What Motherboard/Case combination do i require?

Jonah1156

Hola

I hve a Dell Dimension 2400 which has nearly packed up on me and am looking to replace the whole unit.

I have a P4 2.8g CPU and was enquiring what mobo and case would be suitable for my requirements. I deally i would like a board that enables me to use 2 USB slots at the front or nearby. There's a case on http://www.aria.co.uk/productinfocomm.asp?ID=24482&SpecialStatus=1 which seems reasonable for the price and would like some ideas about the sort of mobo I would need to match the case a well as my P4.

Thanks for looking

Jonah

vultura

What you need is a board that will match your original components, mainly the processor and ram. Expansion slots are PCI with older boards having AGP for graphics and latest boards with PCI Express for graphics.

I assume from your description that your processor is socket 478 and not a new socket 775 type. You may have some difficulty now in locating a socket 478 board of reasonable quality. Matching the case should not be a problem, as it is ATX and most boards will be ATX or Micro-ATX (which is smaller/has less expansion slots). Knowing Dell, you probably need to buy a new heatsink fan for the processor, as they tend to fit passive heatsinks with a plastic duct going to a case mounted fan.

nintendosensei

look for a asus or gigabyte 478 board and you should be all right, it'll have in the specs whether it has the 2 usb for the front

Jonah1156

Vultura

many thanks for your response. Yes, it's a 478 type and am aware that coices are far and few withing tis category.

I'm trying to avoid the on-board graphics mobos as i can't b ar**d to sort that out! Yes, I had forgotten about the heatsink set up as well so will need to find a cooler (perhaps locally) to purchase.

Anyone has any ideas where the best place (net wise) to ge a decnt mobo? Ideally, I would like the chance of having the 2 USB slots at the frnt (to sve fiddling around at the back)

Thxs

GreenNotM

The front USB's will just be on the case connected to the M/B via a cable ( as per the on/off switch disk lights etc), it is just the rear ports that actually sit attached on the board. Look for a M/B with plenty of usb's "on board"

bigdic

What about THIS, it's got 6 usb 2.0 on it. If you don;t want to use the on-board graphics then just plonk in a graphics card and install the drivers Job Done.

If I was you I'd buy a better power supply than the one supplied with the case, cheap power supplies are un-reliable in my experiance and a pain in the !!! when you have to replace them a year down the line.

vultura

bigdic wrote:

What about THIS, it's got 6 usb 2.0 on it. If you don;t want to use the on-board graphics then just plonk in a graphics card and install the drivers Job Done.

If I was you I'd buy a better power supply than the one supplied with the case, cheap power supplies are un-reliable in my experiance and a pain in the !!! when you have to replace them a year down the line.

Thats a cheap micro-atx board, but it will do the job. Easy to install, drivers on CD are menu driven. Intel chipset for stability and on-board graphics to keep costs down. Also has AGP slot for graphics card should you wish to upgrade or have a card available from the Dell. As for USB, it has 4 sockets on the rear of the board and ability to connect a further 2 to the case.

Yes, really cheap PSUs should be avoided where possible, they can cause stability issues. However short term it will work and can be replaced easily should the need arise.

Jonah1156

Vultura

Am still looking for a decent mobo and saw this on Ebay. Just wondering if this will be suitable bearing in mind that I shall need to have a decent fan and also I've got 2 x 256mb PC2700 ram.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=020&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=300062032539&rd=1&rd=1

The atx form factor mentioned on that board - does it mean a full form factor case its needed or could I get away with a micro one? Also what type of fan would be needed to complement my existing P4 2.8ghz cpu?

Regards

Jonah

nintendosensei

Thats a pretty good motherboard, asus generally do make decent motherboards.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-006-SY
That fan would be extremely good for your CPU, you could probably attempt a nice overclock on it too.

Gib_Gib

The AsRock motherboard is a decent board for the money.

AsRock are Asus's cheaper brand, its like Volkswagon to Audi.
http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=23284

This £6 heatsink will do you fine
http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=17464

I can not really see you getting a good overclock with that ram being used, I can not see spending the extra money on a large HSF would provide anything bar a quieter system.