Hi all - I have a compaq presario s4490uk for my sins.

The spec: Pentium 4 2.8ghz H.T 800fsb, 512 ddr333, Radeon 128mb 9200 graphics, Dvd rom + Dvd writer.

I have had it nearly a year and it seems to have some design flaws or a bottleneck of some description. The mobo. is a stingray P4SD-LA - if you have never heard of it join the club! Apparently it is doctored Asus board that is adjusted to meet the greedy needs of Compaq/HP - it's a heap of crap! Anyway, before I end up ranting about my experiences at the hands of HP's customer service people, I'll explain my query.

I'm into gaming and would like a suitable system for this and would be very grateful if some of you technical guys would offer me some advice re. the following options.

Option 1:
I was thinking of buying a case, decent mobo and ram in order to transfer the above hardware and rebuild a system - by the way I have never built one before, but I’m will to try - however, I'm unsure if this is possible or if H.P have tinkered with other hardware in order to prevent such ventures.

Option 2:
Keep the S4490UK as a back-up and start financial power-saving in order to pay for a monster of a PC to be built at my local PC shop?


I would be very grateful of any advice you can offer me re. the above.

Thank you for your time.

HP/Dell/IBM et Al always seem to try some propriatary mod to the MB and Case so you have to buy their parts. Dell has a different PSU Configuration than standard ATX. HP probably has a similar arrangement. Now, an ATX case is an ATX case. I would keep the processor and other guts and just replace the MB if you like the processor. If you want a monster system ($5K US) then your 2nd option is better. My system at home is a P4 2.8 G model with 1gig DDR333 and a ATI 9600 256MB. I use only a 40 gig internal drive with a firewire 200g external for storage and backup.

Thanx AphJN - think I'll fillet that no good Presario! There's a case I quite like and it's got a built in PSU. I'm not to sure about purchasing a MB as there seems such a vast difference in price. I know I need something that supports socket 478, and I would like dual channel support, on board sound and ethernet, but not sure if there's something else to take into account. I would appreciate any comments as I'm a virgin regarding PC building. Thanx for your time.

MBs today are almost like Hamburgers..Everyone seems to make one and someone has something good to say about them. I prefer ASUS. I have used them here at my work and I trust them (I have had to replace too many MBs here) I also build at home and I have had SuperMicro, MSI, Gigabyte, ASUS, and DTK. The last one is just that for me, I will never own a DTK again. The SuperMicro was a good board but too pricey for what I got. MSI and Gig we OK but I didnt like the Bios settings I could/couldnt set.

Another part you need to look for is the Chipset. My personal opinion is to avoid SiS like the plague. I have NEVER had good luck with SiS. I have had excellent results using VIA and nVidia. I have had so so performance from Intel. Bios is Bios...not much you can do with that, its either Phoenix/Award or AMI.

Mounting a MB is not that big of an issue. Use the standoffs that come with your case and any washers that are there to to Isolate any groundloops and shorts. If no washers then the MB goes straight onto the standoffs. Each cas is different and will require a little different approach to installing a MB into it. Some will need the MB Tray removed before you can install it due to space, others not.

With what I have given you, you should be able to match your desires with the realities and get started.

Wow thanx AphJN - I've learnt alot today and I'm feeling quite confindent about tackling this project. I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I'd be very grateful if you would pass on any other pointers that you think I may find helpful re. building a pc using parts (particulally the processor)from my Compaq Presario.
Thank you for your time.

If you presario had an APG Video card you want to keep, make sure the MB supports AGP (if its Socket 478 it most likely does) If you are not warry, you could get one with PCI-Express and those boards are completely different. Nothing you have except maybe the HDD/CDD would be portable.

Thanx for the info AphJN - can you recommend some decent sites for purchasing components? I find ebuyer's prices very competative, but their customer service is usless.
Regards
Wil

Are you in the Europe, US, or Australia? (So many different countries I get confused!)

I get confused with that too - I live in the UK.

Most of the shops I know are US based (I live In New York) The best thing you could do is spec out what you want, then do a search on those components with PriceGrabber, Pricewatch or Froogle and see if you can find a UK based company. I know on some of my searches I found UK shops offering very competitive prices to what I have found over here.