In: Categories » Computers and technology » Windows XP » Selecting a New Motherboard for your PC
Upgrading your central processing unit (CPU)/motherboard the Big One is the most costly and the most complex upgrade that you can make to your PC. In this article, I discuss what you should look for in a CPU and a motherboard . . . and the very real possibility that you shouldn’t upgrade this combo at all. (Hey, I’m always open minded, upfront, and cutting edge.) If you do decide to upgrade, take heart. You’ll find the proper step-by-step procedure in this article.
Hey, Do I Need to Do This?
Before you read another sentence of this article, remember this: Postpone a CPU/motherboard upgrade as long as possible. I know that sounds a little silly, considering that there are several pages of perfectly good tips and procedures remaining in this article, but I stand by my maxim. Here are four good reasons:
- A CPU/motherboard combo is one of the most expensive upgrades that you can make to your computer. First consider upgrading random access memory (RAM) and your video card. Adding RAM and a faster video card is (usually) cheaper than upgrading a CPU/motherboard combo. And depending on the types of applications that you run, the RAM/video card upgrade might actually provide a better performance boost than using a new CPU and motherboard. (Side benefit: The longer that you postpone a CPU/motherboard upgrade, the more of a performance jump that you’ll get when you finally do take the plunge.)
- A CPU/motherboard combo is one of the most difficult upgrades to install. To facilitate this upgrade, you’re going to have to take out every adapter card and unhook every wire and possibly even disassemble parts of your case then do it all again in reverse. (That’s what we techies call “putting it back together.” My Dad used to tell me I’d have to eat anything left over after fixing the family car, so I got very careful very quickly about assembly.)
- A CPU/motherboard combo has dependencies. Hmm . . . strange term here, so let me explain. You see, no matter how fast your new motherboard and CPU combo might be, it will still depend on your existing adapter cards including video, sound, modem, and port cards to take care of putting video on your monitor, sound in your speakers, and Internet data in your browser (respectively). Therefore, if you upgrade to a blazing fast CPU/motherboard combination but you’re still using a five-year-old video card, your 3-D games might still end up as slow as Aunt Harriet in her Plymouth Volare.
- You might have to scrap your existing memory modules and power supply. Along the lines of the previous reason, using a new CPU/motherboard combo might force you to dump all the memory modules that you’ve been collecting over the last few years as well as that low-rated power supply. You can sell ’em on eBay, of course, but don’t expect a whopping amount back. With these reasons in mind, I recommend that you upgrade your motherboard and CPU only when you’ve exhausted the other possibilities upgrading RAM or your video card, for example. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t eventually put a new heart and brain in your PC. Just don’t resort to major surgery until it’s really necessary.
Selecting a New Motherboard
Keep these guidelines in mind while shopping for a new motherboard to match your CPU of choice:
- Determine what type of motherboard fits in your PC’s case. Virtually all PCs manufactured in the last few years use ATX cases and ATX motherboards, but it never hurts to make sure. Older cases might use AT or Baby AT motherboards. If you need help with classifying your case, take it to your local computer shop and have a technician tell you.
- FSB means Front Side Bus. The higher the bus speed on your new motherboard, the better the performance and the more expensive the RAM modules. (At higher bus speeds, more data is sent to the CPU at one time, and the data arrives there faster; from an efficiency and performance standpoint, this is a Good Thing.) Most CPUs will work with a range of bus speeds.
- Shop for the best controllers. Today’s motherboards have onboard hard drive controllers that vary widely in performance, so make sure that you compare the controller’s rated speeds and supported hard drives when shopping for a motherboard.
- Consider onboard FireWire, Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, and network hardware. Why force yourself to add a separate adapter card later when you can buy a motherboard with networking, FireWire, and USB 2.0 ports built in?
- RAM capacity is important. Check what type of RAM is supported and the maximum amount of RAM that the motherboard can accept. (For more information about the RAM types on the market today, check the previous article.) I highly recommend that you buy one of the package deals a CPU already installed on the motherboard of your choice offered by most PC Web stores. This will simplify both your shopping (you’re guaranteed to buy a motherboard and CPU that work together well) and your installation. Trust me!
legal notice
Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Web-articles is a free articles resource.
