Ok, so, im' thinking of upgrading this old biatch pc.

I got my eye on processor and motherboard already; Athlon XP 2600+ processor and any cheap AMD sound-onboard motherboard. Then i'd need a graphical card, for which i'm still trying to get hold of a radeon 9500pro, but since they're being taking out of the market cos they're faster and cheaper than 9600pro that might be impossible. So a radeon 9600 or 9700pro, depending on price and performance ratio when i get on it. And then some ram on top of that since this pc uses old ram.


What i would keep of this PC is the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers (duh), CDR/RW drive, two HD's (40 and 8 gig). I'd like to keep the case too BUT it's a compaq case so that will be a problem.


What i'd like to know from ppl who built their own pc (cos that's basically what i will be doing here aye), would i, a moderately knowledgeable layman in hardware; be able to place my motherbaord myself? And more, would it be safe for me to attach my processor myself to the motherboard? Cos i don't wanna mess up my processor, duh.

Any info is welcome; if it's a tad risky i'll have the motherboard/processor installed at a computer store, so it's not that big a deal, but if i can spare cash, then like hell i will!

Other remarks are also welcome on the parts i'll prolly be buying/keeping.

dude, it's easy. Really. Just read the instructions.

Motherboard...attaching it is damned easy. Just figure out which screw holes you need to use, put in the stand-offs, put the motherboard on top, then screw it down. Done. Really freakin easy.

CPU. Move the lever so it's open. Place CPU on top, maybe jiggle it a bit so it falls into place. Close the lever. Freakin' easy.

Putting the heatsink and fan on the CPU is harder, and that's just cuz it's a bitch. It's really not that hard either, just takes some muscle power and you have to be careful not to slip and put your screwdriver through the motherboard.

Anyway, it's easy. Just realize that if you've never done it before, it may take awhile. And chances are it won't work right off the bat, because you'll have screwed up something simple. Always happens. Just don't give up and you'll be surprised how much shit you learn.

lol, most encouraging

I wouldnt dare to open the computer case after that kind of talk

Anyway, it should be quite simple.

hehe. Maybe next time I build a PC I'll take pictures and make a tutorial. Heheh...why not? I've already got pics of a Hard drive.

Heh...if it's really that easy then mebbe i'll give it a go. Agree about the try and retry thing, but i don't got cash to pay for another important part when i screw up eh, that's the main prob.

well, if it makes you feel any better, I've built a total of 6 machines, and I've been messing around with hardware since about 1995 (installing, upgrading, etc). The only hardware I've ever fried was a diskette drive, and that's because I was being really stupid. I've never fried anything else.

Just be careful. Don't touch individual components, always grab stuff by the PCB. Always ground yourself prior to touching something (touch your powersupply or chassis). Don't shuffle your feet across a shag rug while carrying any components. Don't plug something into live power and then place it on a conductive surface. Don't plug it in and place your tongue on the motherboard.

Pc-building is easy, as Satis said. I can do almost everything, except I'm a bit iffy with the mobo/cpu and whatnot. Sound cards/Video cards...... pfeh...... just wiggle them into the correct slot [should be easy to see] and stick the screw in.

Hard drives - pop it in the slot, attach the wide, flat cord, attach, the small, thin cord [one's for data transfer - wide, the other is power].

Cd-rom - same as HDD

Floppy - same as Cd-rom

Just don't hold the important bits - that's all there is to it, really.

sorry, got a few dum questions on the sames lines as what ox asked.

1)how do you know which motherboard you'll need for a new processor?

2)does building it yourself create conflicts in the running? (refering to PC world like claims that the system was all 'designed' to all run together(yeah right..))

3)heard good things about 9700 pro's, but anyone know how the fx's compare? i've heard that some of them make a LOT of noise.

blah..

1: The motherboard will say what processors it supports on the box. Basically it's either going to be AthlonXP or Intel P4 now. Usually it lists clock rates as well, but if you're building a whole new system that's usually no big deal anyway.

2: Not usually. "All designed to run together" is marketing BS. Everything PC was designed to run together. However, in a few instances certain peices of hardware just don't like to run together very well. Like VIA chipsets with SoundBlaster Live! and Audigy. But that's just freaky stuff and pretty rare. BTW, VIA and Soundblaster fixed the issue, in case you're curious.

3: 9700Pro, is that the top-of-the-line model? If so, I believe the FX and 9700 are almost even. FX kicks the pro's butt in some areas, and vice versa in others. I'd suggest looking up some benchmarks. Try http://tomshardware.com and http://anandtech.com for starters. Google should give you more stuff to work with.

thanks man, that toms hardware link was a great help.

9700 pro's are still pretty expensive. might just upgrade the processor and motherboard for the time being, it must still improve the performance.

You'd best go for a cheaper model that's not far behind BJ, the 9600pro isn't much slower than the 9700pro, but costs about half. That's why i'm looking to get the 9600 pro. Or the 9500pro, if there's anyone still selling them.

Tnx for the info Satis and others. A building tutorial would rule yeah.

heh...ok. My birthday's coming up... I may ask for a bunch of computer parts and build me a server. If so, I'll be sure to document it.

w00t!

aye, keep it idiot proof though please.

not to worry, I know you guys.