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Building new computer, recycling old dell parts, help

Last response: in Systems

Blew up my mobo on a Dell I have. It's a couple years old but I think def still has some parts worth using. For some ridiculous reason it would cost $340 just to replace a mobo, so I decided to spend about that much money to build a new computer. Here's what I've come up with, let me know what you think. Any help is appreciated, as I am new to this.

This case and power supply. I had one of the skinny dell towers with a backwards mobo, so I gotta replace that.
This motherboard
This processor. There a $50 off deal on the mobo & CPU

I have a question whether I can use my old RAM or not for now, or whether I even want to. I have 2x1GB Samsung 1gb 2Rx8 PC2-4200U-444-12-E3
if I remember correctly it's 667MHz DDR SDRAM

I have a Radeon x1300 pro graphics card from my dell. I think I should be able to use it, looks like it's a PCIe16

My HDD is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB. I shouldn't have any problems with my hard drive or disk drive or anything, should I?

I should probably buy a heatsink for my CPU too, yeah? I couldn't find one for AM3 that I didn't read a bad review about it fitting. Any ideas here?

Thanks a lot for reading this, any help is appreciated

I don't plan on doing any serious overclocking, and I may play a game or two, but honestly my computer is 90% used for music, internet, typing papers and that kind of work (workin on my masters), and videos sometimes. I don't know if it helps knowing what I'm doing with it. Main point is I want it to run and pretty well.

I wouldn't try to use anything from your old computer. A lot of prebuild computers use proprietary parts that don't work well with others. Also, it sounds if the computer was really old.

What's your budget? Might want to refer to the stickied thread "How to ask for new build advice".

The CPU and mobo are good.

I recommend the Antec 300 Illusion instead of the case you have. It's the same price, and is one of the best cases in that price range.

You cannot use the old RAM with the new board. The AM3 means it uses DDR3 RAM. Buy some 1333mhz CAS Latency 7 2x2 GB. It should run about $100.

Buy a new graphics card if you plan on gaming. ATI just released a bunch of new cards (the 5xxx series) that support DirectX11. The lower end choices are the 5750 for $145 or 5770 for $170. These are pretty powerful cards for the price, and will remain current for a while.

For an HDD, look at the Samsung Spinpoint F3 (500 GB for $55 or 1 TB for $85). These are very fast and have an excellent price.

You don't need to get a heatsink/fan for the CPU unless you plan on overclocking.
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Re-using the graphics card should be fine.

Re-using the HDD will still require a fresh install of an operating system. Your old HDD will also be slower than a new 500GB Samsung F3 or Seagate 7200.12.

I agree about the antec 300 illusion. Such a low price to get 4 fans and great airflow.

If you are not going to overclock, the stock CPU fan is fine in a good case. For overclocking, the least expensive high performance cooler is the Coolermaster Hyper 212. If you read the newegg reviews you will see that around 10% are people that should probably have not been assembling their own PCs. Dont take the newegg reviews too seriously.

Do you think there would be a problem with either that case or the power supply it comes with? The Antec is a little more expensive and doesn't come with a PSU. It plus a new PSU is a lot more and the power supply in my Dell is a little 280w that I don't think could power all these parts. Also would I be able to at least use my HDD in the new build, because it has all my important stuff on it? Thanks again for the advice it's been a big help already.

So I guess I'll get a new HDD, but then will I be able to easily transfer stuff from my old hard drive? Or will I still need to install a new OS?

You'll need a new OS any way. You're replacing the board, which to OEM versions (like the one given you by Dell) its a new computer. Just install the OS to the new drive and install the old one to copy files.

You will need a different PSU. 280W won't cut it. I typically don't recommend buying a case with a PSU install. You're not going to get something quality, and the PSU is the thing that makes the whole machine go.

Ok sub $350 'nest' - reuse HDD if operational hehe
edit - the 785G IGP is actually on par with a discrete HD 3450 and thatS better than your X1300 PRO @@

$327 AR

OK now suppose I just decide to invest in an all new rig (scholarships are paying for it anyway), what do you guys think of this setup??:


AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDX945FBGIBOX - Retail

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

HIS H575F1GDG Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support



OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power

And a new monitor to top it all off

Acer G205Hbmd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail

A Few more questions: Does the HDD come with a SATA cable? Do I need to buy thermal glue? Anything I could save a lot of money by changing without sacrificing much performance? Or, anything I could make a lot better with a little money?


It’s not an uncommon thing for someone to scrap their old computer and use some of the parts
in a new machine that they plan to either build or buy. Not only can you save a lot of money that
way, but it can make the transition of data from the old computer to the new one a lot easier.

Houston computer recycling