upgrade

[shawn waddell]

I have a hp pavillion 754n with a msi motherboard. I have a P4 2.53 the ram is running at 2600 and the hard drive is running at 5400 and I only have 4x on my graphics port on the motherboard( I have a fx 5200 nvidia graphics card). I want to upgrade to a motherboard that has a 8x graphics port and a board that can handle 533ram (4200). Any suggestions for a faster hard drive a motherboard that will fit in my 754n case. Thanks

[Norman_21]

Your Mobo is an ATX type and it supports upto 2GB of Ram as Max. so you need to get a higher Ram Chips. but your graphics connector is AGP 4X.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?product=296688〈=en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=bph07942

Any ATX Mobo will fit in your case.
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_list.asp?class=mb&cpu=1

[Roger Faucher]

Shawn:

Since the existing motherboard is microATX (I don't know how to make the appropriate Greek letter for 'micro' display, it'll show as 'mu' ATX on the link below), you should be able to replace it with a microATX motherboard that'll support your existing processor (CPU) and memory (RAM) and hopefully be upgradeable to an 800MHz FSB CPU with DDR400 RAM down the road (sounds like you have DDR266 now, AKA PC2100). See the following link for your motherboard info:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?product=296688〈=en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=bph07942

As to the hard disk drive, upgrade to either a 7200RPM parallel ATA drive with an 8MB buffer OR a SATA (Serial ATA) drive (assuming your new motherboard supports it. And, of course, your new motherboard should support AGP 8X and 4X.

In summary, microATX form factor with Intel Celeron/Pentium 4 support (including latest HT CPUs) with 400/533/800 MHz FSB support, 4GB RAM support, 8X AGP support, SATA, PATA, USB 2.0, and you may want to consider onboard audio, firewire, and definitely Ethernet.

If you like Intel products, I suggest you check out the D865GRH (and its different configurations). See:

http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/rh/rh_available.htm

For non-Intel motherboards, look for an Intel 865G chipset.

HTH

Make a great day!

Roger

BTW, here's a link to help with the dizzying memory options:

http://www.kingston.com/newtech/default.asp

[Roger Faucher]

Sorry guys:

I guess it's pretty obvious that Latif posted his message while I was composing mine. Sorry for any confusion/redundancy. Also, I take issue with his remark that "any ATX Mobo will fit in your case". As I stated, it must be microATX. (Sorry, Latif) ;-)

Also, this is a better link to memory information on the Kingston website.

http://www.kingston.com/newtech/overview.asp

Roger

[Norman_21]

not a problem Roger! Thanks for correcting me...

Shawn,

It's like Roger stated in his post that you may go for a different product then MSI Mobos but Intel is quite expensive!
Aopen Mobos are pretty good too:
http://english.aopen.com.tw/products/mb/