Suggestion: If you need fresh, daily updated content for your website, feel free to use our service. Click here for more information.
Useful tools and features
If you like this article (tutorial), please link to it from your web page using the information above.
related articles
In an ideal world, every computer-related product would work perfectly out of the box, and it would continue to work as long as you own it. Of course, in that world, technical support centers would answer the telephone on the first ring and fine champagne would run out of public drinking fountains. In this world, Windows XP, other software, device drivers, and even your computer’s BIOS all require periodic updates that allow them to interact with new products that weren’t available when they were f...
2. Updating the BIOS under Windows XP
As you know (or if you don’t, go back and read article 8), your computer’s BIOS contains instructions that the computer uses to interact with devices such as video cards, as well as the commands necessary to start Windows. When a new version of Windows appears, or when new devices or new pro- cessors become available, the BIOS manufacturer may update the BIOS in order to allow it to recognize and support the newer hardware or software. For example, if Intel or AMD adds features to new CPU chips, or if a new and be...
3. Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses
External attacks on your computer come in many forms: viruses, worms, spyware, and Trojan horses are just a few of the mostcommon types. This malware, or malicious soft- ware, presents threats to your computer’s operation, the security of your data, your privacy, and your identity. If your computer is doing something strange for no apparent reason, a virus or spyware program could be to blame. Sometimes, though, there are no visible signs. For example, a virus could quietly fill up your hard drive with garbage data, or spywar...
4. Firewall Software under Windows XP
Stopping Break-ins: Firewalls It may seem like an odd form of entertainment, but there’s a whole sub- culture out there of people who spend their time trying to break into other people’s computers. Some of these people are just in it for the game, but others are cracking into computers as a way to steal personal and corporate information. As anyone who has ever had to deal with identity theft can tell you, taking back control of your life after someone has stolen your credit card numbers, co...
5. Internet connection and Windows XP
The Internet has become such an essential part of most people’s experience that it’s sometimes difficult to know where your own computer stops and the Internet begins. For most of us, it doesn’t matter if a particular resource is physically located on a local hard drive (one inside your PC or a network server) or a computer halfway around the world. Either way, it’s just a matter of keystrokes and mouse clicks to view it on the screen or listen to it through speakers plugged into your computer. ...
6. How to setup a local network in Windows XP
LOCAL NETWORK PROBLEMS Any time two or more computers and their related devices are under the same roof, they should probably connect to one another through a etwork. Networking allows users to share files and printers and to share access to the Internet through a common modem or broadband connection. Windows XP includes tools and wizards that make it relatively simple to set up a network, but a network is always more complicated than an isolated, stand-alone computer. Network problems don’t oft...
7. Windows XP activation and hardware problems
Not every computer failure is caused by a software issue. Many problems that appear to be related to Windows are actually caused by some kind of hardware malfunction or by a conflict between two or more incompatible hardware components inside the computer. This article describes many of the most common problems that you might encounter when you try to add, move, or change a component inside your computer. Most of these problems have relatively easy solutions if you know where to look. Finding and fixing hardware problems requ...
8. Installing a New Hard Drive on Windows XP Professional
Hard drives are a special case. On a cost- per-bit basis, drives are cheap and getting cheaper all the time. When a drive fails, the cost of replacing the physical device is relatively small, but the data stored on the old drive is often irreplaceable. So you shouldn’t throw away an apparently broken drive until you have done everything possible to recover the data, and you shouldn’t do anything to the drive that might erase or damage any more data. When your boot drive (almost always the C: dri...
9. How to recover data from a corrupted hard drive using Windows XP Pro
Recovering Your Data Unless the physical platters inside the drive are severely damaged, it’s probably possible to recover the data from a bad drive. In extreme cases, you might need to send the drive to a very expensive recovery service that will take the drive apart in a clean room environment and replace the damaged parts, but it can be done. Before you spend that money, try the techniques in this section to read your files with special recovery software. The most important thing to ...