Not likely with a motherboard swap. I have seen instances where Windows XP has survived a mobo swap... but most of the time you need to reinstall the OS when you change something that major.

Upgrade graphics card - ok
More Memory - ok
Faster Processor - ok as long as your old mobo supports the new speed
Sound, mouse, Keyboard - ok
Motherboard - NOT OK

as a general rule you'll want to uninstall the drivers that support your old card BEFORE replacing it with the new one.

Things to worry about with mobo swap:
Power Supply (new mobo/processor combo's require large power supplies, 300 Watts should be considered the absolute minimum imo, and don't by the cheapo generic brand... get a good one... Antec, Fortron, etc...)
Case - especially with Athlons (HOT), you'll want to make sure your case has adequate cooling... most older cases should be replaced. OR you could go liquid cooled like I did on my fastest system (no more cooling problems)
Memory - most older memory... if it will work at all, will slow your new box down significantly. General rule... upgrading mobo?... upgrade Processor and Memory also.

Once you look that over you'll realize that if you're considering a mobo upgrade... you're best bet is to probably buy a new system (especially if you're a computer noob), which is my recommendation to most people these days.

Ho Hum. Incremental advances like this are nice, but a year ago Motorola announced a major breakthrough -- they're working on 70 GHz chips based on optical circuits. Even if it takes them a couple of years to develop, that'll still put them W-A-Y ahead of everybody else...

http://news.independent.co.uk/busine...sp?story=92371

I recently read that some guy made a composite out of bird feathers that moved electricty much faster than silicon, and without heating problems (no joke). Look out Intel, here comes KFC!

/me looks at his 266 MHz chip.

Oh my goodness! I am living in Stonehedge!

As already mentioned theres only so far you can go with Silicon, Just think how fast some of the next gen chips will be, some of the articles I've read mention:
DNA computing
Quantum Computing
(see http://www.newscientist.com/hottopic...p?id=22901400)
Optical Computing
Molecule Cascade techniques (create tiny Babbage engines???)
(see http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/3/27778.html)

Talkie Toaster could be closer than you think [img]smile.gif[/img]

Kentucky Freid Chips :D That will totally rock, it will bring a whole new meaning to the Falcon if they include them in their next sporty model [img]smile.gif[/img]

*sigh* at least nobody's gone over 2.5 gigs of ram yet...

Just found the DNA Computer Link if your interested:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1668415.stm

And im not that much better. This thread has me all depressed.

3Ghz!

I remember when the 386 was king and the 486 a god.

Anyway, on the subject of chips of incredible power, you can forget about quantum. Since they can beat all encryption standards almost instantly, the US govt will never let them be sold publicly.

I also have my doubt on DNA-processors, but I havent looked at them recently. My bet would be on the terahertz technology near term, then optical chips in 5 or 6 years.

Damn. 3Ghz!

I work in Corporate Engineering for a company that's on the bleeding edge (lots of bleeding lately) of the optics industry. I've seen some very cool technology, but don't hold your breath waiting for optical computing... it's more than a few years away still. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Mostly this is true. If you have a system built in the last couple of years, chances are you already have the necessary power supply to hook up to a modern mobo. If you don't have an ATX power supply, or the output is less than 300W you will likely need at least a new case to go with the mobo, and chances are you'll want memory to complement the new setup.

As an example, my last machine was an AMD K6/2-450Mhz with PC133 memory. When I upgraded, I kept the HD, the video setup, and all my peripherals (keyboard, mouse, etc) but I had to upgrade the mobo to support the T-Bird 1.2gHz cpu, and in order to avoid hamstringing the cpu I installed 266Mhz DDR memory.

If I upgrade again in the next couple of months, I will likely switch mobos again in order to gain the ability to run 333Mhz memory to make the most of the faster CPUs.

Additionally, if you have anything less than a GeForce3 Ti video card, you will almost certainly want a GeForce4 Ti video card in order to be able to play any of the latest games.