Denis Joseph Nexum Hardware.

Upgrade Kit

Upgrade your computer easily and at a fraction of the cost of a new one

Let’s upgrade a computer internally instead of buying a new one? WHY

It saves cash in these hard pressed times, it preserves the files you already have on your pc, and it keeps your present footrest close to your feet.

Let’s upgrade with “up to date” hardware. See further on in my guide for more info on this option. Let’s bite the bullet and go for a hardware upgrade. Let us reiterate that the Industry Standard Architecture rule comes into vogue here. On this basis manufacturers of hardware are bound to make computer hardware so that it can be fitted into any casing, coupled to any other hardware and manufactured by anybody as long as the hardware itself conforms to the same industry standard.

Let us assess typically an Emachine with a socket 478 motherboard. The motherboard has blown the power supply has gone down with it and you have a perfectly good machine otherwise. We have already discussed the replacement to the same specification and the only gains will be to restore a computer to its original condition with now increase to speed and performance.

Let’s see how to measure the case for fitting an upgrade kit?

Measurements to note when choosing a replacement motherboard. For example we will upgrade an Emachine (usually dead slow!) Standard E-Machine motherboards are usually approx’ 245 x 230mm. A replacement board will be approx 24.5 x 20.5cm

The Costs Involved.

We will decide to upgrade the computer hardware to bring about the use of up to date hardware and fit it into our emachine case which is still in good condition with our current, data packed hard drive.  We will fit a new motherboard, processor, cooling fan and memory upgrade.

We will save a whole pile of money doing this upgrade, the average spend will be in the region of £130-£150 which for that money will breathe new energy into your computer, and preserve the data on the hard drive at the same time.

Let’s do a shopping list.

Motherboard Options:

AMD Based hardware, using the socket 939 or the very latest Socket AM2 (as in the previous picture) platforms. The latter is the best option as these motherboards have been built with such design technique to allow the use of all AMD processors currently in manufacture (except the X4 quad core, see a later para)

These motherboards will run the single core processors up to the maximum in production, and the X2 (dual core) processors in most cases up to the maximum in production. Some motherboards may need bios update to allow the top of the range processors to run. All of these motherboards use the latest memory technology, DDR2 240pin double sided modules. All these motherboards use the latest multi purpose add-on hardware interfaces such as the PCI-Express slots. These allow the user to incorporate the latest technology hardware into these multi-purpose expansion slots. All this hardware for a fraction of the cost of a new computer, and so easy to install.

Processor options:

Socket 940/AM2 processor.

Comes as a single core or an X2 (Dual Core) All fit the standard AM2 processor socket.

Using our AMD motherboard we will buy an AMD processor. These range from the single core Sempron and Athlon 64 processors, right up to the X2 dual core processors. As mentioned previously, all will plug’n’play into these industry standard motherboards. You must have an appropriate cooling fan which sits on top of the processor and air is drawn in through ally vanes to keep the processor cool.

Cooling Fans: the correct one available for the processor/board

Memory: DDR2

All these motherboards take DDR2 technology memory, and most boards will support up to 2gb of memory, some will support up to 4gb. This is a fair chunk of memory by any standard especially when you consider that the original computer probably only had 512mb of memory.

Let’s do Intel instead?

Let’s do a shopping list.

Motherboard Options:

The Intel LGA775 processor socket,Processor options:

These motherboards use the Intel Socket LGA775 processors. What does LGA mean?..... Land Grid Array. This denotes the format of the construction; this can be seen from the picture above right showing the processor socket with 775 gold “upstands” or contacts. These mate with the underside of the processor which is a corresponding totally flat dye with 775 gold contacts embedded in the face.

These processors are available in the Celeron and D, E range of model prefixes. They are also available as Core Duo and Core Duo 2. Most of these motherboards accept any of these processors. There are other processors such as the Quad Core which as the title suggests, are four core processors. This processor needs a motherboard which supports these processors. Some boards do support an “across the range” list of Intel processors, but not all will support the quad core. Check before you buy or email me first to check the component compatibility. An appropriate cooling fan also needs to be fitted.

Cooling Fans: the correct one available for the processor/board

Memory: DDR2

Fitting this all into your standard case is dead easy. Follow the instructions in earlier pages in this guide. When you are up and running again, follow the guide included to recover your registered version of Windows XP.

About the Author

Chris

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