ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Ver.2

Sam gets technical with this new mainboard from Asus.

My home PC hasn't undergone any significant upgrades in almost two years. Up until recently I'd been happy with it's performance. Even though I was only running with an AthlonXP 1700 chip and a GeForce 3 Ti200, the combined effects of the tweakable nature of software/hardware and the slowdown of the great upgrade stampede of the mid-90s to the turn of the century meant that I was able to play whatever game I fancied. But things were getting slower, and I was now 2-3 generations of hardware behind the hot-rodders. I've never been an early-adapter or someone who will sacrifice all fiscal sanity for the latest kit, but things had reached the stage where things were feeling a little too inferior for my liking. So I thought it's time to begin to upgrade the beast. And this is one of the beauties of the PC's design: when it comes time to replace a certain part, you don't need to junk the entire system. In fact the only part that might not work with new hardware (or vice versa), is the motherboard. Getting a new motherboard won't make the other parts obsolete, as long as you've been keeping reasonably up to date, (As gamers I'm going to assume that the majority of you have progressed past Pentium 2's and ISA cards). So as a starting point for the gradual improvement of my rig I chose the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Ver.2. All my old kit would remain compatible, and once I replaced my old CPU and memory I could gut that clunky P2 sitting in my bedroom and replace it's innards with almost the same kit that had previously been my main gaming rig. No more stuttery DivX, if you catch my drift (all too clearly, I'm horrified to note, Sam - Ed).

This is the second revision of this very popular motherboard. All that's really changed is the PCB (Printed Circuit Board, the green bit everything else is stuck to), but this allows faster Front Side Bus and memory speeds, up to 400MHz. Dual DDR memory can be fitted, meaning that I have my eyes on some Corsair 3200 sticks for when I have the dosh. This board comes loaded out with just about everything you could need while steering clear of any built-in GPU, something no self-respecting gamer should ever consider using. How about Soundstorm 6.1, a perfectly capable chip for those not wanting to burn 80 quid on an Audigy? As it's the deluxe version of the motherboard we get dual-onboard LAN (handy if you're a cable user) with USB2 and Firewire ports out the yazoo. Also on board is a SATA RAID controller, giving you the upgrade option of those new-fangled Serial ATA drives, which are coming down in price all the time. The nForce 2 chipset has been the leading chipset for Althon systems since its appearance a few months ago as well as proving to be less trouble than VIA's chipsets and their constant 4in1 driver headaches. The board also came with the latest version of WinDVD, not to mention a backplate and every conceivable cable, manual, sticker and port.

This board is well kitted-out for someone looking to upgrade their current system while keeping it future proof for at the very least a year; without having to go down the line of buying the latest tackle. AMD 64 chips are popping their heads above the parapet, but frankly, unless you are a serious applications user there's no need to go down that road just yet. The performance gains in 32-bit environments are not nearly worth the very high asking price, and true 64-bit applications are still a good way off.

Replacing the motherboard is the trickiest operation around as far as computer upgrading is concerned, but it's still a piece of piss when you look at the whole computer as a Lego set. Albeit one with screws and wires, but it's not hard to do. Hopefully you're case won't be one of those ones that has membership to a Glasgow knife gang circa 1973 which always leaves your hands a bloody mess whenever they venture inside its lethal domain. If so the operation should be painless, just take your time and don't force anything that really doesn't want to go.