[Ankit69]

currently i have a inspiron 530... i decided to take it out of its case because i needed more space to put hard drives... so i have a new case... now im thinking of kinda building my own computer with the dell parts that are "factory" i'm looking to get a new motherboard and could really use some help... currently the foxconn motherboard only has 4 sata ports... i need at least 6-8


also, since im ripping the cpu out of this computer do i need to see a motherboard with the same north / south bridge ?

Current Specs:

Foxconn - Products: Motherboard

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Motherboard Chipset: Intel G33 (Bearlake-G) + ICH9R
Total Memory Size: 4 GBytes (DDR2-SDRAM)

Also, I already have a raid card in there but still keep puting on more hard drives so thats why im thinking of changing motherboards... is this possible?


thanks!

[Trotter]

What size is your new case? I ask because if it can handle a ATX board, you would be better off with one. ATX are bigger than the mATX you have, and have more stuff on them.

Also, how much are you looking to spend?

[kmote]

You don't need to buy a motherboard with the same chipset you had before and you can transplant your RAID card and the drives straight out of the old motherboard onto the new. Booting to an already installed windows OS on the new motherboard will be more difficult, this is one of the reasons I advise to keep the boot disk outside of the data RAID. What case did you buy?

[Trotter]

You can use Sysprep to avoid the hassles of having to reinstall Windows (XP or Vista) when migrating to a new motherboard.

[Ankit69]

Originally Posted by Trotter

What size is your new case? I ask because if it can handle a ATX board, you would be better off with one. ATX are bigger than the mATX you have, and have more stuff on them.

Also, how much are you looking to spend?

Current Case - Cooler Master Elite 334

Elite 334 - Cooler Master

as for the mobo goes... i guess up to $200 or so... i want something that uses ddr2 so i do not need to buy new sticks since i already have 4gb... but if its worth upgrading i would strongly consider it...


i was looking at this mobo... opinions please?

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards


thanks for the quick replies!

[philbar71]

^ that is an exelent mobo. i have the DDR3 version of that board

never has failed me once. very good overclocker.

[Trotter]

Yep, looks like a good choice.

[Ankit69]

any reason to change to a ddr3 motherboard as oppose to a ddr2 ?


also, all i need to do is move the cpu and thats it??

[philbar71]

unless you are planning to get the core i5 when it comes out.

DDR3 is a little more exprensive than DDR2 but it is alot easier to overclock with DDR3 unless you want to spend about $70 on some good DDR3 ram. like this stuff,

Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

[Trotter]

Basically, no. If you plan on going with the new tech (i7 or i5 when it comes out), wait and buy your stuff when you take the plunge. Otherwise, DDR2 is what you need.