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1. What does the upgrader want to do that compels him or her to upgrade? Write it down! Some of the common motivations for upgrading are to play that hot new game or to take advantage of new technology. What’s the minimum system needed to run tomorrow’s action games? What do you need to make multimedia sing? Does the motherboard need to have FireWire and high-speed USB built in to accommodate digital video and better printers?

Figure 9-23 Case with both front-mounted ports and an addon flash memory card reader

2. How much of the current system does the upgrader want to save? Upgrading a motherboard can very quickly turn into a complete system rebuild. What form factor is the old case? If it’s a microATX case, that constrains the motherboards you can use with it to microATX or the smaller FlexATX. If the desired motherboard is a full-sized ATX board, you’ll need to get a new case. Does the new motherboard possess the same type of CPU socket as the old motherboard? If not, that’s a sure sign you’ll need to upgrade the CPU as well. What about RAM? If the old motherboard was using DDR SDRAM, and the new motherboard requires DDR2 SDRAM, you’ll need to replace the RAM. If you need to upgrade the memory, it is best to know how many channels the new RAM interface supports, because performance is best when all channels are populated.

What if the old motherboard was using an AGP graphics accelerator that the new motherboard does not support, but you don’t want to splurge on a PCI Express graphics accelerator right now? In this situation you might want to consider moving to a motherboard with integrated graphics. What’s great about integrated graphics is that if the motherboard also possesses a ×16 PCI Express slot, you can upgrade to a more powerful discreet graphics accelerator later.

3. Once you’ve gathered information on motivation and assessed the current PC of the upgrader, it’s time to get down to business: field trip time! This is a great excuse to get to the computer store and check out the latest motherboards and gadgets. Don’t forget to jot down notes and prices while you’re there. By the end of the field trip, you should have the information to give the upgrader an honest assessment of what an upgrade will entail, at least in monetary terms. Be honest—in other words, don’t just tell upgraders what you think they want to hear—and you won’t get in trouble.

Installing the Motherboard

If you’re replacing a motherboard, first remove the old motherboard. Begin by removing all of the cards. Also remove anything else that might impede removal or installation of the motherboard, such as hard or floppy drives. Keep track of your screws—the best idea is to return the screws to their mounting holes temporarily, at least until you can reinstall the parts. Sometimes you even have to remove the power supply temporarily to enable access to the motherboard. Document the position of the little wires for the speaker, power switch, and reset button in case you need to reinstall them.

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EXAM TIP The CompTIA A+ Essentials exam will test you on the basics of installing a motherboard, so you need to know this section for both exams.

Unscrew the motherboard. It will not simply lift out. The motherboard mounts to the case via small connectors called standouts that slide into keyed slots or screw into the bottom of the case (Figure 9-24). Screws then go into the standouts to hold the motherboard in place. Be sure to place the standouts properly before installing the new motherboard.

Figure 9-24 Standout in a case, ready for the motherboard

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CAUTION Watch out for ESD here! Remember that it’s very easy to damage or destroy a CPU and RAM with a little electrostatic discharge. It’s also fairly easy to damage the motherboard with ESD. Wear your anti-static wrist strap.

A lot of techs install the CPU, CPU fan, and RAM into the motherboard before installing the motherboard into the case. This helps in several ways, especially with a new system. First, you want to make