Questions About Upgrading Mobo

Hello all! I've so far had good experiences with the help offered around here, so I figured that I'd pose my queries about upgrading a motherboard for my computer. It's something I've been thinking about a lot recently since my store-bought computer has thus far been all but entirely upgraded save for the Motherboard and it has come to my attention that my most recent Graphics Card probably won't work with my current Motherboard.

I'd like to ask for suggestions and guidance in doing this since it would seem that getting a new motherboard would be more difficult of a task than just upgrading RAM or something.

My current motherboard is, from what I've gathered, an ASUS IPILP-LC Lancaster 8 motherboard. Outside of my CD-Drive, my primary HDD and my horrendously small Computer Case, this is the only original part of my store bought rig (An HP Pavilion).

My current rig is composed of:

Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.60 GHz
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
PSU: Corsair Gaming Series 600W
RAM: 2 x 2GB DDR2 Kingston RAM sticks
HDD: 140 GB and 1 TB (SATA? I'm not 100% sure on what more info I can offer, but I will look it up if need be)
Current Graphics Card: PNY GeForce 8500 GT 516mb (had to roll back when my 8800 GT died)
Intended Graphics Card: MSI N460 GTX 1GB

If needed, I can look up and provide more information. I'm basically looking for suggestions for new motherboards, reasons why I should/should not upgrade my motherboard or overall advice on my system. Is changing motherboards a huge endeavor?

Thanks for your time and input. I look forward to hearing for you.

 

Could you tell us the original HP Pavilion model, so we know what size board were looking for?

also how big are your pockets, or what price range are you looking at?

and just a thought but now might be a good time to consider changing the CPU? is this an option you had thought about?

 

I'm not at familiar with what exactly would go into changing the CPU, but if it would be largely beneficial to my system, I wouldn't be adverse to it.

The Pavilion model is an a6100y. If that's not exactly what you're looking for, let me know.

I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the pockets. My apologies. Ha, despite some of my best efforts, I'm still quite a novice to this whole ordeal, apparently.

As for price range, at the moment, underneath $200 would be good. I'm not entirely sure how much motherboards go for, but I'm willing to pay more for quality, yet I'd still like to keep things reasonable or as cheap as possible. If there's something rather expensive out there that's brought to my attention, I can always just start saving up funds for it.

Also, as a side note, my computer case is really rather small and I wouldn't mind at all getting a larger one. I don't know if this at all effects what motherboard I should aim for, but it's something to keep in mind.

 

LOL Pockets, seems we may have a trans-atlantic communication conflict, how big are your pockets, is a saying used in the UK to inquire how much money you have, based on you have to put you wallet in your trouser pocket, trousers I believe translates to pants in the states, were pants in the UK are worn under your trousers.

OK sure myself and others who use the site will see what we can find for you, when we get a spare 5 mins

If we work on upgrading the Motherboard, CPU, and Case, while using the other components you already have. and or just upgrading the motherboard it should give you some options to consider

 

Lmao, that flew right over my head. I can't believe that. It's not even like, "How big of your pockets?" isn't used around here. I guess my mind was just elseware at the time.

You are far too kind. Honestly, there's no rush in letting me know what would be good for my rig. Having you guys figure this out for me takes a ton of stress and concern off my mind. My appreciation is already endless.

 

Spent 5-10 mins looking for you so can't guarantee this is the best solution at minute, till I have another look as well as Match and anyone else who wants to suggest something but this should be a good starting point.
I used Newegg as you are in the US, just so you get an idea of pricing.

ASRock A770DE+ AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157226

AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDX925WFK4DGM - OEM - http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103940


These 2 are $144, though you will need a CPU/Heatsink for the processor but that will only add about $10-15 for a good one and haven't had chance to look for a case.

But overall the processor is very good and motherboard is good for the price, you'll not have to buy anymore RAM because it has DDR2 support.

Unfortunately a good Intel processor isn't really much of an option, the motherboard price isn't the problem, but the processor prices are higher than AMD, for the price of that AMD quad core you can only get a dual core with a similar processor speed with Intel, so while better than your current processor by a way, performance wise your best with AMD on what you want to spend.

 

Hi BurningRave, sorry I didn't get back to this sooner, was a bit busy.

