need help

[mb013082]

How can I find a motherboard compatible with my tower?

[Cricket]

What kind of tower do you have now?

:) Cricket

[mb013082]

I have 2 cases one is a Gateway serial#0015766487 and the other one says A Open on it serial#05209832JK

[flanzig1]

The info about your towers don't help much for determining size. As a general rule, if the tower is 14" tall or less then it probably takes a microATX motherboard. Another way is by the number of slots for expansion cards: 3 or 4 slots then a microATX mobo case/ 5 or more slots then an ATX case.

[Cricket]

Do you know if those are standard ATX or micro ATX or proprietary cases?

If you don't know, do you have a digital camera to take pictures of them with? You can attach the pictures of the cases to your post.

:) Cricket

[mb013082]

The Gateway Tower is 19-1/2 inches tall by 15-1/2 inches long and the A Open is 17 tall by 18 long the first 2 pictures are the Gateway and the next are the A Open.

[flanzig1]

They both look to be standard ATX cases. So, they will take both an ATX or uATX.

[mb013082]

I'm looking for one that would support the latest P4, 1 or 2 gigs of Ram, the other I would like to support a good AMD gaming processor same amount of Ram. Are there any motherboards you would recommend?

[flanzig1]

Asus boards for both the Intel and AMD CPUs. For the Intel C2D, the P5B or P5K series. Not up on specific boards for the AMD.
Should talk budgets and uses for both boxes before picking parts. This will help pick parts that fit the budget and uses of both boxes.
Would check the Gateway case to see if the front panel connections are a unitized plug or individual connectors. If all the wires go into one plug then that is a propritory plug for Gateway motherboards. Hard to modify for regular motherboards.

[Cricket]

I'm not sure about the Gateway case but I know the AOpen is a standard ATX mid-tower that will accept any standard ATX or micro-ATX motherboard you might be interested in using but the cooling capabilities of both cases might be sub-par by today's standards. You might have to do some case modding to add some fan ports to improve the case cooling.

:) Cricket

[mb013082]

Can you be more specific on the "propritory plug"? Like what do you mean if all the wires go into one plug?

[flanzig1]

With standard cases like you get at Newegg, the wires for the power and reset switches/LEDs/USB ports/etc have a plug on each wire or like a case speaker has a 4 pin plug that works on any motherboard. Prebuilt systems like Gateway/Dell/HP will put all of those wires into one plug and that plug works only on their motherboards.