important. If you buy too cheap of a case, it is very flimsy. I would spend a little more to get a solid case with a nice power supply of around 450 Watts and make sure it's got that 12V plug for that Athlon 64.
 
Is there possibly a cheaper one that will work just as well? Because, remember, I'm on a budget here. Also, does that come with all of the cooling stuff I need? And what about cables? I'm guessing I don't need more of them since I already have cables hooking up everything. Like you said... Also, I've heard you need some stuff to put a new processor on a new motherboard. What do I need to do that? And also, what about setting everything up? All the BIOS stuff and whatnot.

Thanks again! I just want to make sure EVERYTHING works fine!
-Jamxx
 
Looks like you are buying the processor retail, so everything comes included with the CPU (heatsink, fan, thermal compound, and of course the processor itself). For those that buy them OEM, they have to buy Arctic Silver thermal grease, proper heatsink and fan combo to ensure the processor does not overheat.

If you go to www.newegg.com again, and look under the case category, look up the AsiaPro/Asys cases. They're pretty cheap. Looks nice, but just a bit flimsy. It'll work fine because I use to have one of those. The case itself comes with mounting screws for your motherboard and extra ones for your drives. It also comes with a power cord too. A lot of those Asiapro case comes with a single LED fan on the side. You have to get additional fans to add on or like you said, use the ones from your old computer.

BIOS, don't even worry about it. The default setting usually works.
 
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