hi, i just got my ati radeon 9800pro and i need to get a upgraded PSU (looking at 400 watts PSU/case combo) for my dell. I just talked to dell support and they said that the mobo the computer came with is only good for up to 300watts.... so now im looking into getting a new mobo and i need help. im not that computer savy so i would like to know what would be a good choice to get the most out of my new vid card. I know that the mobo in my comp now has AGP 4x... i kno i need AGP 8x. I have a pentium4 @ 2.4GHz. Also, how involved is it to switch to a new mobo, besides reconnecting everything? Any major problems to look out for?Please any info/recomendations would be great. if you need to know any more specs on my comp LMK.
Picking the right motherboard
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ohGrFreak
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"mobo is only good up to" is bullshit. your mobo only takes what it needs, you cannot overpower it with a stronger PSU. get that 400w PSU. If you still want to change out your mobo, someone else will help you with that, as I am not that good at that area.
ThirtySixBelow
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The dell will definitely need the new case since I am sure any non-dell motherboard probably won't fit. As for the 4x AGP, it isn't a big setback. You shouldn't notice too much of a difference at all. If you really wan't the absolute most out of your card then you can get a new motherboard, but it's really up to you if the money for a new one will justify not a whole lot of improvement, if any... depending on what you are doing. If you are looking into a new mobo go with ASUS or ABIT, they are both respectible companies that you can trust for a good product. The best prices and service are usually from Newegg.com, if you havn't checked that out yet you can compare products there.
ohGrFreak & ThirtySixBelow thaks for the info, that pretty much answered all my questions. If I do decide to get a new Mobo is it a good idea to back up my harddrive? A somewhat tec savy friend told me that a prob i could run into is windows XP messing up asking for the key and then saying that it was already in use when you go to enter it again. Is there any way to get around this? Also, other then transfering the CPU, RAM, Vid and sound cards, etc. installing a new mobo is just pretty much plug and play right? This is the mobo im looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-497&depa=0
Thanks again for the helpful info.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-497&depa=0
Thanks again for the helpful info.
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