[SOLVED] Motherboard Upgrade HP Pavilion Elite m9040n

[Zeikai]

Hello, I've been wanting to upgrade my computer to support DDR3 Ram and give it an overall motherboard upgrade. My current rig is a HP Pavilion Elite m9040n but with a Galaxy Geforce 430 GT card and windows 7 ultimate in it. I plan on making the change to 64 bit and want to get 8 gigs of good DDR3 ram into it but I would have to upgrade the motherboard.

The motherboard I'm looking at is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131781

I'm not sure if this would be compatible with what I have in my system now, any advice or what motherboard I should upgrade into to (provided it can be bought on newegg) would be great. Below is my system specs.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01154933

 

[geogolem]

If you get a new mobo, you'll need a new CPU and RAM.
You'll likely also want a new power supply (PSU) and will actually need one if you want a new graphics card.

An SSD is another worthwhile upgrade.

Lets be honest here, you really won't be upgrading that HP Pavilion.... You'll be basically building an entirely new computer while trying to salvage the case, video card, HDD and tv tuner card.

Your existing mobo is a micro ATX board so its likely that the z68 ATX board you suggested won't fit into your existing HP case.

Your going to want to compare the featuresets/prices of the following mobos: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=z77+micro+atx&x=0&y=0

There is some good memory for that board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

If you don't plan on overclocking you probably want either of these CPUs:

Ivy Bridge: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116506
Sandy Bridge: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074

If you plan on overclocking you'll also need an aftermarket CPU cooler and buy the k version of the CPU's instead of the ones above. I honestly wouldn't reccomend overclocking etc. in that HP case.

You can probably get by without upgrading your PSU but I would reccomend getting a quality PSU. Those ones in the stock HP systems are cheap and if the PSU fails it can take other components out with it.
You'll definitely want a modular PSU if you plan to re-use that HP case. Corsair HX650 is ideal. This will also handle any current or (likely) any future single graphics card you might throw at it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012&Tpk=HX650

Another upgrade would be a nice 120GB SSD which can you use as a boot drive to handle your OS and applications.

 

[Zeikai]

Probably would be smarter to just try and build a new computer then, I'll look into these those and see what I can come up with, thanks for the fast answer.

 

[geogolem]

Ya, you'll basically be building a new computer, but you can definitely re-use your HDD and tv tuner card, case if you really need to though I would reccomend a better case with better airflow, cooling, noise reduction and cable management. You can even re-use your graphics card until you save up enough money to buy a new one etc. (or most will have onboard graphics anyway)...

The benefit of not reusing your case/HDD etc. is that maybe you can keep your existing computer functional (i.e. for your mother) or somethign.. I dont know.