PC Overhaul

[RickB]

I am planning on giving my PC an overhaul this weekend, just wanted to see
if replacing these parts would require me to do anything special besides a
safety-net backup beforehand:

1. replace MSI K8N Neo4 mobo with a MSI P6N Platinum mobo
2. replace 2GB Kingston PC3200 DDR 400 RAM with 2GB Corsair PC6400 DDR800
RAM
3. replace AMD 3500 cpu with an Intel E6400 cpu
4. Coolermaster 450watt powersupply with a OCZ Extreme 700 Watt power supply

Should I plan on reformatting and re-installing the OS? Or at worse case
will I be able to do the Windows repair?

Just trying to get a jump on anything I might run into.

RickB

 

[pete]

The best case you would get away with a VISTA repair........and then load
the new Mobo drivers....and then do a ReActivation...most likely end up
phoning the number given and explain what you did.Hopefully you do not have
an OEM version of Vista.
The 2nd best case a reinstallation from scratch with a reactivation like
above.
The worst case...an OEM copy of Vista and you being silly enough to tell
that you switched Computers to the person on the Activation Line...tell them
you had
to replace the mobo.
peter

 

[Dustin Harper]

I'd recommend reinstalling the OS. Not only are you changing motherboards,
you're changing chipsets and CPU vendors. It's going to be a whole new
computer, pretty much. Repair might work (it has in the past when doing that
drastic of a change), but it might still have some problems later.

 

[RickB]

The best case you would get away with a VISTA repair........and then load
the new Mobo drivers....and then do a ReActivation...most likely end up
phoning the number given and explain what you did.Hopefully you do not
have an OEM version of Vista.
The 2nd best case a reinstallation from scratch with a reactivation like
above.
The worst case...an OEM copy of Vista and you being silly enough to tell
that you switched Computers to the person on the Activation Line...tell
them you had
to replace the mobo.
peter

That's what I thought. I do have a retail version of Vista Ultimate (read:
no OEM version) so I'm not worried if I do have to re-activate.

I think I'm going to just do a back up and if a repair doesn't work then
just do a clean wipe, reformat and install.

RickB

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

If I were you, I would buy RAM at 667 MHz instead of 800 and use the saved
money to buy a E6600 instead of the 6400.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Personally, I'd reinstall the entire system - clean - after an upgrade of
that magnitude. Changing base motherboard chipsets, from AMD to Intel ... I
would clean-install.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[RickB]

If I were you, I would buy RAM at 667 MHz instead of 800 and use the saved
money to buy a E6600 instead of the 6400.

Hmmm, I considered the E6600 but with the overclocking ability of the
motherboard and cpu and the $100 USD saved on the cpu I can get quite a bit
out of the E6400 using the higher RAM. The price difference between the 667
MHz and 800 MHz RAM compared to the savings of the E6600 to the E6400 really
isn't that much.

I paid $169 after rebate for the Corsair 2GB DDR 800 RAM, where as 2GB of
667 MHz RAM would run about $130, so about a $40 savings compared to the
$100 on the cpu, along with the OC capability of the mobo, I should be
running close to the E6600 anyway. The only thing I lose is the extra 2MB L2
cache which isn't make that big of a difference on my home machine anyway.

Just my 2 cents.

RickB

 

[George]

Hmmm, I considered the E6600 but with the overclocking ability of the
motherboard and cpu and the $100 USD saved on the cpu I can get quite a bit
out of the E6400 using the higher RAM. The price difference between the 667
MHz and 800 MHz RAM compared to the savings of the E6600 to the E6400 really
isn't that much.

I paid $169 after rebate for the Corsair 2GB DDR 800 RAM, where as 2GB of
667 MHz RAM would run about $130, so about a $40 savings compared to the
$100 on the cpu, along with the OC capability of the mobo, I should be
running close to the E6600 anyway. The only thing I lose is the extra 2MB L2
cache which isn't make that big of a difference on my home machine anyway.

Just my 2 cents.

RickB

The 800 MHz RAM is the way to go. With it you can overclock the CPU
for extra speed. I went with a E4300 (1.8 GHz) for under $200. With
800 MHz RAM, I got it overclocked to 3.0 Ghz using normal voltages.
It's very stable.

George

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

If you only take a look at the number of MHz, the 800 RAM is the way to go.
However, the loss of 2MB of L2 cache might be a much bigger deal in term of
general performance than you might think at first sight; particularly when
you will be doing other things with your machine than just running
benchmarks.

However, if the OP want to overclock his machine, then using 800 MHz RAM
looks as a logical choice but I won't be surprised if you loose on one side
what you will gain on the other side.

BTW, is 700 watts of power supply really necessary if you don't plan to have
SLI? I won't be surprised if keeping the original Coolermaster 450 watt is
sufficient for this setup (but I agree that overclocking the whole thing
might stretch it). The new motherboard is SLI but the older one is not, so
I don't think that there will be a second high end (and high powered) video
card on this machine.

 

[RickB]

If you only take a look at the number of MHz, the 800 RAM is the way to
go. However, the loss of 2MB of L2 cache might be a much bigger deal in
term of general performance than you might think at first sight;
particularly when you will be doing other things with your machine than
just running benchmarks.

However, if the OP want to overclock his machine, then using 800 MHz RAM
looks as a logical choice but I won't be surprised if you loose on one
side what you will gain on the other side.

BTW, is 700 watts of power supply really necessary if you don't plan to
have SLI? I won't be surprised if keeping the original Coolermaster 450
watt is sufficient for this setup (but I agree that overclocking the whole
thing might stretch it). The new motherboard is SLI but the older one is
not, so I don't think that there will be a second high end (and high
powered) video card on this machine.

I currently have an Nvidia 7800GTX video card so I don't see a huge need for
a 2nd card to go SLI at the moment.

RickB

 

[Guest]

No question. Clean install.

Personally, I'd reinstall the entire system - clean - after an upgrade of
that magnitude. Changing base motherboard chipsets, from AMD to Intel ... I
would clean-install.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

I am planning on giving my PC an overhaul this weekend, just wanted to see
if replacing these parts would require me to do anything special besides a
safety-net backup beforehand:

1. replace MSI K8N Neo4 mobo with a MSI P6N Platinum mobo
2. replace 2GB Kingston PC3200 DDR 400 RAM with 2GB Corsair PC6400 DDR800
RAM
3. replace AMD 3500 cpu with an Intel E6400 cpu
4. Coolermaster 450watt powersupply with a OCZ Extreme 700 Watt power
supply

Should I plan on reformatting and re-installing the OS? Or at worse case
will I be able to do the Windows repair?

Just trying to get a jump on anything I might run into.

RickB