computer problem

[Scott Douglas]

So here's the Mother Board...
Pegatron M2N7B-LA

I'll take a look and see what I can find.
Sounds like my old RAM isn't used any more. Yes/No/Maybe?

[azasadny]

Most hard drives are SATA. I have software that will let me make an exact copy of a hard drive, so a new drive would have everything copied over to it. The key here is the motherboard and what it will support. SCSI drives are rare, unless you are talking about a server, so I'm assuming your drive is SATA. A 1TB drive is about $50.

[azasadny]

CPU:
Socket type: AM3
TDP: 95 watt
Motherboard supports the following processor upgrades
AMD Phenom II X4 9xx/9xxe/8xx Quad-Core (Deneb)
AMD Phenom II X3 7xx/7xxe Triple-Core (Heka)
AMD Phenom II X2 5xx (Callisto)
AMD Athlon X4 6xx/6xxe (Propus)
AMD Athlon X3 4xx/4xxe (Rana)
AMD Athlon X2 2xx/2xxe (Regor)

RAM:
Dual channel memory architecture
Four DDR3 DIMM (240-pin) sockets
Supported DIMM types:
PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333)
PC3-8500 (DDR3-1066)
Non-ECC memory only, unbuffered
Supports 4GB DDR3 DIMMs
Supports up to 16 GB on 64-bit PCs
Supports up to 4 GB* on 32-bit PCs

[azasadny]

Yes, you have SATA hard drives... The good news is the board supports DDR3 RAM, which is dirt cheap...

[azasadny]

You also have a video card slot, which means you can upgrade the video, which is very convenient!!

[Scott Douglas]

That must be a later mother board Art, mine is a socket AM2.

[azasadny]

You could drop this CPU into it...

Amazon.com: AMD Athlon II X3 455 Processor (ADX455WFGMBOX): Electronics

[Scott Douglas]

Motherboard Specifications, M2N78-LA (Violet) | HP® Support

this is the page with my mother board specs.

[stomachmonkey]

That's a SATA drive.

SCSI you usually only find in servers these days.

You can get an external SATA case for the harddrive and use it with your old computer.

You can get a newer CPU, AM3 socket will fit your current AM2+ socket but you'll need to do a BIOS upgrade and your motherboard vendor may not support it. Research hard before going that route.

You can look for a replacement for the CPU you currently have but like I said, it's older architecture so you'll need to look for new old stock, refurbed or used. Used will be cheapest.

Replace the mother board / cpu and RAM. You have no expansion cards in your current box and you are happy with it so you don't need a crazy motherboard as it seems you don't use / need the expandability.

There is a Microcenter in Tustin. Go there and talk to them.

Look here, http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

Those are the bundles they have going now.

FWIW I recently built a couple of game testing rigs using the FX 6xxx line of Six Core CPU's and the Gigabyte MOBO. The FX series is AM3+ socket and "should" fit your current motherboard but if they are giving you the MOBO for free then why not just toss another ~$50 bucks at it and stick in 8 GB of RAM and for under $200 you are good to go.

Don't forget what got you into this mess, your card reader stopped working which could be a variety of things from the reader itself to a MOBO issue.

Why spend the money for a new CPU just to possibly end up back in the same place?

FWIW every time I go to Microcenter the sales guys are willing to haggle on price. You might get them to toss in RAM for next to nothing.

[Scott Douglas]

So something like this: Micro Center - Computers, Electronics, Computer Parts, Networking, Gaming, Software, and more!

would only need RAM added and I could plug in all my other stuff (HD, CD/DVD player etc)?

[stomachmonkey]

Think I cleared the cookie on that cart on my end.

Micro Center - Computers, Electronics, Computer Parts, Networking, Gaming, Software, and more!

Is what you had I believe.

Your current MOBO looks to have an IDE connection (top right) but it's unpopulated, you did not disconnect anything from it?

Hard to tell but it looks like your CD/DVD drive is SATA as well.

If correct then yes that combo will work.

[Scott Douglas]

Well I just tried my wife's hair dryer on the cpu heat sink.
pin side of the cpu got to 113*F and still wasn't budging so I stopped.
Guess I'll go empty my piggy bank and make a trip to micro center.
Thanks for the info/help Art and Stomach.
I didn't unplug anything from the MOBO except the heat sink, so I don't think the IDE is used.

[RonDent]

OH NO! You have a WD hard Drive!

[stomachmonkey]

AMD processor will come with a new heat sink and the thermal is already applied to the CPU so you don't have to worry about that bit.

1st boot it will likely freak out a bit complaining about drivers but toss in the MOBO disc to sort it out.

good luck.

[Scott Douglas]

She who pays the bills says the computer is pretty old and doesn't think it's worth putting money into.
Asked if I could just use the old old one. sigh.
I'm gonna look at what's on sale...

[azasadny]

I just came back from my "local" MicroCenter (60 miles round-trip) and they have great deals on returned items. You can get everything you need there, very cheap and if you don't want to build it yourself, I'll build it for you...

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by azasadny

...You can get everything you need there, very cheap and if you don't want to build it yourself, I'll build it for you...

Yeah I would have just built it out using the existing box.

The case is not a wear item and will last forever.

Case fans go but they are $5 and 5 minutes to replace.

Hard drives are a wear item and require replacing. I have some drives I've had forever and also new ones that blew up, one literally fried, smoke and all on 1st power up.

CD / DVD drives typically last a long time but still dirt cheap to replace and takes 5 minutes.

PSU, same as hard drives, some last, some don't but end of day they are a replacement item.

Replacing CPU / MOBO is still OP's best bang for the buck option.

[azasadny]

Originally Posted by RonDent

OH NO! You have a WD hard Drive!

I always use WD drives, usually the Black or Red models. No problems after 25 years or so...

[Scott Douglas]

I'd tend to agree with Stomach on building it out in the box I have.
I just hate tossing all that RAM away and having to replace it.
I don't suppose it's worthwhile building it with DDR2 RAM is it?

[azasadny]

DDR2 RAM costs a lot more than DDR3, more than twice as much... You can get 8GB of DDR3 for less than $100.