1 would like to add a new MB and CPU to my system. I, of course would need the MB and CPU. Most likely I would need new RAM. I am not sure if a CPU fan comes with the CPU / MB bundle or not, but I guess I would need that. What else would be required that I buy to go with the CPU / MB? Thanks,
Needing ram depends on if you get a motherboard that has a different model of DDR. The fan/heatsink comes with the processor. As for anything else that you may need, it depends on if the connections on the motherboard are compatible with your hard drive, cd/dvd rom, and whatever else you may have.
Your system specs say you now have DDR2 RAM.
Most newer motherboards will require DDR3.
Retail CPUs will come with a heatsink fan that will work fine unless you plan to overclock quite a bit.
You may as well order some thermal paste as you will need it if you ever have to remove the heatsink.
You might need new or more case fans depending on your situation.
You may need a new power supply, depending on what you have now and the required connections on your whatever new motherboard you get.
If you now have SATA hard drives, they should mount OK on any new motherboard. Same with the DVD drive.
I'm not sure about your video card as I don't know what interface it has. If it is AGP, you will likely need a new one.
If it was me I'd be asking myself
1) What do I want to use the PC for.
2) What I/O capabilities would I like including Sata ports.
3) What is my budget.
That will restrict the CPUs and Motherboards you need to look at. Simple I know but it narrows the field a lot.
I looked at the specs for the board.
It uses DDR2 memory, as other have remarked. Current motherboards mostly use DDR3. (DDR3 is fairly cheap now, fortunately.)
The board has both PATA (IDE) and SATA connectors. Current boards use SATA, mostly 3 Gb/s (SATA 2). The latest support 6 Gb/s (SATA 3). The newer SATA connections are usually backwards compatible with the older ones, although there are exceptions, particularly for third-party SATA 3 (provided by an add-on controller, rather than the motherboard's chipset). If you use any PATA drives, you may need to replace them.
Your old board is a microATX one, 244X220 mm (9.6X8.7 inches). If your case only supports microATX, you'll get another microATX board.
Your old motherboard uses a 4 pin 12V connector for CPU. Some newer boards want the 8 pin 12V connector. Does your power supply include one?
Retail CPUs usually come with a heatsink/fan, although overtclockers usually want better ones. The exception is the Socket 2011 CPUs: the retail boxes of those don't include a heatsink.
I appreciate all of the info. One more question. == Do the CPU/Fan/Heatsink come as one unit ready to pull into the MB?
No.
A retail CPU is typically sold with a heatsink/fan, but they are not pre-connected into "one unit".
You drop the CPU into the motherboard socket and lock it in place.
Then you attach the heatsink/fan combination to the CPU. This step can be the most frustrating of the entire build. Do it outside the case if at all possible.
Yeah, this is absolutely true. I remember old AMD chips where I felt I would either break the motherboard or I ended up cutting my fingers trying to get the heatsink properly placed on the chip.
However, with the new stock Intel coolers and the 4 pin mechanism they use, it's an absolute piece of cake to install. I just put together a box to be a file server at home and I used a core i3-2100t with the stock cooler and I think it took me all of 15 seconds to install the heatsink/fan combo. My 7 year old could have done it. I think it took about an equal amount of pressure to getting the tab for the ram to lock down.
Thanks very much for all of the info. As you can tell from my questions, I feel a bit insecure about doing this. I have changed quite a few pieces in a system, drives, slot cards, ram but never the MB. I have been wanting to build my own system for a long time, but have not quite gotten there. I might be able to talk myself into it this time since the MB and CPU are getting close to a new system price. Thanks again.
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