Upgrade motherboard only?

Hello, first-time poster here. I currently have a system I made around a year/year and a half ago, and I'm quite happy with it overall except that the motherboard has a couple of non-critical problems with it (one of the DIMM slots is broken, possibly my fault and a couple of other minor things.) Does anyone know if I would be able to just replace the motherboard with a new one (probably different model/manufacturer, chipset, but still same socket type of course) and keep all of my components? Would it require formatting my hdds? Thanks much!

Hard to say without knowing exactly what you have and what MB you want to buy.

If you have a big aftermarket CPU cooler you need to be careful to pick a new motherboard where it fits. For example some of Asus' Deluxe models have cooling that gets in the way of some CPU coolers.

Depending on the case and old MB layout and new MB layout, you might need to buy longer SATA cables.

It's probably a good idea to reinstall Windows. If you're using Vista, I think it will complain about the new MB. You don't have to format the HDDs. Do backup what is important first.

Are you using RAID?

If your old MB has all PCI slots filled, and the new MB has fewer PCI slots, or some are blocked by video cards, then again you have a problem.

If your old MB has AGP then you have a BIG problem. I'm assuming it's PCI-E since you bought it only a year and a half ago.

Yeah, it should be fine but you might need to do a repair install.

And what MB are you getting? I like the K9A2 Platinum, btw - that would allow you full speed HD 4850 CF when you're tired of the 9600GT, and supports Phenom too.

Sorry, I should have explained a bit.

The K9A2 Platinum 790FX ($150) can run two HD 4850 cards and give full x16 speed to each of the two used PCI-E slots.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130136

The K9A2 CF-F 790X ($95) can do the same thing but at x8+x8 instead of x16+x16.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130172

The difference is not very important with HD 4850 cards at 1680x1050 or less. It is important, IMO, at higher resolutions or with HD 4870 cards. It depends on the game too, so it's hard to say how much you should care.

Apart from that, between these two, the $55 difference buys you FireWire, eSATA, more SATA ports, some additional cables and accessories. If you have a 22" monitor or smaller and you don't need those additional features then the 790X is probably better value for you.