New mobo/CPU

[Happy lil Elf]

Heya guys,

I need to upgrade rather badly and I'm looking at doing a home job because while buying another computer would be nice since it would leave me with my old one, $1200-$1600 is a bit much right now. What I was wondering was if anyone could give me some advice on reliable sites for getting a decent mobo/CPU combo hopefully where the CPU comes mounted. I'm also curious if you think I'll need to upgrade my power supply if I'm looking at going from an AMD 950 to probably something in the 2.0-2.2ghrz range and from a GeForce 4 MX420 to probably a Raedon 9800 pro.

Another thing I'm curious on is how difficult is mounting a new mobo in a case. Is it pretty much a nobrainer or is it a total bitch to do? I have a full sized tower now so I'm thinking my case should be fine as far as space goes.

Any help/advice is much appreciated :)

[CDL Full Otto]

I like www.newegg.com they have good prices and carry just about all the brands you can want.

Swapping the motherboard isn't that hard at all, just make sure you know where your wires go (I know it sounds weird to say that but you would be surprised at what people do)

There will be a few screws holding your old motherboard in (they go through the board and into small riser threads) you can move the risers to fit the new board. Line up the new board, look to make sure the risers are only in spots where there are holes in your motherboard (you don't want a riser shorting your board out by being in the middle of the board where there is no screw hole)

Once you get it lined up, put the screws back in and your all set to re-hook up all your stuff. You can get a decent system for next to nothing if your willing to do it yourself.

Otto

[TheRagingGerbil]

I'm a big fan of Leadtek boards and AMD processors.

Newegg.com is usually pretty good, but the best prices and availability I've found as of late is from googlegear.com. Memory prices seem to be better too. I have also found they have the best return/replacement policies as well. They say orders take a minimum of 48 hours to complete, but if you order before noon pacific, you can have it the next day.

[Drinky]

I've found the best way to get good value on hardware is to just find the best prices at pricewatch, then do google searches to see how they measure up in reviews.

[TF_MrA]

www.googlegear.com is a good site too, thats where i got my parts for my computer. for a new mobo, i would suggest getting one with an nforce2 chip. i have an abit nForce2 NF-7 mobo and it is great. that is the standard version, it also comes in nf7-s which has firewire and serial ata, or the nf7-m which comes witha a built in geforce 4 mx-440. get the nForce2 chip, its really nice. also, installing the cpu isnt really that hard. you just put the chip into the slot :) . I have a 2600+ which came with a heatsink and was 105 bux. the nf7 mobo was 95. so all in all it was a good deal.

[NoSurrender]

yea Nforce 2 is the only way 2 go for AMD boards and u can get The 2500+ barton core for $92 on newegg and its a great CPU

[TF_MrA]

the 2500 is 1.8 ghz i think with 333fsb and 640k cache, and the 2600 is 2.08ghz with 333fsb and 384 cache.

[Doobz]

yeah, but the 2500+ still outperforms the 2600+, in fact the 2500+ at 1.8GHz can easily compare to a p4 2.5GHz

[Happy lil Elf]

Very cool guys, thanks for the advice/tips :)

Looking at upgrading in probably a month assuming nothing major comes up (car exploding for example :p ) and this should definately help out.

[Happy lil Elf]

Accursed double post X_X

[Rbstr]

A recently got a new MB/CPU/GFX/MEM
And i have to say the Asus P4P800 deluxe owns
its 130 bucks and it has 800 mhz FSB AGP8x ddr400 SATA gigabit lan great built-in sound. It also has "AI " fetures wich are realy helpfull
For the graphics card i got an Asus Geforece FX 5600 256mb card it was 170 ish great card, get aup to 80 FPS standing in the sanc and it never dips below 25 unless its is a realy huge battle.

[TF_MrA]

well, i dont know about the mobo, but the fx 5600 is a horrible card. nvidia tweaked their tests to make it seem better. the actual benchmarks are much lower than the 9500 pro and 9600 pro 128.

[Happy lil Elf]

Ok before I do anything foolish if I buy a mobo and CPU separate just how evil is mounting a CPU? If it's something easily fuckupable I'd probably rather not do it since upgrading will be hard enough to do without going through parts trying to get it right.

If it is something relatively tricky anyone know any sites where you can buy a CPU+Mobo and have them mount it prior to shipping?

[TheRagingGerbil]

Piece o' cake. Mounting is super easy. AMD instructions anyways.

1) Attach your wrist gounding strap (most important).

2) Plug in the PC power supply but dont turn it on. This will ground the case.

3) Remove mobo from anti-static bag. You'll have to read your documentation at this point. There may be jumpers on the board you have to set to select the bus and voltage for your processor and memory. Set these now.

4) Anchor mobo inside the case

5) Attach the power plug to the mobo.

6) Lift lockdown arm on ZIF scoket. Push down and out lightly to unlatch, then swing the arm up.

7) Remove Processor from packaging.

8) The processor only drops in the socket one way. Line up the arrows on the top of the processor and the top of the socket. Drop the processor in, and press down ever so gently.

9) Push the lockdown arm back into place. It will move pretty stiffly.

10) Place a dab of thermal greese, about the size of a chocolate chip, in the center of the processor.

11) The cooling will be in three parts. The heat sink, a springy lock bar, and your cooling fan. Place the lock bar over the heat sink. The lock bar will line up only one way over the socket. Center it and attack the lock bar clips to the side of the socket. Attach the fan to the sink. There will be a power socket on the board for the fan.

12) Install your system memory.

13) Attach your CD, HD, and FD cables. Also make all the power switch, LED, and system speaker attachments. If your case has additional USB or FW ports, make those connections as well.

14) Install your video card.

15) Plug in KB and mouse

16) Fire it up, and imediately go into your bios. Follow your manual for setting up voltages, bus, and all that good stuff for your memory and processor. Also set boot sequences.

17) Restart and do your windows install. Mucho driver installation hell. Once you have everything running in this config, shutdown and install the rest of your cards one by one, do the startup and driver install and shutdown gig. Tedius and unneccesary, but the easiest way to troubleshoot.

18) Install complete. I recommend leaving the PC idling for a day or two to allow everything to burn in. I've used benchmark utilities to do this as well. If something is going to crap out, it usually happens within the first 24 hours.


I may think of more...