Questions about upgrading MOBO...

[rtech]

Hello to all. New here, and if my post lacks some important info, I apologize in advance.
Due to a USB problem that led to a hasty replacement of the motherboard, I’m looking to upgrade the MOBO. The system as it is now:
Monarch tower computer (custom build 4yrs ago)
Win XP (I have the disk)
Asus P4800-MX motherboard/ Bus clock 200mHz
Pentium 4 3GHz
1gb memory
Audigy soundcard
The computer seems to hang and just isn’t as responsive as it was with the original board, an Asus P4800 E-Deluxe. My main use for this computer would be music creation (use a lot of Adobe Audition, Sound Forge, etc), so it needs to be fast & stable. I'd want to keep all the drives I have now.

My questions are:
1) What board(s) should I look at to replace this one? What specs are the important ones? Don’t need the latest/greatest, will not overclock, not a gamer, but not interested in going el-cheapo & want an upgrade from the original board.
2) Considering that my XP went from the old board to this one, am I looking at a problem with the install on a new board?
3) I’ve been told that if I upgrade the MoBo, I should upgrade both the memory & processor. Is this true? Can I use the older stuff?
4) Will I need to do a clean install of XP on the new set-up?

Sorry to hit the forum with so many questions in one post, but I’m pretty confused. ;-). Thanks for any & all input.

 

[Triple6]

Well if the board was swapped then the first thing that you should consider doing is a fresh install of Windows. Moving Windows from one board to another can work, but not always perfectly and a fresh reinstall is the recommended procedure when replacing the motherboard with another model.

Your system is an older one, to retain your current CPU, Memory, and video card you would have to buy another socket 478 motherboard - which are now harder to find brand new as they've been replaced several years ago with a new design that has a different CPU socket, memory slots, and video card slot - socket 478 versus 775, DDR versus DDR2, AGP versus PCI-Express. Also PATA IDE support is limited to two drives on new systems, and everything else is SATA depending on what drives you now have you may need to replace some of them or buy a PCI PATA IDE Controller card. You may also need a new power supply. And you'd almost certainty need a repair or fresh reinstall of Windows.

 

[rtech]

Thanks, Triple6-

So, if I understand you right, to do the upgrade means I would really need a new board, new memory, and a new vid card?
I have two CD drives & two Hard drives. Is it likely those would be able to transfer? At least one HD is SATA, IIRC.
Beginning to sound more like a new build than an upgrade...

 

[StillLearnin']

So your "original" mobo was an Asus P4800 E-Deluxe. You replaced it with the Asus P4800-MX and now the system is slower, etc.............correct??????????? Did you do a complete "new" install of the P4800-MX including latest BIOS and other mobo updated (chipset, audio, etc)drivers? If not, start from scratch to install the latest drivers for mobo, setup DualChannel memory in BIOS (if available), then try it with your current hard drive. If still suffering slowdowns etc., re-install Windows and all Apps.

 

[Triple6]

It will be pretty much a new build. Technology has changed significantly since you originally bought your system.

Since most boards only support 2 PATA IDE devices you will have to replace one of the three drives, and I would replace the hard drive since for cabling it will be much easier to connect two CD drives on one cable then one CD drive and one hard drive.

But as I said, a clean install of Windows may do the trick, or do as suggested above, or both.

 

[rtech]

Thanks for the help, guys..
I can't say exactly how the install on the new board was done, because I didn't do it. It left not working & came back working, so I was happy...for a while.
It sounds like I have some work to do either on this computer or figuring out how I want the new computer to be built. I'm sure I'll be back around for more advice.
Again, thanks to you both for the input & direction.

 

[bigbear]

You may find a replacement board on Ebay but you will still have to do a clean install of windows