Do i Need to change my Motherboard?

Hey I'm new to all this and want to upgrade my computer to 4Gb Ram as well as buy a good graphics card,the graphics cards I've been looking at are all DDR3 or higher,but my pc has DDR2.So what do i need to do,will i need to change my motherboard? Thanks

Short answer: It depends.

Graphics card memory and PC memory are two separate things.


The DDR3 memory on graphics cards is independent to what your dektop PC has installed. The DDR3 memory modules on graphics cards are part of the card. Separate to the PC's memory.

You will however, need DDR2 for the PC. DDR3 doesn't fit into DDR2 slots.

With your PC you might be out of luck as it looks like that motherboard/model only supports up to 2GB

http://www.upgradecomputermemory.co...027UKDesktopPC/256MB-DDR2-667-RAM-Memory.html

http://www.datamemorysystems.com/Compaq-memory/Presario-SR5027UK

And your upgrade choices are also determined by whether or not your motherboard can support 4GB ram! Consult with your users manual to find out the maximum capacity memory modules each slot will support.

I had a Gigabyte board once that although it had 4 memory slots, it could only deal with 3GB memory, because the first two slots could take up to 1GB each, while slots 3 and 4 could hold a maximum of 512MB each....

Do i Need to change my Motherboard?

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Probably. I can't see that you've got a PCI-e slot to fit a graphics card... sorry for piling on.

Fumz said:

Do i Need to change my Motherboard?

Click to expand...

Probably. I can't see that you've got a PCI-e slot to fit a graphics card... sorry for piling on.

Click to expand...

The 945GCT-HM has one PCI-e x16 and one normal PCI-e

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/prodinfoCategory?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=au&product=3397702&lang=en

thanks a lot guys,i posted this question on another forum and got no feedback.
1 more question and you'll probably laugh at this,but are the motherboard & cpu two seperate things,and if so can i replace the motherboard and keep the pentium D 3.00GHz cpu? thanks & sorry for the dumb questions

Also any recomendations for a good motherboard for £100 or less?
I've been looking at a Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R

Not a dumb question. Yes they are seperate and yes you can use it on another motherboard. You just have to make sure that the cpu and new motherboard are compatible. Most places will tell you what cpu/cpus will work with that particular motherboard (you want to look for a motherboard that has the socket that fits your cpu). I dont know anything about pentium D's so someone else will have to chime in.

Gigabyte is a good quality brand.

You might also want to look into whether or not your power supply will be able to handle the upgrades.

Jeremy

Edit: that motherboard (Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R) will work with your pentium D, if you didnt already know......

smarteyeball said:

Fumz said:

Do i Need to change my Motherboard?

Click to expand...

Probably. I can't see that you've got a PCI-e slot to fit a graphics card... sorry for piling on.

Click to expand...

The 945GCT-HM has one PCI-e x16 and one normal PCI-e

Product information Compaq Presario SR5027UK Desktop PC

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Ah, k. I looked (not too hard obviously) at the first Compaq Preario SR5027uk I found online and oddly it didn't list a pci-e slot; hence the suggestion.

Compaq Presario SR5027UK - Pentium D 925 3 GHz : Read reviews and compare prices at Ciao.co.uk

Fumz said:

Ah, k. I looked (not too hard obviously) at the first Compaq Preario SR5027uk I found online and oddly it didn't list a pci-e slot; hence the suggestion.
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Compaq_Presario_SR5027UK_Pentium_D_925_3_GHz__6888769

Click to expand...

Neither did I at first, but I started to find conflicting specs so I just had to look a little further

thanks guys,yeh it can only go as far as 2Gb,so going to get new mobo in January seen a few that can upto 16Gb and are compatible,now its the question of PCI Express 2.0.With a lot of the new graphics cards being Express 2.0 I'm unsure if they are compatible? I read an article that said most graphics cards that use 2.0 are backward compatible with 1.0,is there any truth to this and where are the PCI slots found on my computer?

Thanks again guys

Hello Jaffa1978.

Yes they are backward compatible. If I understand you; the PCI-e slots are on the motherboard, you will have to find the specs of the mobo to see for your self which ones they are.














Later Ted

A PCI-E 2.0 should have no problems with backwards compatibility.

Here's some good info with a couple of pics:

PCI Express - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

cool thanks,now I've just got to wait till after xmas to get it,do you think it would be easy enough for me to fit a mobo,graphics card & ram myself or should i take it to a shop?

It depends on your personal skill and confidence level. Cards and RAM are easy even if you haven't done it before. A motherboard installation may be a little more daunting.

Read as much about installing a motherboard as you can and then see how you feel. Doing it yourself will definitely be cheaper

DDR3 is also a waste of money at the moment, DDR2-800 is pretty much the sweet spot for price to performance ratio. If money isn't an issue however then you should go all the way with DDR3 memory.