According to the information I have...
It uses a modified (what did they leave off?) MSI MS-7093 motherboard.
The specs of the board indicate a socket 939, it should have a X16 PCI-E
graphics slot for an upgrade later.
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=RS480M2-IL&class=mb
(You can't go 100% by those specs because Emachine probably had one
modified to leave off a few things to make it cheaper, but it is the
basic board. )
The areas of concern for me would be no infromation about the power
supply. I have a feeling it probably uses a Micro-ATX form power
supply, but without actually opening it up and looking I don't know for
certain. While these days Emachines tends to use power supplies that
can deliver what they are rated (and sometimes a bit more), I can't even
find a rating for the power supply it ships with. They used to use a lot
of Forton Source & Lian power supplies, so that might not be all bad,
but Emachines tends to ship ones on the wimpy side. (Just like most
other large prebuilt companies...)
It's impossible to say whether or not you will have major space
constraints installing a new power supply if you need it, I wouldn't bet
on having the space to install a full size ATX of your choice. Not a
show stopper, you can find decent mATX power supplies if you hunt hard.
It may or may not add hassle if you try to install a hot graphics card
later.
I would expect you would eventually want to add another drive and better
graphics at some point.
The only other area of concern is the curved front panel on the case. If
you ever add another DVD-burner or have to replace the one it came with,
you'll have to find one that the buttons line up exactly. This just
means a trip to your local computer store to actually look at the drive
you intend to install. Don't make assumptions that what you buy will
fit, actually verify it will. Restocking fees aren't fun.
That being said, I don't think it's a bad deal for what you get, but I
would try get them to let you open up the case & poke around at the
store before you buy. Check that power supply and find out what it is
before you put your money on the table. Best Buy probably wont let you
do it, but at Circuit City (and probably even CompUSA) it's a fair bet
they will as long as they have a display model up and running. If it
uses a full size ATX, walk out the door with it. You can always add a
better power supply later when you upgrade graphics and do it
reasonably, if it's MicroATX you might want to think about it a bit and
shop for a replacement power supply of a higher rating and add that to
your cost. It's just harder to find ones that meet the power
requirements of decent graphics cards + that system + some more add ons.
-Timbertea
