motherboard help?

I can say from experience that shopping for a motherboard is not an easy task. You have to consider that a motherboard is what ties all the components of your system together and is the central piece of hardware of a computer system. There are so many aspects you have to know in advance that unless you are somewhat technical, you'd be better off investing in a preconfigured sysem. But if you really want a new motherboard, here are questions to ask yourself:

1. What kind of CPU do you need to support? In order for a CPU to work on a specific motherboard, you have to know what chipset supports the CPU and what kind of socket is required to mount the CPU.

2. What kind of memory is supported. There is a symbiotic relationship between the CPU, memory and motherboard. You have to make sure you have matched the memory to the motherboard and CPU in terms of speed and mode (i.e. dual channel).

3. Do you require on board video. On some motherboards, there is no built in video hardware which requires you to add a video card so that you can connect a monitor.

4. What kind of disk drives need to be supported? Newer motherboards are designed to support SATA (Serial ATA) disk drives rather than IDE or PATA (Parallel ATA) disk drives. If you plan to continue using IDE drives, you have to make sure the motherboard has sufficient connectors (heads) so that all the drives can be connected. This includes not only disk drives but CD and DVD drives too.

5. You have to make sure that the power supply you plan to use provides the appropriate amount of power for the components on the motherboard. Does the CPU require its own power connection? Does the power supply connector match to the motherboard connector, referred to as a 20 + 4 power connection. How many case fans need to be supported? Does the motherboard have the proper number of fan connectors?

6. If you already have a case, what size motherboard can be installed? There is ATX and microATX size motherboards.

So you can see that there are many aspects to selecting an appropriate motherboard. Sometimes, installing a new motherboard requires a reinstall of the operating system which leads to reinstalling all application software. So beware of the amount of work you may end up having to do.

If you want to take a look at motherboards in general and read about some of the specifications, I recommend going to any of the following companies websites: TigerDirect, NewEgg, Directron. You can detemine what types of motherboards are available and then you can check out the motherboard manufacturers website to look at detailed specifications and optionally view users manuals. There are many motherboard manufacturers: ABIT, ASUS, Gigabyte, Intel, MSI and many more. Lots of research is key to finding the right motherboard for what you need.

Hi

I am not sure but I think Dell have there own power supply and the conection to the mother board this is not the same as atx or a standard mother board. Dell have a plug from the power supply that will not fit on some main board.Worth checking out before.

You want to consider the layout of the MO. where the CPU is positioned. The CPU cooling fan is a biggie. Whether the components of the MO will will touch or hit the other components inside the case (hard drives, etc.)

depends on which of those chips you have. get a mobo that supports socket 775.

make sure that it also supports ram you have now or just get new ram.

Why dont you just buy a new computer???