Upgrading my Zoostorm Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8ghz

Zoostorm Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8ghz Windows 7 Home Premium PC, 500GB HDD, 2GB Ram, DVDRW, 7871-0032

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Pentium E6300 @ 2.80GHz 37 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology
RAM
2.00GB Single-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (6-6-6-18)
Motherboard
Foxconn G31MX Series (Socket 775) 40 °C
Graphics
S22C300 (1920x1080@60Hz)
2048MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 6670 (ASUStek Computer Inc) 38 °C
Storage
465GB Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 ATA Device (SATA) 32 °C
Optical Drives
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223C ATA Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

I also upgraded the original PSU to an OCZ power supply 4005x5

The catch here is...
I am 49 & never done anything like this before and I only have £125 to spend on the task.

What I would prefer to do is
Use a AMD A8-7600 3.1GHz Socket FM2+ 4MB L2 Cache with a MicroATX FM2+ motherboard, with the current GPU or the APU R7 & add 4gb ram. Keeping the same case, Hard Drive & DVD and my Altec Lansing surround sound speaker/subwoofer. The CPU is £63.48 on Ebuyer,

I see about 20 different motherboards varying in price from £28 to £77 and have no idea what is best - I am using the HDMI of the HD6670, so that is an important factor to me, as my monitor supports HDMI or analogue. The buy ready made comes with an A78 chipset, is that ok or should I go for the A88X chipset (price limits me to the Biostar) ? This one possibly at £39.50 http://www.ebuyer.com/624109-msi-a78m-e35-socket-fm2...

Which leaves me with £22 for memory - 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM HyperX Fury Red Series £22.08 I can add more later!

And yes I do realise that my copy of W7 cannot be transferred to a new motherboard. Will be using LINUX Mint, unless there is a way to use the current W7 on the upgrade (or W10 comes as a low cost DVD)., otherwise i will be using Linux.

6p over budget on todays orices.

Thank you in advance for help and support.

Suggest you also check via - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

Builds (and occasional potential problems) can be seen. My current system is a A8-7600 with a
Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI motherboard. It was about £70 or so at the time (currently at £80-ish).

Can't fault it (and therefore recommend it and the 88X chipset), but I have no basis for comparison, so suggest a site such as Tomshardware for swotting up on chipset differences...but here's a quick reference:

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1442-amd-apu-chips...

Main diffs:

- A78 is PCI-e 2.0 while A88X is PCIe 3.0 and the latter has additional 2x8 lanes

- A78 : "Mainstream Mid-range, Gaming."
- A88X : "High-end, Enthusiast, Gaming."

Or see AMD's opinion:

http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/chipsets/a-series#

So for an A8 processor, it's probably down to specific motherboard features in your case.

My setup has 8GB of RAM and the APU steals 1GB of that. No problem for me, but if you plan to have 4GB Ram with a Win 7 64-bit system, you're be at 3GB from the start and Windows 7 can easily use 2.5GB of that...I suggest 6GB or 8GB or whatever the motherboard is happy with.

In that sense, you might force yourself to a non-Windows solution, so best you decide to go Windows or not and maybe the RAM amount will make or break the platform.

Hope I've added to, and not just confused the whole thing.

Thank you Camieabz, very useful information that was most helpful. Had a look the the pdf of the MSI motherboard manual and felt I could do that! Not complicated and with links to you tube videos of the installation. The A78 will be fine for me.

Should I mount the CPU, stock fan & RAM onto the board before installing?

Do I need to buy anything else, like USB3.0 sockets for the front panel?

One thing that did confuse me was the size of the motherboards, MSI are smaller than Gigabyte, yet both claim to be Micro ATX and both are smaller than the Foxcom already installed!?

In reply to a post by blfamily:

Should I mount the CPU, stock fan & RAM onto the board before installing?

Suggest you search youtube vids for the specific socket (FM2+ I assume) and hopefully the specific heatsink. It's not that difficult, but it depends on what you have. I think...I did it in a few minutes and I forget...but I think I there were retaining plugs on my setup under the motherboard, so I had to do mine then fix the board later...but, that was a cooler-specific thing, I think. Youtube had lots of vids on things like that, and they are great for getting familiar with things, such as the amount (or lack) or force required for things like that. Some heatsinks need a fair bit of pressure to fix, while with newer ones, it seems to be easier, as there are retainers.

If applying thermal paste, see lots of vids and decide which application is best for your setup (opinions vary on best application for multiple core CPUs). If using stock heatsink with pad, don't think about it. Just follow a stock heatsink video. Best you learn for yourself and get confidence (when it's a one-off job, it's a little daunting for the first time).

Do I need to buy anything else, like USB3.0 sockets for the front panel?

That depends on your case, and if the mobo has a suitable cable to connect to the case ports. Check mobo dox for included accessories. What other things needed? See:

http://compreviews.about.com/od/general/a/DesktopPCP... (and remember software and peripheral compatibility, such as printers, routers...believe it or not, I recently had to buy a USB keyboard for someone with a new PC, but their KB was PS/2).

One thing that did confuse me was the size of the motherboards, MSI are smaller than Gigabyte, yet both claim to be Micro ATX and both are smaller than the Foxcom already installed!?

Micro ATX is a form factor, and it's really just a case of form factor 'x' being suitable for case 'y', with screw holes and so on matching. There are sometimes small differences as chipset layouts and revisions to Motherboard PCBs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroATX

The maximum size of a microATX motherboard is 9.6 � 9.6 in (244 � 244 mm), but some microATX boards can be as small as 6.75 � 6.75 in (171.45 � 171.45 mm).[5] The standard ATX size is 25% longer, at 12 � 9.6 in (305 � 244 mm).

Well here I am. New MB boots, HD starts up. Back panel not working, tried with and without io shield, no difference, front panel switches in correct order, sata and power and USB cabling, ram in correct holes. Hopefully ebuyer will refund....

Drivers?

It probably reached post, but without a video signal difficult to say. Getting refund arranged now.

Update - parcel returned yesterday & received by eBuyer today. Now got to wait for them to test (what?) the components... I am hoping my money will be refunded as quick as my order was dispatched.

Can't fathom out what was wrong when I installed the new bits. The fans worked ok, as did the on off switches on the front/ along with the on off light and the disk indicator light. t I could get a USB to work if it wasn't inserted fully! which didn't really help as the ethernet, VGA socket & all the other USB sockets did not work.

What puzzles me more is my old Foxcom mb went back in and is only held in place with 2 screws, it is working fine & the GPU is only sat in the PCI slot, it's not screwed to the chassis!