A Motherboard That I'll Go With Anything

[RandomUser662]

So I was going to build a PC but my parients said I need experience and all that crap, so I bought a pre-built PC and said I would get low end, cheap components that I can build a PC with yet if I screw everything over I will have not lost much. But I also want something I can upgrade over time. My family also has two 7 year old PC gathering dust on the self that no one uses anymore, my plan was to start off with those and upgrade over time, so I basicly need a Motherboard that'll literally go with anything

 

[theyeti87]

Do you have a budget for this up and coming build?

What are the specs of the two computers sitting around?

 

[geofelt]

No motherboard will go with "anything"
You need to have a cpu in mind.

Experience is what you get when things do not go according to plan.
Heed your parents.

If one of the old pc's have a cpu and motherboard that is anywhere near modern, you could experiment with it.
What are the make/model of the units?

Do you have a budget for experimenting.
Probably the hardest part is deciding on what is compatible and installing windowd.
Physical assembly is no big deal.

 

[RandomUser662]

Do you have a budget for this up and coming build?

What are the specs of the two computers sitting around?

Yes and The spec of the first pc (the younger one) is:

CPU: Intel Pentium E5800
Motherboard: FOXCONN 2A8C
RAM: Sure What Make But Its got 4GB and DRR3
PSU: ?? but 200 Volts
Hard Drive: 1 TB

and for the older one:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600
Motherboard: MSI Boston
RAM: DDR2 2Gb
PSU: 300 Volts
Hard drive : 1 TB

 

[RandomUser662]

No motherboard will go with "anything"
You need to have a cpu in mind.

Experience is what you get when things do not go according to plan.
Heed your parents.

If one of the old pc's have a cpu and motherboard that is anywhere near modern, you could experiment with it.
What are the make/model of the units?

Do you have a budget for experimenting.
Probably the hardest part is deciding on what is compatible and installing windowd.
Physical assembly is no big deal.

The most Recent one is a HP Pavilion Slimline and the older one all it says it was made by Hawkett-Packard it's a 'Bethel' and the model is SR5414UK

 

[cody_mckee]

It looks like your Foxconn motherboard has a G41 Express chipset. This is going to be your bet bet for the one to play with because it supports DDR3, whereas the older one has DDR2, plus it has a PCIe x16 slot. Officially that board will support Core 2 Duos and Quads up to 95W TDP. See if you can find a cheap E8600 or Q6600 of of Amazon or Ebay and have some fun.

If this is just for a learning experience and for fun, I would recommend that you ask around and see if some one will give you a mid tower case, or look around on craigslist. Even an old beige one will work. This will allow you to not only use a standard ATX power supply (which will open up your graphics options) but it will also allow you different cooling and storage options. Slimline cases are not great for customization.

If you were to buy a new motherboard, the most you will be able to re-use are your 1TB HDDs, your DDR3 RAM(if you go with a Haswell option, Skylake needs DDR4), your optical drive if you have them, and possibly the power supply, but I would not reccomend it.