Is it hard to change motherboard?

Just got a replacement for my fried mobo and was wondering if it was worth risking installing it myself...I rang one pc repair man and he told me I should have no problem doing it myself but I rang another company and they said they would charge 110 euro to do it so doing it myself is starting to look good...what do you think?

Not hard.

Most difficult mistakes are:

1. Not putting thermal paste on/applying incorrectly. Since you're putting a new mobo in, your original thermal stuff will be pretty useless, so clean the bottom of the heatsink and the top of the processor off with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol on a lint-free cloth. Then apply new thermal paste on your processor once you get it in the motherboard, across the cores (not too much!).

2. Not putting the standoffs in. These are little non-conductive screw mounts that go into the case. You'll want to line them up with where the motherboard's screws are, screw the standoffs into the case, place the motherboard on the standoffs and then insert the screw and tighten. This keeps the motherboard from short-circuiting off the case.

Other than that, it's pretty much pop out all your old stuff and put it in the new one. Not difficult.

Thanks for the quick reply...where do I get the thermal paste and is the isopropyl alcohol just the stuff you get in a pharmacy or is there a special type specifically for electronics.

Where do you live?
I will do it for you if you live close to me

It shouldnt be a problem to change the motherboard as long as the old cpu, graphics, ram etc is compatable to the new m/b, remember to ground yourself first or wear an anti static wrist band otherwise it could all end up dead on you.
id advise u to check first to see if the motherboard will fit, you cant fit a atx board into a micro atx case so check to make sure, and that the psu has all the connections you need to power it
id also advise taking out the graphics card and any other pci cards installed on the old m/b first ensuring that you have all the drivers first,
if space is confined you may find that you have to take out a hard drive or two,
id suggest before you pull out any cables or wires to make a note of where they go and wot there called even to doing a diagram showing the pins and wot they relate to
there will be numerious screws to undo to get the m/b out ( though ive come across one with only 2 screws ) but when u think you have them all out give it a gentle pull if it dont come theres another in there somewhere
dont forget to clean off the old paste from cpu and add new before re-seating h/s and fan

one problem will probably be that if your installing the old o/s you will need a new activation code so you will need to ring microsoft and explain m/b dead and you should get one
good luck

back hander coming on

Cork...up by the airport ..the replacement mobo is the exact same model as the old one so compatability shouldnt be a problem.

Oh well, I'm living in Dublin at the moment!


You shouldn't have a problem if it is the same mobo, just remember what and how to took it apart and put it back the same way:)
But you will need thermal paste though

Ah well thanks for the offer...would i get thermal paste in places like pc world or in electronics shops?

You might get it in PC World, do you use eBay? you can get it on there easy

Yeah I do but ive got the week off this week and I wouldnt want to be stuck waiting for the paste through the post all week.I'll have a look around the shops first and if I cant find it I'll order off E-bay.

pc world do indeed do a thermal paste and a cleaner, but its dearer than on the net guys, but at least you can get it straight away

I think I'll give it a go tomorrow....Thanks for all the replys.

The problem you may have at PIZZYWORLD is finding someone who understands the question

If they dont have it or cant find it (often the case) any PC Repair shop will stock it, ..... not sure if you have Maplins where you are, but they will stock it too.
A good one if you can find it, is Arctic Silver.

The very best available