Hi,
I built my current PC in early 2000, the box is for an "ATX" form (Asus p5a
in my case). I'll probably build a new one soon - are the current mobos
still ATX, and can I assume they will fit in my current box?
Thanks
The P5A is a standard, relatively narrow ATX motherboard. Most modern
boards are somewhat wider so you might verify that everything (like
optical drives) have an extra 10-30mm of clearance from the edge of
the P5A, else you might not be able to install normal to long length
optical drives in the lower 1 or 2 5 1/2" bays.
Otherwise, the larger issues are those of power and cooling. Unless
you have an atypically good (for that era) power supply, you'll need
to upgrade it for all but the most minimal, most integrated of
motherboards (IE- few PCI cards and no AGP card). Also for cooling,
new parts will product at least 3X as much heat... it's very unlikely
that your present case was designed with enough air intake and exhaust
to deal with this heat. If there's room on the rear wall of the case
to install (at least) an 80mm fan, you might be able to do that or cut
out a hole yourself, after stripping down the system, to install such
a fan.
In other words, it'd be easier to start from scratch, to buy a new
case with good ventilation, which includes a decent, name-brand >=
330W power supply, then build at leisure while your current system is
still operational.