Anyway back to hardware suggestions for you, I'll stick by the AMD suggestion I made above, as it looks to provide the best performance for your budget, unless someone else can come up with a better suggestion?

As for a case this should be fine and fit your hardware in very well - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133094

So overall $144 for the motherboard and CPU upgrade, and if you want a new case the one above is $40.
Definitely cheaper than the UK , for example the case above would cost about £36 which is about $60, 50% price increase just for being sold in the UK and it isn't all VAT/Sales Tax difference either, I could go on but I'll leave it there

 

I assume that you are aware that upgrading the m-board will mean that you will invariably need to reinstall Windows ?
(not sure if this has been pointed out already - a bit rushed at the moment )

 

Sorry I haven't been around. It's been a busy week thus far, but I do appreciate the input by everyone.

I'm not well versed in what makes one processor better than the other, but my current one is 3.6 GHz while the one suggested above is 2.8GHz. Is this ultimately better or does the GHz not necessarily make too much of a difference in terms of performance. That said, I'm not adverse to paying a bit more for higher quality if you guys think it would be worthwhile.

So if I want to piece together a new(ish) machine, I'll need to grab a new motherboard, a new CPU, a heatsink (for the CPU I'm assuming) and the case. Then it would just be about wiring things together correctly and working from there? What should I look for and/or keep in mind while finding a heatsink?

It's not really a huge deal if I have to reinstall Windows. I thinbk I'm getting to a point where I'm going to need a hardware upgrade sooner or later.

That motherboard looks pretty awesome, I have to say. Thanks for all the help thus far, guys. It may be a bit before I finalize what I want to do and purchase some things since I need to see how much I'm spending for school this semester, but what you all have offered so far is, if nothing else, a fantastic starting point.

 

Well for the CPU, you have a single core processor (though it does support hyperthreading) compared to the AMD quad core processor, hyperthreading basically meaning the computer sees two virtual cores meaning it can share workload between them which does mean it has a slight performance boost over a standard single core processor but not a great deal, think of it as having 1.5 processor cores. While the AMD processor doesn't have hyperthreading it does have 4 cores meaning 4 threads (i.e. virtual cores) for the computer to use.
Not sure on what increased performance would be percentage wise but I can guarantee that the AMD processor would have a significant performance boost over your current processor.

As for a CPU Fan/Heatsink this should do the job well - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103075

Though if you spent a bit more money this would be a better option - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226032

Generally on a Computer fan you look for CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute, basically the airflow) and RPM, how fast the fan spins, the higher RPM the more noisy it is likely to be, so the more expensive fan has better cooling/airflow and a slightly lower RPM at the top end (2000 RPM) which would likely make it slightly quieter.

 

Just to try and give a little Idea of the difference in processing power I went a googling for some figures, comparison that doesn't blind you with numbers followed by letters

and found this site http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

If you look for your current Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.60 GHz it has a score of 584 in the Low Mid range CPU list
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Pentium+4+3.60GHz

If you then look for the AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz it has a score of 3,455 in the High End CPU's list
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+Phenom+II+X4+925

Not that I normally give these Benchmark sites much weight, but without going to technical, it gives you some comparison on the difference between the two Processors

 

To simplify the differences between that now over ten year old technology single core CPU, and a modern four core CPU.
I need first to mention a little history. Ten or more years ago manufacturers were trying to up the speed of single core processors, hence why yours is 3.6Ghz, then some bright guy came up with hyper threading, as mentioned that was a virtual type of system as against real hardware.
Although it did increase the speed that data could be processed, it was still only one core. That meant that each task asked of the CPU, it could only do one at a time with the rest in a queue waiting.
Then they came up with the twin core, that meant two tasks at once could be performed, it was quickly realised that four cores which is really four processors could really romp along as each core was handling a task each.
That means a total time benefit of a quarter of the time to do the original work, that meant that actual speed in Ghz could be dropped a little to safer levels as well, as the speed in Ghz, is only the switching rate of the binary stuff.
Once past 2.5Ghz, it was only making small differences by going higher, but was increasing the operating temperatures making it difficult to dump the excess heat.
Hope that makes a little bit of sense.
Nev.