new motherboard for HP?

[mage_x]

my friend has a HP 533w celery 2ghz comp and it has no AGP slot. i was wondering, does HP use proprietary parts such as powersupplies, motherboards etc? If they do, is there a way to get new motherboards from HP that use their standardization, and if they dont, is it safe to assume all parts will work?

 

[anvil82]

I don't think companies use proprietary parts anymore.

I could be wrong, but I think maybe some hardware are "certified" to work, but others will most likely.

 

[mage_x]

i know dell does, im not sure about the others, and this computer is like a year+ old so maybe they did THEN

 

[anvil82]

Well there is about 50+ compaqs at my work, their all old (p3 500) and they accept any pc100/pc133 ram, and hard drives.

 

[mage_x]

of course.. im talking about motherboard/powersupply only here. usually that is the only thing that is proprietary

 

[mage_x]

bump

 

[Steve978]

You could replace the motherboard but you would have to modify the case slightly, the backplates are usually unique to the hp motherboard and will have to be cut out. The power supplies are average power supplies as far as I've encountered, sometimes they will be a slightly diffferent size so that you cant replace them without modifying the case some more, but they have all the same connections.

 

[specific]

They don't always have the same connections. Sometimes the pins are different with the psu's. I'd be careful when replacing a psu in an OEM box. Motherboard mounts are one thing, but a psu with a different pin orientation could ruin everything.

 

[mage_x]

the psu having different pin alignment is what i was mainly worried about. anyone know if HP does this, or more specifically, if they do it on the 533w models?

 

[specific]

don't know about that. you might need to ask an hp tech, or compusa tech.

 

[t_biggs]

What kind of motherboard is in it now? I don't remember exactly where, but searching for a relative's HP's motherboard's number on Google brought me to a forum with tons of information on it and many other HP boards.

For really not much more, you could be sure everything will work by buying a new case and power supply, too. I know buying cases with power supplies is a bad idea, but Newegg has an Enlight MicroATX case with (I think) a 300 watt Enlight power supply in it for around $50 with shipping. While I havn't done any testing of them other than general use, the two 420 watt Enlight power supplies I use at home work perfectly well and are very quiet.