Trying to rebuild/upgrade my system, HELP?

[1toDV8]

Hello, I'm kind of a green horn when it comes to computers.

I have a gigabyte GA-M55plus-S3G motherboard and AMD2 CPU that is kind of fried( I'm reasonably sure of this since it doesn't post), anyway, I tried to wipe and reload windows XP when it seemed to be acting up and got the blue screen of death.

Assuming I am correct that the motherboard did fry, I would like to upgrade the system to something bigger and more capable. I'm considering this:

AMD Phenom 9650 QUAD CORE CPU +ASUS M4A785-M + 4GB.

#1 Will this board function with the reamaining Seagate ST80 B9/7200/100 2M 80 gig hard drive/ LG GSA H42N CD ROM and Award ATX model EP-43058 power supply that I already have? or will I need to upgrade those as well.

#2 This computer was original built to hook up to my big screen TV and had a video card installed with the DMI port. The motherboard I'm considering has that port as well so the video card is not needed, CORRECT?

#3 Is this a plug and play kind of thing or do I have a complete new system in my future?

#4 will it even mount in my desktop box? I have a mozart SX case/ box.

The system basically is for watching movies/ surfing, maybe some gaming but I'm not a "serious" gamer so more or less I'm wondering just how compatable my old parts will be with this new board and CPU.

Any recomendations would be greatly appreciated since I have VERY limited knowledge on this things.

Thanks in advance! Hopefully I made this understandable to you guru's.

 

[glaex]

dont get a phenom 1, they are not so great

 

[1toDV8]

dont get a phenom 1, they are not so great

A little more details would be useful here. Not to be rude but, I was really looking for more (intelligent) information other than "dont buy it, their not so good".

Example: WHY?

Or, Get this one! They are the best! Or, This will work better for what your looking to do.

 

[glaex]

well if you getting the motherboard and ram and proc you should get some newer technology. having extra cores is good but phenom I's have too low clock speed which realy affects performance, they dont overclock well, and you can get into am3 with newer ram which is same price now and will cheaper in the future while ddr2 is only going to get more expensive. plus you will get support for future amd processors and all for the same price thanks to the cheap athlon ii procs. an athlon ii x3 can overclock and you can get the proc for $76 and a mobo for $55 so theres no reason to pick an outdated setup from the start.

 

[1toDV8]

well if you getting the motherboard and ram and proc you should get some newer technology. having extra cores is good but phenom I's have too low clock speed which realy affects performance, they dont overclock well, and you can get into am3 with newer ram which is same price now and will cheaper in the future while ddr2 is only going to get more expensive. plus you will get support for future amd processors and all for the same price thanks to the cheap athlon ii procs. an athlon ii x3 can overclock and you can get the proc for $76 and a mobo for $55 so theres no reason to pick an outdated setup from the start.

Hey thanks for the input, thats what i was looking for. As I stated I'm a green horn when it comes to computers, but I'm pretty handy!

Been a diesel mechanic most of my life, a regular auto mechanic even longer, I understand electronics very well. I just don't get the time to play with computers much. I can assemble/ desassemble anything. I'm VERY good at troubleshooting. But in this world you tekky folks play in, its more about understanding the circuitry then the assembly/disasembly. Thats my weekness, I just dont understand everything I need to about computers YET!!!!!