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[Centurion]

As I'm running with a Packard Bell board at the moment I was thinking of upgrading, this is more to have a go at installing it rather than a speed/performance issue. Can you guy's recommend a good board that will fit my system ? Or should I upgrade the processor for a more up to date one ?

Mainboard :   Packard Bell BV Unspecified
Processor :   AMD Phenom X4 9550 @ 2200 MHz
Physical Memory :   4096 MB (4 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
Video Card :   ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Hard Disk :   WDC (320 GB)
Hard Disk :   Seagate (320 GB)
DVD-Rom Drive :   Optiarc DVD RW AD-7203S ATA Device
Monitor Type :   Samsung SyncMaster - 22 inches
Network Card :    RTL8101 PCIe Fast Ethernet Adapter
Operating System :   Windows 7 Professional Professional 6.01.7600 (   )
DirectX :   Version 10.00
Windows Performance Index :   

[Wooster]

How big is the case?
Will it take a standard ATX board, or is it micro-ATX or some other small form factor board that's in it?

There's also how the front panel ports and buttons are connected, are they industry standard, or proprietary connectors that only PB uses?

You could always buy a new case as well if it came down to it.
But then the PSU might also be a PB small form factor job, so you'd need a new PSU as well.

And you also have to buy a board that supports the ram you are already using..


See where I'm going here?

[Centurion]

Sounds like a right pain in the arse 

Cheers.

[Wooster]

It's far, far easier with a system you've built yourself, since you usually have a bit of future proofing in mind before you buy the kit.

The off the shelf ones from the big manufacturers are usually built with an end of life in mind* (so you'll buy a new one), so the upgrade options you have are usually pretty limited.


*I don't know if they still do it, but I've worked on Packard Bells that were out of date before they even came off the shelf (out of production motherboards, last generation RAM and CPU's etc..)

[Centurion]

I'm thinking of buying a new case after Xmas so that's not a problem & I have a new PSU unit which I think is 500w,a new graphics card plus up to date ram (DDR2-SDRAM PC2-6400) is that up to date 

What I don't want to do is strip it all out & rebuild to find I have a shit board....

[Thermalsig]

Not sure why you want to upgrade. You have a quadcore. Only reason to get another cpu is for more megahertz. That would defo be a plus. If I was going to upgrade, the first thing to go would be the mobo. The only problem with that is that you most likely your HP restoration cd's won't work once you change the mobo. You might have gotten lucky and gotten an actual OS separately, but that is highly unlikely. What that means is that you may end up buying an OS as well when you have to reformat next. You should always reformat when you upgrade your mobo. It's not absolutely necessary, but unless you wipe all the mobo drivers correctly, it could cause issues.

[keasy]

I think Cent has got W7 now.

[Centurion]

He has & its most enjoyable 

[keasy]

It's a pity you don't have retail of it and there fore the manual.

Now that you're wanting to get into the bones of a PC and do a self build the W7 manual  would have been  most excellent wanking material for you.

 

[Wooster]

When I built this i5 based system, I wondered if Win 7 would detect the new hardware and adjust itself to suit (cba reinstalling the OS by the time I got the hardware assembled)..it worked a treat after a startup repair and I'm still using it now.


I'll get around to the format/reinstall eventually.

I didn't realise you were going for a swap out, just thought you were doing it for shits and giggles.
The CPU is decent, so we'd have to assume that the board is as well.
It's a good base to work around, so I'd just lift it out and install it in the new case.
You don't have the manual for the mobo, so you could save a bit of eyeball popping by marking down which pins the front connectors attach to (HDD LED, Power, Reset, Speaker (SPK) etc.) and also for the front audio/usb ports if used.

Ideally you might get the mobo model and download the manual (the model is usually printed between the PCI slots, or thereabouts).

[keasy]

Also, attatch this wire to that bit of the mobo, this wire to that etc...

Trial and error, it works brilliantly and you learn in the process  

[corroded]

When I built this i5 based system, I wondered if Win 7 would detect the new hardware and adjust itself to suit (cba reinstalling the OS by the time I got the hardware assembled)..it worked a treat after a startup repair and I'm still using it now.


I'll get around to the format/reinstall eventually.

I didn't realise you were going for a swap out, just thought you were doing it for shits and giggles.
The CPU is decent, so we'd have to assume that the board is as well.
It's a good base to work around, so I'd just lift it out and install it in the new case.
You don't have the manual for the mobo, so you could save a bit of eyeball popping by marking down which pins the front connectors attach to (HDD LED, Power, Reset, Speaker (SPK) etc.) and also for the front audio/usb ports if used.

Ideally you might get the mobo model and download the manual (the model is usually printed between the PCI slots, or thereabouts).

I was pleasantly surprised with that too... when my SLI died, i replaced my mobo as well as it didn't recognise the 5870. So it went from a E8400, 650i with 2 8800GTS to an E8400, P35 with a 5870.

Destroyed the old drivers, popped in new stuff, rebooted and installed drivers. Works fine, it's a little slower on bootup but that is really about it! That said, i really should install Win7 properly!