[dbailey18]

Just was needing a little something to do so I would like some advise on the project I'm about to dive into. Would like to rebuild this old dog and start at the MB. Any suggestions.
Has a Anaheim-2 , MB and what should I consider as a replacment . Will replace what ever it takes have been off work for about two months now and going bonkers . Will supply any more info if requested . Hope I don't sound to nutty but that is what I guess it takes some times.

[Wino]

There's not much you can do with this machine. If you keep/use the enclosure (tower) the 120W PSU isn't worth a flip on newer mother boards, plus there is not enough fan cooling capacity. If you still wish to proceed, you can get an mini-ATX motherboard, which should fit in the case. I have a E500 Monster I played around with. Gutted the original case, and placed all the parts in a mid-ATX tower. This allowed a larger PSU (350W), more fans; added PCI IDE Promise card, maxed memory at 256MB. But when you get down to it, it's still a Emachine and works little better than in the old tower. Your best bet is to just build a new computer from the gitgo and retire the E533. You would also have to have a new OS as the Emachine recovery disk isn't going to work with anything but the E533 as it shipped. Personally think it is a waste of time and money to try and improve on this old machine.

I've since restored the 500 Monster to it's original tower, reinstalled WIN98SE from Recovery disk and passed it on to a cousin that doesn't use it for much more than word processing, web browsing and photo storage and or burning photo's to disk.

[dbailey18]

Wino
Thanks for the response but I wasn't going to real serious about this project just wanted to do a little upgrading as far as dropping in a newer motherboard and power supply to help out . My main concern was a MB and pwr supply that would fit together in the case. I was looking at the ASUS P5LD2-VM Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945G Micro ATX Intel MB with maybe the Intel Pentium 4 551 Prescott 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 EM64T Processor and also a 350W Power Supply to boot . Will also be replacing the 15GB HDD with something alittle more in room for the Windows XP Pro that I have installed since I had no choice with the 98se Installation disk that came with the system sorta went bonkers . I suppose the MB comes pre-installed with a updated BIOS chip also,as I should of said earlier new at this and just hoping I end up with a little better system. Cooling I suppose will be of no great problem as I don't do any of the gaming thing . I guess I will have to replace the front side usb connector since it is a 1.0 ,I don't guess that would be to much of a problem either at least I hope. If you can think of any thing else that might cause me problems please let me know and thanks again for the info.

[Wino]

You will not find a 350w PSU that will fit into the E tower (or at least I couldn't find one) which is why I used a larger ATX tower and the existing 120w PSU will not have the 4-Pin CPU power connector required on the newer motherboards. Whether you game or not IMO is irrelevant, the newer CPU's run pretty hot and you need all the cooling you can get. Dump the E-tower for a mid-ATX

If you replace the existing 15 GB HDD (which is probably 5400 RPM) with a larger 7200 RPM, install a PCI 100/133 IDE controller (I prefer those from SIIG than from Promise) you will gain some improvement in operations with the old MB and not have to worry about the 127GB HDD limit. Stay with WIN98SE if you use the old components and move to a bigger tower............the machine will be slower than molasses with XP on the 356 MB RAM (I know, tried it).

If you're looking for big improvements, as I said earlier, just retire the E 533 and start from scratch. Buy a bare bones system from someone like Tiger Direct + XP OS and use your old DVD/CD-ROM or CD writer from the E tower.........that's about all that will be of any use. If you don't want to spend the $90 or so for XP, suggest trying ubuntu linux (it's free) on the old emachine. Whatever you decide, have fun and good luck.

[dbailey18]

Wino !
I see where your coming from now the best option is to go with another tower and I did some searching and towers aren't all that hateful in price so that's what is best to do. I want to thank you again for all the helpful info and I'm sure this will be something that I can hardly wait to do as I like to see such thing's come together and work.

[Wino]

You best hurry with the project................once the new born arrives, you won't have the time or energy!

If you use the guts from the eMachine in a new tower, add the PCI IDE controller ($30+/-), faster/larger HDD ($40+/-), you'll have a decent machine. Should be able to get a mid-ATX case with 350-400W PS for +/- $50. If you decide to get tower and new motherboard w/faster CPU will cost maybe $100 more.

Good luck and congrats on the expected new family member.

[Sarge]

I have the same computer, emachine 533. I attempted to upgrade as well (without knowing what the heck I was doing). I Purchased a new motherboard to insert it into my emachine and like Wino said it didnt fit so I had to purchase a new tower, then I purchased a chip, a fan, a cd drive, a floppy drive...etc. Needless to say my daughter now has the Emachine 533 and I have a whole new computer