Motherboard /processor upgrade ?

OK guys, lets go back to square one where this enquiry started. If I go to WOC, say, looking for a box that has a M/B + memory and a PSU in it, which is all I need in that I have perfectly good DVD drives and a new H/D already, what ....

I did a trial run on WOC for such and ended up spending over =A3500, which doesn't quite match up with the =A3250 that was being quoted as typical.

Rob

go for the cheapest one with processor in and the cheapest mini case/

Not if you are not gaming. full screen flash may struggle a bit too. Otherwise get the cheapests NVidia (geoforce)

You buy too high.

cheapest case. Cheapst M'board with processor.

SATA disk DVD R/W - cheapest.

Windows if you want it.

This is what I came up with - includes windows and no video card.

But unless you need to run windows to support some application, I'd install Linux.

G550V Intel® DH61CR inc Intel® Celeron® 2.6GHz 2MB Cache Intel® HD Graphics £74 Micro-ATX Micro Tower ATX Case High Efficiency 80Plus 300W PSU £46 KVR1333D3N9/4G 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM £14 ST250DM000 Seagate Barracuda 250GB 3.5" 7200RPM 16MB SATA 6Gb/s £40 SH-W163A-BL Samsung Internal 22xDVD-RW SATA Black £18 Win8-64 Microsoft OEM Windows 8 64Bit £74 Total ex-vat £266.00 Total inc-vat £319.20

For example - looking at my normal supplier: KINGSTON 4GB 1333MHz PC3-10600 DDR3 CL9 DIMM MEMORY

ASUS P8H61-MX USB3, INTEL H61, MATX, LGA1155, 2 D3 1333, VGA, DVI, 1 X PCIE16, USB3

INTEL CORE I3-2120 DUAL CORE,1155, 3.3GHZ, SANDY BRIDGE, HD GFX, 5GTS,

AOPEN MICRO ATX CASE, H425E, 400W PSU, BLACK, FRONT USB AND AUDIO

I could do you for £193 inc VAT & delivery

This is rubbish.

You can reinstall Windows from any suitable source, possibly even an illegal copy, and then run ... KeyUpdateTool_enu.exe ... to enter the correct key from the label on the PC.

As an example, this PC is an old Dell Latitude 610 laptop, onto which I sysprep-ed my standard Windows 2000 build, the same build as I use on my desktops, which I then upgraded using an OEM XP SP3 installation disk which won't of itself pass as Genuine Windows*, yet it is now, using the above tool, authenticated as genuine XP using the original authentication code from the label on the bottom of the machine, and is fully updated, etc.

So I've got to use my original 2k build, with all the software painstakingly installed just how I wanted it, etc, as XP. This means that I've been able to install the drivers and software for my new mobile phone, and one or two more modern pieces of software, but without having to create a completely new build for XP. It may not seem much, but, AFAIAC, it's something of a coup!

• It was acquired via eBay in the expectation of it being usable in its own right from a sh*t who left eBay the moment he'd sold it - it turned out that, being OEM, it could be only be used by the OEM firm on the original OEM software, and could not be sold on for use on different hardware, and anyway Microshaft will not now authenticate any new versions of XP, even those in sealed packaging for which the key was never used.

It may be possible to authenticate on a *different* PC *retail* versions of XP acquired second-hand, I'm not sure, but certainly *OEM* versions will only authenticate on the *same hardware* as originally authenticated upon.

A linux, or perhaps a Mac, user, presumably.

I'm still trying to decide what to do with my new Dell Inspiron R SE, which came with W8, but is now running W7. Now that I've got this one running XP, do I really need it? Perhaps not, and I hate the more recent versions of Windows so much that I only use the Inspiron for media playback. I might sell it on, but that would mean having to reinstall W8, or I might try to put Linux on it.