Jamesemt

I used to rely on a workmate to do all my PC building, but he's gone and emigrated

I've just bought a video camera and would like to start messing about with editing, but fear that my system isn't up to it.

Before my techie mate left, he changed my motherboard as the old one was knackered. He said that my motherboard spec was getting outdated (PC was from 2003) and that he struggled to find a compatible one. The motherboard he bought, would only let him use 512MB RAM (compared to the 1GB I previously had in), and I am even noticing slowness in Photoshop...

So...how difficult is it to change the motherboard? Is it just a case of swapping all the components over? (apparently my memory is now old spec too...). What do I do about the processor (which is a 2.4ghz)?

Can someone recommend a current PC hardware building book/website? I bought 'Building PCs for dummies' but it seemed very outdated to me.

Any advice? I managed to swap a hard drive (after cloning it ) so I'm not completely inept honest

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Certain factors come into play:

a)... If running on Windows XP, then swapping the motherboard constitutes 1).. Re-installing Widndows. 2).. Re-registering your copy of windows with Microsoft. As a new motherboard=New PC

b)... What size case do you have? If Midi or Tower then you can get a full size board. If Mini to Small Form factor then Micro ATX or Baby board.

C)... Is the power supply up-to the job? Newer boards need a an-up-to-date power supply. If needs be a new case maybe cheaper.

Food for thought.

Daz34

If it's pretty old then you will probably need a new processor and new memory.
Also a new PCI-E graphics card. New power supply as well.
New pc basically
You will also probably benefit from a new larger & faster hard drive. You can still fit the current one but use it as a secondary backup drive or fill it full of pics or mp3s.
As far as building is involved it is pretty easy. Just take your time, read the manual for the motherboard and make sure all the little leads for the on/off, reset buttons etc go in the right places. Keep it as tidy as possible as well regards cable layout to maximise airflow through the case.

HTH - Darren

Jamesemt

Cheers guys - the case was changed when the motherboard was, and is a full size tower job.

I already have 3 hard drives - 2x120GB and 1x160GB...

I was planning on using the 160GB drive for video editing - do you think that's big enough?

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Yep 160GB should be enough.

The RAM is your down fall. More the better.

Jamesemt

Yeah - I was happy with the 1GB ram. When the motherboard was changed, I got him to fit the 160GB HD - apparently I ran out of sockets (so he removed the DVD reader, keeping just the writer).

I fail to believe that there is only one memory slot on the board? Or is it more likely that the other slots are for the newer type of memory? Can memory be bought in 1GB strips?

The PC is getting ridiculously slow - opening a folder with 1GB of jpegs takes about 20 seconds...I'm sure it doesn't need reformatting after only a couple of months (and I try and keep on top of housekeeping, defrag etc...)

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Not really. I have come across PC motherboards running the INTEL i810 chipset (CPU= 1ghz P3) that only support up-to 512MB RAM. And they had 2x RAM slots.

What is the spec of your PC?

lightning101

He says he has a 2.4ghz, so I assume its a socket 478.


Can you post a well lit photo of the motherboard and any identifying numbers ?

If you can, the guys on here will tell you in seconds what you can and cant do limitation wise

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Then it sounds possible. Maybe your mate found a motherboard with 2x RAM slots and your last board had 4. Thus meaning you possibly had 4x 256MB RAM.

Besides if you download the 'lite' veriosn of this:

http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.ht...buy&langx=en&a=

It will tell you about your present system.

Jamesemt

Cheers - I'll get onto that tonight (I'm at work at present...)

TopBanana

No it doesn't. You need only 'repair' the installation from the installation media. All your stuff will still be there. You may or may not have to re-activate, not a big deal.

jpor

iTrader: (1)

I take it you mean boot up from the Windows XP disc and when prompted type the 'R' key? Or are you refering to the Command console? Again when you boot up from the XP CD? If from the Command console, how do you go about the repair.

Also how do you go on about say a motherboard which was supporting a particular brand of SATA chipset, you then change to a motherboard with either a different manufacturer of SATA to find that Windows will not boot.
Just curious.

Looking at Microsofts Knowledgebase all I can find is this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314082/en-us

So please do enlighten us. As it's something I'm not aware of.

lightning101

You go past the repair console and do a windows repair, as if you were going to re-install windows, don't go near the repair console.

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Nice one.

TopBanana

Yep, as above. It's a bit hidden away but works a treat

jpor

iTrader: (1)

So to just to confirm:

1).. Power up PC.
2).. Set Boot order in the BIOS to boot first from CD
3).. Let Windows XP CD boot up. If required Press the F6 key to install driver that Windows may not have.
4).. Allow everything to go through normally. And then when prompted which Hard drive to install windows onto ?

Is that how it's done? Or Am i missing something out?

TopBanana

4. Choose Setup Windows XP: press enter (not R for recovery console)
5. Choose the windows partition, and then hit R for repair.

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Cheers. Will remember that one.