Case Question

manti452

So I'm prepared to die for this but...

I'm stripping out my old pc to upgrade it. I've put a fair bit into it to keep it running (RAM, DVD Burner, 3 HDD, Ethernet and Firewire). I want to keep as much as I can and replace only the essentials.

I have to change the board for two reasons.. I want usb 2.0 (i know! slow eh) and it uses Rambus RAM - expensive to upgrade. I'm using a p4 1.8ghz I believe.

Anywhoo the question is this.. I have an bog standard gateway case and see no need to replace it unless I really have to.. will any motherboard fit in most standard cases?

I've been recommended to use a intel socket 775 board and upgrade the processor which sounds good to me. But I've used AMD in the past and if someone can recommend a board and dual core processor from them I'd be open to them too. I'll be getting a graphics card for this machine too but am sure that'll be easy compared to the rest...

I don't want to start ordering parts till I'm sure..

IamMetaldave

No all cases don't take all motherboards.

I had a gateway case and I bought a new atx board for it only to find the back of the box, where your motherboard is exposed to attach your mouse etc didn't pop out like they do now and I had to take an angle grinder to it. Worked after that though.

You can pick up a cheap (€30) case handy enough, its worth your while if you are unsure of your present motherboard form factor.

8T8

You cannot retain the RAM either as Rambus is a dead tech in the PC sector.

As for mobo & CPU suggestions not sure how cheap you want to go but this is quite cheap and is still a substantial improvement over your old setup.

Motherboard €62

1GB DDR-2 €75

CPU Core 2 Duo E4300 €165

IDE Controller €20 - most modern Intel boards do not come with 2 IDE controllers anymore only one supporting just 2 IDE devices. This controller will give you support for an extra 4 IDE devices.

Graphics - motherboard comes with integrated graphics so no need for graphics card (if not gaming) but it does come with a PCI-Express x16 slot should you desire one.

The board is mATX so it can fit in any standard ATX or smaller sized mATX case.

What model Gateway is it ?

manti452

thanks for the suggestions.. looks pretty good.. I knew the rambus ram was a gonner and it was the main reason to get a new board to get more ram cheaper.

The Gateway was an old performance model 550se I think.. It's got Intel 865 chipset and a fairly standard megatrends(Sp?) board..

Problems I've had in the past came from the fact I got it from a friend who was a Gateway Dublin employee and loaded as much onto it as they could when leaving after shutdown.

Recent problems were trying to install a usb 2 card only to have it kill the USB connections for all ports. Ended up uninstalling SP2 to get it to work.

Anywhoo.. with the mobo you've suggested could I get a more powerful processor?

8T8

It supports some of the Core 2 Duo series but not the high end parts but I don't think you may need anything higher than an E4300 if this is just for general usage.

Still going cheap end of the spectrum this board supports all the Core 2 Duo's up to the E6700 with the same features so if you wanted to use an E6400 for instance then try this out.

If you want a board that supports all the current Core 2 Duo class CPU's plus the new unreleased parts (E4400, E6750, E6850) & the Quad core variants (Q6400, Q6600, QX6700) then this MSI board is the one to get.

It also supports 4 IDE devices out of the box because of an extra integrated IDE controller.

It does not feature integrated graphics so you will need a graphics card but a cheap one will suffice like this decent X1300.

manti452

I've found my case is this one :

http://support.gateway.com/s/CASES/3501248/3501248nv.shtml

Still don't know if it's an ATX or not.

I'll be running some games on it but nothing cutting edge or anything so a 256 graphics card and I found that the board you suggested earlier support this chip : Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz Socket LGA775, 2MB which with a gig or two of ram and a graphics card should be ok for mid range games.

Only issue left is the case now :S

8T8

Unusual name for a case Gateway gave it "St. Francis Mid-tower"

The good news it is a full sized ATX case, the bad news is that it has only a 200W power supply which is not enough to power the hardware in the computer you will need a new one.

Budget model for €47 or the deluxe part for €98 with detachable cables.

Also the X1300 is okay for low end games what sort of titles do you play ?

manti452

They have a habit of naming them weirdly.. there's a bunch of them in there..

Pretty much the only online game I play at the moment is Halo PC. I'd be looking to upgrade to Vista and H2.. and then just play the odd game here or there, ppl recommended FEAR etc... Should I move up so?

Not looking to build and out and out gaming rig :cool:

8T8

Well Halo 1 & 2 (when it's released) should run fairly well on any hardware given it's age & HL2 is optimized up to it's eyeballs.

FEAR is the only one which would demand a little more in the processing department unless you want to sacrifice details.

I'd recommend getting yourself an X1650XT and you should be able to run everything well enough with max details & AA as well.

Or on a tighter budget a 7600GS will do as well minus the AA option.

manti452

Thanks man

I'm not much when it comes to hardware am afraid. Have always relied on the kindness of mods