Can You Upgrade a 10 Year Old Computer ?

Well you can if you made the correct decisions 10 years ago !

Firstly did you buy a Micro, Mini or ATX case ?

If you did, you made the best decision ever as they are completely upgradable as they were designed to be.

I will advise about other computers after showing my build.

This is how I upgraded mine, wasn't in a rush as I knew it was going to throw problems at me !

This was my ATX build in 2013 minus GPU which had failed (Amd R290 ) replaced with GTX980

Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H which has been a great board never let me down. This was paired with a Amd R290 which was replaced with a GTX 980 and 16 Gig ram and a SanDisk 256gb gaming extreme pro ssd

The  OS build went from Winxp to Windows 7 then Finally  Windows 10 over the 11 years it has been used.

On the journey to Windows 10 there have been a few failures like power supply and hard disk and my R290 Amd GPU unit, but all easily replaced and standard parts fitted.

The only reason I upgraded PC was to be able to run Windows 11 due to CPU and TPM requirements not supported by Microsoft Win 11

Yes I could have downloaded a modified version of Windows 11 to exclude the requirements but I wanted the full experience and support of Microsoft updates going forward.

As my motherboard setup had basically come to end of life regarding upgrades, it's the big upgrade everyone dreads even me!

So shopped around for motherboard memory and CPU 

This what I settled on:  Intel i5 13400F Gen13

B760 DS3H AX DDR4 ATX motherboard Socket 1700  & 16Gb Corsair memory .

Before removing Psu lead , I grounded myself on chassis case to remove any static build-up just in case.

Then best tip is to take a photo of all connectors on motherboard  usb speaker etc,which will save your life when putting new board in.

Proceeded to remove all psu ,fan connectors , speaker, sata cable and sat power from all device's. 

Finally remove motherboard 9 screws in all keep to one side.

Don't forget to remove motherboard backing plate from  case  as will be different for new board. 

Remove and fit new backplate.

Now your ready to fit new mother board!

Carefully place in the case and locate the 9 screw mounts on case to align with the hole's in the motherboard. Ensure backplate template is aligned to your motherboard rear connectors.

Once aligned all ok lightly place screws in holes ensuring nothing catching or too stiff to screw in.

Once satisfied screw them all in 9 in total. 

Fit memory in slots

Once all done now re assemble cables back to motherboard. 

Did you take photos before as advised ?

After studying the awful paper leaflet am glad I did ! As I had upgraded from GIGABYTE to another Gigabyte  all mine virtually same result

The most important connector imo was the power on off reset switch ones as below

It was exactly same configuration for me so was very happy

Sata cables and fan cables pretty much same place's, info leaflet wasn't too bad after plugging everything back in 

Next CPU

Unclip cpu and remove dust cover from cpu socket.

Carefully place new cpu in socket make note of notches on cpu socket as below

Close cpu latch ,be prepared its very strong

 

Now install  CPU fan cooler 

Press down in each 4 posts till you hear or feel a click.

Refit graphics card  graphic psu connections 

 I am using same graphics card for now to keep costs as low as possible.

Refit casing etc as required 

Now to test power ON (fingers crossed)

 " Result "powered on 1st time whoo hoo.

Powered off PC and refitted case screwed in

And powered pc back on.

The dreaded "unable to find boot disk" message

Oh no !

Lucky I knew what the problem was straight away as my SSD drive was windows 10 no secure boot or TPM .

I had to change a bios setting for boot drive to legacy boot. Pressed delete on start up to enter bios setup

Set to Csm and windows 10

Maybe different with your motherboard check your support site for your make of board. 

Finally booted to windows 10 with my new hardware updated drivers for motherboard intel

Everything working !

Now to the people who bought HP Compaq Toshiba computers with all in one motherboards

Sorry guys your out of luck, it will be cheaper to just buy another branded PC. 

or start your micro mini ATX build from scratch.

Next post my windows 10 upgrade to Windows 11 experience. 

Thanks for reading hope it helps you all !