Need Help - Hardware Junkies

[Rallica]

Is it possible to swap motherboards? I mean, can I take my 3200XP out of my ASUS A7V8X-LA motherboard and put it in a new mobo? If so, will I be able to overclock my ram/video card/cpu after swapping motherboards?

what I want to upgrade to:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=240314

and my current motherboard (from an HP Pavilion a800n):

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?x=0&dlc=en&lc=en&product=443068&lang=en&cc=us&y=0&docname=c00069442

[GreatWhiteShark]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

Your first problem m8 is the case that the MOBO motherboard is housed in now.

I take it is a HP computer with an ASUS "LA" MOBO in it?
The "LA" stands for a specially made MOBO made smaller than the standard ASUS A7V8X mobo, specially to fit a case made for the HP company.
Also the HP ASUS mobo and case has specially placed holes to screw fit the MoBo to the case which I believe are not the same as any standard size MOBO.
Therefore when you come to fit a new standard size MOBO in the HP case the new mobo may not fit due to its larger size and the holes in different places to the ones on the case so you cant fit the MOBO.

So in plain turms no you may not be able to do a straight swap on mobos.

IMHO i would be looking at how much you can afford to do a complete "new" home build and take it from there.

Or if cost is a factor then chose very cairfuly the right Mobo for your future use and all the cost to kit it out with hardware whether it be the hardware you have in the HP or upgrading.
Also a "New" case, not a pretty one, but one that is practical well ventilated and has lots of room and can cope with water or Phase cooling in the future.

[Cicchetti]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

Your first problem m8 is the case that the MOBO motherboard is housed in now.

I take it is a HP computer with an ASUS "LA" MOBO in it?
The "LA" stands for a specially made MOBO made smaller than the standard ASUS A7V8X mobo, specially to fit a case made for the HP company.
Also the HP ASUS mobo and case has specially placed holes to screw fit the MoBo to the case which I believe are not the same as any standard size MOBO.
Therefore when you come to fit a new standard size MOBO in the HP case the new mobo may not fit due to its larger size and the holes in different places to the ones on the case so you cant fit the MOBO.

So in plain turms no you may not be able to do a straight swap on mobos.

IMHO i would be looking at how much you can afford to do a complete "new" home build and take it from there.

Or if cost is a factor then chose very cairfuly the right Mobo for your future use and all the cost to kit it out with hardware whether it be the hardware you have in the HP or upgrading.
Also a "New" case, not a pretty one, but one that is practical well ventilated and has lots of room and can cope with water or Phase cooling in the future.

I agree 100%

[GreatWhiteShark]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

hay Rallica
I'm interested in what you decide to do etc plz post back and keep us updated thx.
Sharky

[BoloMarkXXX]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

Also if you change mobos Windows XP will freak out with a different chipset so you will have to reinstall WINDOWS.

[Rallica]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

Thanks for the input Sharky. From what I've read, it looks like I'll be buying a new case, along with the mobo and a gig of 3200 corsair ram. I mainly want to switch mobos because of ram. The mobo that I have now only supports PC2700 and the one linked supports 3200. So if I decide to go PCI-E in the future, I'll have decent ram to install. Here's the case that I'm deciding on buying:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=11-147-001&DEPA=0

Cheap, reliable, and looks great.

[Cicchetti]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

Nice pick...................looks good

[Rallica]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

ooh, forgot to post my final specs:
AMD +3200xp athlon
Corsair 1gig PC3200
XFX Geforce 6800GT 256MB
160GB 8mb cache 7,200rpm Seagate

[GreatWhiteShark]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

Whisper ............before you get the case consider... just / only the case,...."then" getting a more powerful PSU for around the same price

[ud!t]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

ooh, forgot to post my final specs:
AMD +3200xp athlon
Corsair 1gig PC3200
XFX Geforce 6800GT 256MB
160GB 8mb cache 7,200rpm Seagate

Wow, my specs exactly, same ram and everything.

[DrunkenPirate]

Re: Need Help - Hardware Junkies

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