Noob Help

Generally it is easier to reformat the HDD when changing the motherboard. It can be done though I find it easier to reformat the HDD.

As long as the case has sufficient space for your components you'll be fine.

So what happens when you reformat the hardrive? and how do you do it?

You use your OS (windows) disk to reinstall it self. "reformat" is the process of wiping the HDD. Just Bing it and read a guide on reinstalling your OS.

You can just save your documents to a portable HDD.

it also depends on how old the components are that you plan on keeping. porbs easiest to list your set up and the planned mobo choice if you have it

State type of RAMs: current platforms and incoming ones mean the sun has gone down on DDR2 platforms @@

if you want to keep the files on your old HDD, you can just move it over without having to delete or do anything to it. the rest of your components will move over without issue as long as you get a motherboard that is compatible for them. If your RAM is DDR2, make sure your mobo supports it, and if you are moving your cpu over, make sure the socket on your mobo accepts the cpu. Generally, its easier to upgrade CPU+mobo together, as simply upgrading the mobo won't net you much of an increase in performance, and you'll be restricted to whatever generation your cpu is.

On the software side, once you change your mobo, you will have to reinstall windows, because your hardware configuration has changed.