can i put a new motherboard in a old PC?

Question

i have a packard bell i connect i got it cheap and upgraded
it by puting a biger hd in and bigger ram cards and a dvd drive
its fine for surfing the net ect.
the problem is the processer is slow 800 its no good
for vidio clips when the bit rate is higher than about 700
it sticks and jumps.
so is it easy to change the bord or do i need to start
again with a emty tower thats ment for building you own pc
or is a grafics card or some thing the answer

Answer 1

You can probably use the case, hard drives, dvd drive and any pci cards that are in the current PC.

If you upgrade the motherboard you will probably also need to upgrade the processor (planned anyway), memory and graphics card at the same time unless you are lucky and the memory and graphics card you have are compatible with the new board.

If neccesary you can always use the onboard graphics card that is integrated in to the motherboard till you are ready to get a new one.

One place I have seen with motherboard kits is savastore http://www.savastore.com/products/components/motherboards/kits/?MSCSProfile=E88FF544888F07618470FCBD21778583274BCEB18E5125A710692A6884A81FBE464C61FF6CE2F7A40997AE710E47E3B5077DDA28362E02D401FDD151A0BC8B489622B3A8A7A4519789BD1C424F8E53A2C08D338B7932B4C7EBCEF609E339010BFC39AC2B2867DD086E3AB1A94BBCA11AF6659968EBC50D5DC7165CD27FD43EA7AA88DD7BEEB6A99B these come with motherboard, processor and memory.

The easiest way would be to strip down the current PC and rebuild it from scratch using the new motherboard and your existing drives.

If the motherboard doesn't fit the case you can get cases really cheaply (but nicer ones do cost more)

Answer 2

Ideally you'd need to be more specific about the components you already have but I can tell you that everything connects to your Mobo, and it's like the "brain" of a computer. If you add a graphics card you will need to check that it is compatible with your motherboard. To be honest, if you have to ask then I'd suggest you're probably better off not going down the self-build route. Someone like Novatech.co.uk for example will custom build a pc for you for a reasonable price.

Answer 3

no! newer motherboards have bigger powersupplies, and different power plugs, you could change the ps, bit then you still need to figure out the connections for th power switch, leds,speaker,ect and those plug ends probably are unique, if you go to newwegg .com you can buy cases with 400 watt ps for under 50$

Answer 4

yes you can, as long as the new board can be mounted in your old case, so look for the form factor AT, ATX, micro-ATX and so on.
And if your new board doesn't have the same CPU socket and same RAM type, you will need to buy a new CPU and new RAM as well...and if the new components need more power you might also need a new power supply, it depends a lot on what you are going to buy

Answer 5

Depends on how old the tower is and if the new motherboard will fit in the case, ATX board wont fit in a AT case.

Answer 6

you will prbably have to buy a new case aswell as packard bell use special moulded cases, best thing to do is phone around local small pc repairers and suppliers. we just got a new case mother board and power pack for £200.

Answer 7

Yes

Answer 8

well, you could put in a new motherboard. been awhile since i made my own pc because it's so much cheaper to go to dell.com or hp.com to have it made for you for about the same price of you putting it in yourself. if you put in your new motherboard make sure all of your ram and what not are made for that motherboard and if not you might not get all of the power that you paid for. well, enjoy what you're doing

Answer 9

Yes if all the connecters interchange!!

Answer 10

Try here for info

http://www.techtutorials.net/cgibin/links/search.cgi?query=build%20a%20pc

http://tomshardware.co.uk/