Changing the motherboard?

Question

Im new to upgrading hardware and the only thing I have upgraded is my hard drive. I want to change the motherboard because many graphic cards are incompatible with it and I want to upgrade that.

Here are my questions

1. How easy is it to change a motherboard?
2. Can it be damaged very easily?
3. Will I have to change any components connected to it such as CPU?

Thanks

Answer 1

It depends.



1) Mechanically, it is easy -- in my opinion. You have to disconnect all the cables going to the motherboard. You have to remove all the items attached to the motherboard, such as the CPU and memory. You may have to loosen or remove anything else that is in the way, such as the CD drive, depending on your case design.



The new motherboard should be the same form factor as your old.



When putting the CPU back in, you remove old heat sink compound from both the CPU and heat sink, and put new compound on.



But, there can be other problems. See below.



2) Yes, it is easy to damage the motherboard or other component. A big danger is from electrostatic discharge. A "zap" smaller than you can feel is enough to cause damage. Another danger is breaking a connection because of too much pressure, or careless handling. You can also damage components you remove, such as the CPU.



3) In your case, probably not. But, it depends.



If you want to take out an old technology motherboard and put one of more modern design, you may have trouble finding one that is compatible with your CPU. If you have more than 2 PATA devices, you may have to give some up.



(In case you don't know, PATA drives take a wide parallel, 40 pin IDE cable. PATA has been superseded by SATA. SATA drives have a narrow, 7 pin cable. (Technically, SATA is also IDE.) )



That your machine now has an Core Duo processor indicates that it is a recent model, so the likely hood that you can find one compatible with your CPU, memory and drives is good.



If you change your motherboard, you could have problems with it being compatible with driver installations on your computer, particularly if you have a MS Windows O/S. This could prevent you from booting the computer after swapping the main board. If the computer can be booted, you could have Windows Activation issues. To prevent this, you will need to initiate a process to "upgrade" the O/S before you change the motherboards.



Newegg.com has a feature called "power search" that allows you to select your requirements for a motherboard. It would help if you were to use that, and get a board that is close to the one you have now. Try to get one that has the same or similar chip set, North Bridge and South Bridge.

Answer 2

The motherboard isn't the cheapest thing to replace because to upgrade it, a new motherboard would have a new CPU socket, and likely uses newer RAM (like DDR2).



So basically if you were to upgrade the motherboard, you'd be upgrading everything but the case, and since you need a new video card (they take lots of power), you would probably need a new power supply as well. Also, Windows gets linked to your motherboard model, so it wouldn't be registered on a newer motherboard either.



If your CPU is a dual core, you could probably keep the CPU and RAM, but if it's a Pentium 4 / Athlon 64 (not X2), then you'd have a hard time finding a motherboard with one of those sockets in a store. Also, make sure the motherboard supports the wattage for your CPU, or stuff might light on fire =]



Oh and if you drop it, and poke it a bunch of times with static electricity, it would 99% be fine, they can take a beating. The only things you need to worry about are the parts that connect with the motherboard, like the CPU pins, etc.

Answer 3

hi matt

changing/upgrading your motherboard is quite straightforward as long as you take your time and follow the instructions in the motherboard manual

however the biggest part of a motherboard upgrade is the research,thats making sure you get the correct motherboard,for example allthough there are loads of socket 775 motherboard not all are compatible with all processors,so just because you have a socket lga775 motherboard it does not mean it will accept all core 2 duo and quad processors

most motherboard manufactuers such as asus and abit will have cpu support links on their motherboards which allows you to check if your cpu is supported by that motherboard so make sure you check there before buying a new motherboard

damage : most motherboards are quite sturdy and will take some manhandling before you can damage them,however allways carry the motherboard by the edges and never carry by any capacitors or other delicate parts,and allways wear anti-static wristbands when touching your new motherboard

as long as your old processor supports your new motherboard you can use it on your new motherboard and if you are currently using a sata hard drive you will need to be sure the new motherboard has sata ports to accept your sata hard drive

and finally look for a motherboard that supports the new pci-express v2.0 which will work with new and old pci-express cards

any more questions let me know

good luck matt !

Answer 4

1. It is not exactly easy to change out a motherboard, but with the right tools, it's just easy enough to the point where your brain won't explode.

2. Yes, it can be damaged easily. you may want to get a pair of anti-static gloves to work on your computer, because static shock damages computer components.

3. I recommend getting a motherboard/processor combo.