How to upgrade your motherboard: video guide

Posted on 4 Dec 2009 at 12:12

David Fearon shows how easy it is to upgrade your PC with a new motherboard and processor

Changing a PC's motherboard sounds daunting, but watch our quick guide and you'll see the process is actually pretty straightforward.

A few extra pointers

Once you've watched the video, it's a good idea to open your PC and take a look inside to familiarise yourself with the layout and whether you might encounter any problems: you're looking for snags like a lack of internal space to work in, or other components - for example the hard disks - blocking access to the board.

Before you start any significant hardware upgrade, you should always make sure you back up your data to some kind of external media that isn't tied in to the PC you're upgrading. An external USB hard disk is the most convenient thing to use.

We're upgrading an Intel-based system here, with a Core i5-compatible board supporting the latest chipset features including USB 3. The process is idential for an AMD-processor-based board.

With the vast majority of PCs, you should have no physical compatibility problems. Standard PC cases all support the ATX motherboard format, which defines the physical size and positions of connectors and screw holes, so that you can simply take out the out the old board and pop the new one in. But if your PC has a very compact case you should check it can accommodate a standard ATX board. It may need a smaller microATX board instead.

If you're planning on using a large third-party CPU heatsink, rather than the stock cooler supplied with your CPU, make sure that it will fit the new motherboard without fouling any of the components near the CPU socket on the board itself.

Windows activation

When you reboot your PC after the upgrade, Windows should detect the new hardware and in most cases will automatically install new drivers. Beware, however, that it may decide your hardware has changed significantly enough that Windows will require reactivation. This can be done over the phone and usually doesn't require speaking to anyone in person - the process is automated.

Check out our reviews section for more motherboards, plus processors to go with them.