Installing a new motherboard

[Amazing Aura]

If I replace my old motherboard (M3A78-CM (AM2)) with a newer one, so that I can start building my new pc, will ALL my other PC components (RAM, CPU HDD) will be recognizable by a newer motherboard? Because I will buy a modern motherboard and I'm guessing that it won't recognize these stuff since my cpu ram and other stuff are pretty outdated, they're old. I will start from the motherboard, then save up for other components.
Okay that's that. Now can anyone recommend me a good motherboard under 300 USD?

 

[Britton30]

You have an AM2/2+ socket board with DDR2 memory. That is fairly old hardware. You'd be wasting money if you buy another board with those things on them.

The current memory standard is DDR3 and the AMD sockets are AM3/3+, FM1, and FM2 so you should go with one with those specs. You will need a new CPU or APU and RAM.

For $300 you can have nearly any AMD board. IF you shop wisely you could get a board, CPU, and RAM for around $300.

 

[Amazing Aura]

You have an AM2/2+ socket board with DDR2 memory. That is fairly old hardware. You'd be wasting money if you buy another board with those things on them.

The current memory standard is DDR3 and the AMD sockets are AM3/3+, FM1, and FM2 so you should go with one with those specs. You will need a new CPU or APU and RAM.

For $300 you can have nearly any AMD board. IF you shop wisely you could get a board, CPU, and RAM for around $300.

The best choice is to just buy a new computer and upgrade it from there, isn't it?

 

[Boozad]

You'd probably be better off building from scratch or buying a custom built spec that you want. I don't really see the point of buying a system with the intention to upgrade, only upgrade when you need to.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The best choice is to just buy a new computer and upgrade it from there, isn't it?

That's a possibility and some people take that route, but it wouldn't be cost-effective.

But if you want to "build it yourself", the more likely course would be to buy the individual components and assemble it yourself, so you have complete control from the start.

If I decided I wanted to buy a "new computer" already assembled, I probably would not intend to upgrade it for several years, assuming none of the individual components failed.

If I built my own, I'd probably gradually upgrade it piece by piece over 5 or more years. The most commonly replaced items would probably be the hard drives as they fill up with data. Processors might not be replaced at all because they rarely fail and because newer processors often aren't much faster than earlier models. Sooner or later, you'd have to buy a new motherboard because the newer processors would no longer be compatible with the socket of the original motherboard. Cases can be good for a decade or more. The DDR3 RAM standard has been around for I'd guess 5 or 6 years? SATA hard drives for at least that long.