ASRock H61M-HVS

My apologies if I'm posting in the wrong forum.

I purchased a locally built PC from an also local neighborhood shop, whose owner I trusted. To keep it short, he didn't provide all I paid for and closed shop shortly thereafter.

The PC hasn't really given me any problem with its ASRock H61M-HVS motherboard. In two years never needed to go inside the box. Recently needed to install a gigabyte LAN card and found out that the motherboard has NO PCI slots.

I'd like to replace the motherboard with a new one with at least two PCI slots but I find myself lost in this area. Would very much appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

Replacing the mother board is not simple, even before you try to find one with PCI slots.

You must find one that is compatible with your unknown processor. We know in general the Intel CPU generations that can be used in your board, by the H61 chipset, known as the 2nd and 3rd Generation processors. Intel is currently releasing their 7th generation processors.

You need an Intel 6 series chipset board, with H61, B65, Q65, P67, H67, or Z68 in the model name. They have not been made for several years now. You might find a few new H61 boards in general, but very few have PCI slots. This makes it very difficult to suggest a mother board model to you. Sure we could find them among ASRock's information, but they have not been made or sold in years. Plus who knows what is available in your area.

The major online PC parts retailer in the USA only has two boards that are compatible with your CPU. One has one PCI slot, the other has none. Both boards are $200.

You will need to look at used mother boards, always a risk, and if you are not a PC builder yourself, I don't suggest doing that. If you don't know exactly what you need, it's easy to make a mistake.

Even if you have a PCI LAN card now, then it would still be cheaper to buy a PCIe LAN card than replacing the mother board. Also, much easier to do.

PCI as an interface is all but gone now from mother boards. It's all PCIe now.

Can you replace a mother board yourself? Move the CPU to a new board, mount the CPU cooler, connect all the cables? Your replacement board's hardware will most likely not exactly match what you have now, so your Windows installation will need to update itself, if it is able to boot Ok on a new board. Also, when you replace the mother board, you will need to call the Microsoft 800 number to activate your Windows installation again, since a Windows installation is tied to the mother board.