Please Help with upgrade options

[rmead001]

I currently have a MCP61PM-HM or Nettle3-GL8E that I bought from best buy. I have a evga 9800 gtx vid card and a 600w power supply. I would like to upgrade the processor from the AMD quad 1.8 but am trying to find nice options. I've heard the 9600 has problems with vista 64. I'm currently running windows 7 64 bit. Any input is GREATLY appreciated. I know how to install the hardware just not how to match it up.

 

[ares1214]

i am pretty sure that a amd p2 x4 940 will work in your system, because am2+ cpus normally work in am2 mobo, but the hypertransports are cut in half. otherwise the best am2 cpu is the brisbane 5200, which would actually give fairly good performance.

 

[rmead001]

The x4 940 is rated over 95w which is what the motherboards specs says is the max. Would this still be a good idea? Is it a guaranteed fit? If so this is the obvious choice but I don't want to "take a chance" especially with shipping and returning. Otherwise with the brisbane 5200, is dropping down to the dual core going to be better since the processor is superior? I just want to make sure that if I replace a quad core for a dual core I wont be replacing it again any time soon.

 

[ares1214]

well then the 940 wont work, the 5200 is your best bet. although, with the price of the 5000 series, the 955 and ddr3 ram, now is a great time to upgrade, and your system could definitely use one. to be honest, you would probably see and upgrade in performance if you went with the 5200 over your 1.8 GHz quad.

 

[rmead001]

Well if I would see an upgrade in the 5200 its worth the $80 its running for. You say getting a whole new board with new ram and new processor wouldn't be bad to get right now but I don't know anything about setting up a bios and I think that would mean dumping my hard drive to reinstall everything fresh. Also plugging in all the wires and setting up the board is alien to me. I can unplug and plug back into a current board but a new setup would throw me off.

 

[ares1214]

no you wouldn't have to dump your hdd necsiarily (wow i couldn't of spelled that more wrong ) and setting up bios is so easy and you dont even have to really do much of anything. look at this combo and tell me it doesnt rock!:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.308218

and if you are really uncomfortable with building then you could always get somebody else to do it for you.

 

[rmead001]

For that price its hard not to. Lets say hypothetically I get that combo (wow I really might). Is the 4GB going to be enough? Thats what I currently have and have looked into 8GB, but for an extra $150 I may as well get that combo and see A LOT more power. My current HD, DVD drive, and memC slots would still work? Will this fit into the HP compaq pavilion case that I'm currently using? Would the fans that case currently has be enough cooling? You say I wouldn't have to dump my HDD then what exactly would I have to do? I'm running Windows 7 64bit, are those products compatible with 64bit? You say setting up a BIOS is extremely easy but I wouldn't know where to start.

I know its a bunch of questions but I like to know what i'm getting myself into before I start. What exactly would setting up a BIOS take? The last thing I would want to do is get everything together and realize I need to download something else and not have a computer running to do that.

Also that board looks sli ready and man I want to do that. It says that you can sli ATI boards but i'm running an nvidia. This is the exact card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339&cm_re=9800_gtx-_-14-130-339-_-Product

The main reason I don't build a custom system is because I'm worried I will leave out little things like fans and ruin it.

 

[ares1214]

first off, 4 gigs of really fast memory is plenty, 4 gigs of slow memory is still enough. you could upgrade to 8 gigs for another 120$, but thats youir choice. as long as your hdd and dvd are sata, and maybe even ide, then yes they will still work. i really would think it would fit into your case, but i cant say for sure. you would just reuse the hdd with the os already on it and reconnect it to the new comp.all of these are 64 bit, and bios is different for every setup, but it is very easy, and sometimes not even very manditory. i hope that answered most of your questions

 

[rmead001]

I added in some info about fans and cooling but you replied so fast! I really appreciate it. So for the most part would this be plug and play? Take out old system. Put in new system. Turn on computer? I was under the impression I would have to reinstall windows because of the hardware changes.

 

[rmead001]

I have no idea if the HDD is sata or not. I bought the computer in May or June of 09. I believe its HP Pavilion a6700y.

 

[ares1214]

k just looked at the hdd and it is a sata 500 Gb, which is perfect, and that has the os on it so, you can just carry all of your data over on that.

 

[rmead001]

I really appreciate all of this so I guess my final 2 questions are:

1) Cooling. Will the stock fans that come with the computer be enough or will I need more colling? Top of my head I think theres 2 fans, 1 in back and 1 in front but I'm not 100% without opening it, and i'm not home.

2) Plugging in the wires to the motherboard for the front USB and mic/headphone slots. Is this easy to find? Is there some sort of diagram that will show me where everything is or will I have to read the small print on the board? Also is there a short list of things to make sure they are plugged in? I know the main power plug goes into the 24 pin ATX power connector. Does my hard drive then plug into the SATA ports at the bottom of the boards or does it plug into the cable? If using the SATA ports at the bottom will wiring be included? I believe the hard drive is currently plugged into a cable wire along with the DVD drive.

 

[ares1214]

first, the stock cooler is meant to be just enough to handle that cpu, so overclocking is going to be marginal. and most things on the motherboard only have 1 possible place they can go, like 4 pin cpu connector, 24 pin psu, sata connectors, and if you get stuck, then we can walk you thru it

 

[rmead001]

Well I don't plan on over clocking. That is something I have 0 experience with. The processors usually come with a cooling unit for right on top, not sure if this one does, but what I was talking about was the fans that circulate in my case. I don't want to have to worry about everything getting to hot in there.

 

[ares1214]

no i fan taking in air and 1 fan taking air out is fine.

 

[rmead001]

Then I think I found a new system!

If I just take a note of whats currently plugged in to my board and make sure the same things are plugged in the new board you think that would be enough to get me off the ground and running? I'm not stupid when it comes to this, just inexperienced

 

[ares1214]

what system?

 

[rmead001]

The board the processor and the RAM you linked above. I think I'm just going to buy that instead of investing $100~ into a processor and $200 into RAM just to have less performance then that package.

 

[ares1214]

good choice

 

[rmead001]

Ordered the setup just now and i'm kinda excited. I was reading that with the ram you have to adjust the bios to get the 1600 which i'm not sure how to do and may need a little assistance with.