questions about Athlon upgrade

[kook]

I was thinking of buying a new MB for an Athlon proccesor ....Im using a P3 right now with a SB live audio card and a voodoo 3 video card......will the power supply for the P3 work for the athlon proccesor ? and I beleive my video card is AGP .....basically I just wanna move all my hardware to the new board and put the unit in the tower im using now......I know its vague but do you think ill run into any problems ?

[Aarmenaa]

First, remove all the expansion cards from the system. Then, unplug all you drives and power cables and other whatnot. You're going to have to disconnect almost everything to get a good area to work.

Now, there's usually two or three screws holding the motherboard to the case. There are also some plastic risers that snap into the MB and the case (some MBs don't have the plastic risers). Take these out, and the MB should come free.

Put you new MB in the same place as the old one (the screwholes and little plastic risers should be in the same place on both boards).

Now, just put all your stuff back in the new expansion slots, and plug up the power cables. The power plugs on all newer MBs are the same (If they're not, you got ripped off). Be sure to plug in all the drive ribbions as well. You should find that all the plugs that were on your old board are on the new one as well (they are probably be in different spots).

Basicly, the rule is, all ATX Motherboards should be able to be interchanged. This isn't always the case, however.

If you find you're having stabilty issiues after the switch, you may need to install some special motherboard drivers. AMD chips USUALLY require special AGP drivers to be installed to ensure stability (case in point: VIA and the VIA 4in1 Drivers).

You should just check with the company who made the new motherboard just to make sure you have all the most recent drivers. They can make all the difference in the world.

One last thing that will save you a world of trouble: DOWNLOAD ALL THE MOST RECENT DRIVERS BEFORE YOU SWITCH THE MOTHERBOARDS. Then make the switch, boot up, and install the new drivers. you don't know that you'll have an internet connection when you boot, and it's a royal pain in the padded read to have switch all that stuff again.

If you need more detailed help, or have questions, you can e-mail me at aarmenaa@bellsouth.net.

-aarmenaa

[biglaker]

There are a few fundamental considerations that you should make before you open your computer up to change the m/b. First, most people recommend a minimum of 300 watt power supply if you're going to an Anthlon XP. Is that what your P/S is? What about your memory type? You may have PC 133 SDRAM now, maybe not. If you go to a VIA Kt 266A chipset, then you'll likely want PC2100 DDR ram. There is a still newer chipset that can use faster still RAM but I can't speak to its stability/capability vs price. Another issue you will most likely encounter is the need to reload windows from scratch AFTER you change the m/b and processor. The useability of your video card is probably not an issue but it is possible that your system could be significantly improved with a newer video card-- most specifically if you're a gamer. Hope this helps what you were looking for. Biglaker