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Changing a motherboard is the ultimate upgrade project, the PC equivalent of a heart or lung transplant. But with the pace of processor, RAM, and bus speed improvements, it's a project that's often well worth the effort involved.

If your computer's more than a couple years old, a motherboard switch usually isn't worthwhile because small, slow hard drives and previous-generation add-in cards will bog things down. And if your PC is really long in the tooth and uses an AT-style case instead of an ATX one, you'll need to start with a new case; AT motherboards are no longer available.

Unless you're swapping CPUs on a fairly recent machine, installing a cutting-edge processor of the AMD Athlon XP or Intel Pentium 4 lines effectively requires a new motherboard. Plus, new motherboards often include built-in network support, high-quality audio, USB 2.0 ports, and even FireWire (IEEE 1394) ports.

Most motherboards sell in the $100 to $150 range. Add a 1.7-GHz processor (AMD or Intel) and 512MB of DDR RAM, for example, and you'll have a lightning-fast system upgrade for about $500. (Prices are averages at press time.) You might also consider getting a new case and power supply.

One warning: If you are running Windows XP, a motherboard swap may trigger a new round of Microsoft's irritating Product Activation. Before you'll be able to use your upgraded system, you will have to call Microsoft and try to get a new Product Activation code.

As always, do a full backup before you start to work on your system. It's particularly important for this project.

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