Upgrading CPU & motherboard

Hi, I'm planning on upgrading my cpu and motherboard and I need a little bit of advice. Here's my current specs...

Amd Athlon 2700+
1gb ram (not sure what sort)
MSI mother board (again no idea on what model type, etc)
Geforce 6200 AGP

I looking at getting a Athlon 64 3400+ (something like that) and a compatable motherboard that hopefully can support AGP,havent been able to find one so far. Here's kinda a long shot question, with menot stating what sorta ram I already have but would the ram I have work in the new board? also would I have to do a complete format and fresh install of windows or could I just install it and keep all my crap like programs and games? any advice would be great. I have actually upgraded a cpu and motherboard a few times before quite a few years ago now though, so any advice would be grand

thanks,
D

 

You bus speed is going to be quite different so your old ram will likley not work. To use the 64 bit processor you would want to install a fresh 64 bit OS anyway.

 

http://www.asrock.com/product/product_939Dual-SATA2.htm is a cheap solution which can handle both AGP and PCI-E video cards. Also supports cpu with 939 socket. And it is not so hightech with power, still use normal 20pin + 4 pin connector - probably better chance of recycling old power supply.

http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=30 has lots of info, many reviews available. Get some more details about memory and you might be able to look it up. If modules are identical and running in dual-mode allready they should work. Not so important what speed they are rated at - saving $$ is Most speed from these chipsets comes from cpu anyway, ram not highest priority.

Downside to motherboard is limited overclocking options. Can do as much as more expensive boards but cant supply much voltage for cpu. See the forum, main issue for sure. So may be best to get a cpu like Venice 3500+, 2200mhz will be ok for a start and perhaps 2400-2500mhz is possible with Asrock budget oc. Enough to feed much more powerful video cards than 6200. You probably will get new card soon - 6200 is underpowered. Much easier to get good price and speed with PCI-E cards so important feature of Asrock. Vcard might be expensive!

Think Asrock site list some reviews so have a look. Here is Anandtechs http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2524 If you buy away be sure you read FAQ, info on bios updates, drivers and such. Also scan that forum for what seems to be "known" issues. Could be incompatibility with your ram!

If you run this little tool http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php you can see details of ram, click "SPD" tab. Only reporting tools, does not harm anything - see description on page.

 

About the OS installation then yes you might be able to use old OS but you need to prepare. Must uninstall all chipset drivers, especially IDE. Then XP? should redetect but a big job and it might fail. CPU, ACPI/APIC modes might differ. Rule is: new motherboard = new OS installation. Should you get some strange OS problems later on where do they come from? Post about them here or else where and you will be asked to reinstall I think.

 

whatever u do, dont install microsoft xp 64bit, the support for programs and games today is very weak, lots of stuff doesnt work