Changing mobo

Hi all,
Im changing my mobo, gfx card (pci-e)and psu. I was thinking of doing this myself, is this a good idea considering I've never really even looked inside a pc before?! Anybody know any good guides on how to so this?

I have a pentium 4 3ghz and I'm almost sure it is socket 478 but how do I check this for sure? I've run Everest but I cant find the info on there.
I have a dell dimension 2400 pc and it says the case is 'space-saver' (doesn't look very small though).
Does anybody know what mobo I should get?

 

graphics card are very easy, just turn off computer, unplug the power cord and the monitor, pop out the old card, and put in the new one. simple as that. it should work by itself. it might come with a CD maybe with drivers for it, which will be important to install. if it doesnt come with drivers, search for them online, most likely the manufacturers website.
i've never switched out a PSU, but i imagine itd be the same pop in and out type of installation.

get cpu-z to find out your CPU's socket - http://www.majorgeeks.com/download425.html it should list what socket your PC uses next to "Package"

when you know the socket of the CPU, i highly suggest using newegg.com to buy a mobo from.
search for an intel motherboard that will suit your computer. input into the search everything you know you need - such as socket 478, and a PCI-E slot for your graphics card, etc.

when i first built my computer, i mainly just used google to do a lot of searching, reading many different websites on how to do it. this is a nice mobo installation site but you might want to google some more websites if youre still not sure. or if you know anyone who has built a computer, get them to give you a helping hand.

 

WWW.pcmechanics.com has a comp building tutorial, complete with pictures. I'm sure that there are others. If you are putting a new MB in a Dell case, you need to look at whether the power supply connections are the same. Used to be that dell used a different pin out on their plugs, compared to standard ATX.
Oops, I missed the part about the new PSU. You might want to think about a new case that is a little bigger, to make it easier to work on.

 

If I am changing my mobo and psu would it matter what power supply connections my current psu has? Where does the psu connect to?

 

to the mobo, and ur drives, gfx card and whatever else needs power

 

I have just been on www.newegg.com and searched for a mobo which has a 748 socket and a pci-e slot but it returned no results?
Are there any mobo's that have a 478 socket and pci-e slot?

 

The mobo in your dell probably isn't ATX so a new mobo wont fit in,you will probably have to get a new case.

 

Does anybody know of any dell look-a-like cases?
This is my parents pc and I dont think they would appreciate a bright blue, see-through case or anything like that!

 

Thats the first time I'v seen anyone ask for a dell lookalike LOL here

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811154017

 

I like dell case's!
This is turning out to be a real pain in the ***. I might just get an x-box, it would be easier! Is the difference between a good PC and an x-box worth the extra money and hassle?
Or I could sell the PC I have now, save up for a couple of hundred years and by this one http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17390652
if only!

 

Welcome to Dell hell,they dont want you to upgrade it,they want you to go and buy another dell,I have an xbox and I never play on it now,just play multiplayer games online,graphically the xbox is no comparison,but my pc cost 10 times as much as an xbox and the gaming experience isnt 10 times better it just depends on what you wanna play on and how much you have to spend.

To me the trouble of upgrading is the fun I love problems,you will get alot of satisfaction from the upgrade and its the first step in learning how to repair comps,the first lesson DONT BUY A DELL ,how much do you wanna spend on this upgrade?

 

Dell are crap really, I used to think they were good but there a bit like PC world and AOL i.e. for those who don't know any better! The dell xps I think pales in comparison to that overclockers PC and its more expensive! They want an extra £117 to upgrade from a 6800 to a 6800gt!

I want to spend about £300, could push it a little bit more for a 6800gt.
I didn't really want to change the case because it goes with everything else and as I say, it isn't mine. Is says that the case is a space saver but it doesn't look much smaller than any other case!

Im getting more and more tempted to spend all of my student loan on a new computer! I dont really like consoles very much, when it comes to 1st person shooters, which is what I play on more than anything I think a mouse and keyboard is far better than a controller!

 

Alright, when you get to this point, you know you're having fun. Take a deep breath, and release it. Calmer now? I recommend trying www.tigerdirect.com, and 3btech.net. They are both good sites, though 3btech won't let you return a motherboard, for some reason I don't know. Cases are cheap, incomparison to some parts, though I don't know why you'd want it to look like Dell.

 

Since you used the £ sign I'm assuming your from the uk,so check this place out

http://www.scan.co.uk/

Its cheap,its not an online reseller"I drive to the shop".Its got the best customer support period and you can return anything for any reason,say if you dont like the colour.You wont get a 478 mobo with pci express,Agp is plenty fast enough for todays cards you lose future upgrade potential,but you will need a new system by then anyway.Or sell the dell hell,you could sell it for a couple of hundred just put 3ghz in big letters in your ad its all people look at.Then build an a64 system the extra money should cover cpu,memory and harddive.In either case I think you are looking at a 6600gt,6800gt's are £250 on their own.

 

just found this on scan

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?WebProductID=204946

agp and pci-e,only found one review and it said it the pci-e port is x4 and has just enough bandwidth for todays video cards so tommorrows will be too fast for it anyways,but might be worth a look.

 

yeah I know scan it's only five minutes from my house.
I think I may just try and sell my current PC, how much do you think I will get for it? I have a 17"lcd monitor (25ms response time but most people wont know thats not very good for games ) that I would sell with it aswell.

 

Not sure really,I still dont know how much to sell my old one for"the second comp in my sig".Its hard to tell,In my local loot comps like mine were selling from between £100-£250 without a monitor,but you can get a full new system from dell now for £269,just check see how much people are selling similar spec pc's as yours for then add on a few £.

 

Ive been looking round the internet and found that pci-e mobo's with a 478 socket aren't that common. I only found one!
And then I found that my current mobo is micro atx and I'm almost sure that a micro atx, pci-e, socket 478 mobo doesn't exist!?
Im thinking of getting a micro atx mobo with an agp slot and get a 6800gt graphics card. Does that seem like a good idea?
Bearing in mind that I cant bare to part with my dell case!!