Just be sure that the board will support 4gig sticks. If it has 2 slots and it says max supported memory is 8gig, then it should. Pretty much any Asus board should be a safe bet.
However most of the low end micro-ATX boards will probably have integrated graphics and those might be good enough for less demanding games. IDK, I’m not a gamer.
You must know people with kids who could slap this together in an afternoon.
The one potential problem I see is that the power supply is only 300watts. That should be fine for a mobo and memory but will get dicey when you start adding a graphics card.
Thanks, dzero. I think I may try to tackle this myself. My BiL builds computers, but lives about 2100 miles away; he may be able to help me over the phone with this.
The only question I’m still left with is about the OS. If I replace the motherboard, how do I reload the OS and whatever drivers I need? I have the HP system recovery disc (w/ Vista 64) and my HP Win7 upgrade disc, but no actual OS software.
Can you recommend a good website that can walk me through how to build the computer? I’ll have my laptop available while I try this.
I don’t know how proprietary that Win7 upgrade disc is, but you can do a full OS installation straight from the regular Win7 upgrade disc - it’s probably worth a shot. All you do is essentially install the “trial” OS first and then use the same disc to run the official upgrade installation on top of it.
Also, believe it or not, the biggest help in assembling the computer will be your motherboard’s own manual. It’ll give you the pinouts and even tell you how to install your CPU.
I’ve been doing stuff like this for so long I don’t know what web sites would be useful. I would try googling something like ‘DIY build computer’ and look for reputable sites like PC World, PC Magazine, etc.
What RS said about the mobo manual is very true. If after reading the hardware installation section, you have questions, definitely post again. I would also recommend favoring Asus boards in deciding on which to purchase.
Installing the OS from the HP disk may or may not work. I don’t have enough experience with that to say. I subscribe to Microsoft’s Technet for about $150/year and get license keys for all of their products. Do not try to buy a use copy off of ebay or other site since it may well turn out to be a scam - it will install but a couple months later you’ll get a notice about your copy of windows being illegitimate. Only buy from a reputable dealer.
I went to Fry’s Electronics today and bought a $50 board. It went in without a problem, and I have Win 7 installing from my upgrade disc right now. I had a bit of a problem with it hanging while installing, but a quick Google search gave me a solution that I hope works.