hello,
i have an sony vaio computer that i brought in 1996. i'm looking to play around with it and change the motherboard, cpu and memory. can somebody teach me what i need? i have found that the motherboard comes in many style's. what model should i be looking for? i understand that you can get a bundle package with the motherboard, cpu and memory combined. how do i make sure that it fits in the desktop?
thanks for any info,
krm2257

Hi krm2257, welcome to SAF

Is your old computer still booting and working ?

If it is still working, there's a few things you can do to upgrade it, as it's a quite old computer (my wife uses to say the same thing on me)

Please post back with more details on what you want to do.

Chris

PS - Post your computer make and model, as we can take a look on it's possibilities.

hi,
its a sony vaio pcv-220/pcv-240. i brought it in 1996 and yes it still boots and runs. i'm looking to learn and replace the motherboard, cpu and memory. i'm confused with all of the motherboards that are available. i was told to get a socket a motherboard. is this correct? any other idea's what i should look for. i don't need or want the best of everything, i just need value for the fastest computer i can rebuild.
thanks for any ideas

QUOTE

change the motherboard, cpu and memory

Ok, krm2257

so, you'll change all... You will just left the case and the PSU...
You will need to know if you want to discard your HD and other preripherals, as they may not work with another mobo/cpu... (or maybe it will).

It will depend on the new mobo and peripherals, as I am not sure if the vaio pcv-220 PSU suppots the new psu and system features.

I am just wondering if it's wise to do that huge changes on an old computer...

I am using a 14 years old Pentium 2-400 as internet server (it's older than yours) with no problems, and my stabilyzer is from 1982...

Maybe you can use it to perform some light tasks, as connecting to the net or being a word processor... or to be a kid's entertainment center ?

When I remember how much I paid for my old P2-400, (it was a P1-100 before I upgraded it) and how much it costs me to build a new Athlon XP today, I am stucked (...)

Chris

krm2257,

Actually, a lot depends on how much money you want to spend. Do you want to build a top of the line [gaming & film editing] or just get reasonable up to date so that you can run WinXP.

It also depends on how much of the other components [cards, drives, etc...] you plan/hope to reuse.

Here is one of the places that I shop.

http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=MBB

scroll down to very bottom for motherboard & CPU combos.

Here is another place that I have heard recommended [never shopped here myself].

http://www.directron.com/mobobundles.html

These two URLs are BIG SITES so look around.

There are two major things to check out before you sink any money into it.

>Will the new mainboard that you want to install physically fit the mounting holes and the rear port cutouts in the old box?? Believe me, you don't want to get in to modding the physical case to try and make a new board fit, and in the situation of a case from the 1996 era that is going to be a real possibility.

>You are going to definitely have to replace your power supply. That case was from the old DOS Win95/98 era, and those power supplys ran around 150-200Watts, +or- a few. Far too low to safely run modern peripherals such as harddrives, optical drives, CPU's etc.

When I "clean up" an old unit for someone, I stick with what the unit was originally built to run. If you are not careful, what starts out as a fun project to do in an afternoon can turn into a real headache and wallet-ache for several weeks.