Upgrading Mobo and card and keeping HD data

[32VfromHell]

Here is the question i am presenting to you all : I am currently in the process (as in awaiting the delivery) of a new EVGA 680i mobo, a new E6600 Core 2 Duo, Cooler Vigor Gaming ed cooling unit, Gskill DDR2 2GB memory, and an EVGA 8800GTX video card.

This is my first step into Nvidia hardware as well.

My current setup is this:

Mobo: an ASUS PC-132E Deluxe (i believe thats what it is)
Intel Pentium IV 3.2Ghz Processor with HT
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
2 Hard Drives with a SATA connection
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB 8X AGP
4x 512MB (2GB total) PC3200 DDR Dual Channel Memory.

What i am trying to accomplish is make the hardware switch as painless as possible while still retaining my OS and all data on the drives, especially the one containing the OS to avoid the sheer frustration of getting alll assembled data back, some of which might not be possible or user friendly , like running around 2 locations 40 minutes apart finding all game cds!

I plan to gut my case, install the CPU onto the mobo, *THEN* install the mobo into the case as recommended after the CPU goes on, as i have read. Next up is all the auxillary hardware and cards like the graphics card and the old audigy. If i download and install motherboard and video cards JUST PRIOR to the teardown, will that be enough to allow the system to POST? (which i assume means Power On Start Up)

- Will i encounter any drivers issues this way? Switching to an ASUS mobo and a ATi card to alternatives?
- Will Windows XP Sp.2 freak out at the radical hardware changes?
- What do i need to do to make this as smooth as possible?


so far my plan is :
1) DL and put Nvidia and EVGA mobo and new BIOS stuff in easy-to-access folder on desktop
2) uninstall ATI drivers/ASUS mobo drivers
3) power down and install new hardware
4) power up and see if windows will recognize (foo!) the new hardware right off the bat.

If step 4 sucks, i will have to 5) install clean harddrive and load up a new copy of XP, find out how to mess with BIOS to make sure its viewed as the only bootable drive, and then plug in my old hard drives 1+2 and hopefully extract data from them.

[BottleRocket]

First off, I hate you and I want your video card

Second, POST stands for Power On Self Test

Third, I dont see a problem with swapping over hardware. Think about it, when you first install windows on your computer when you build it, you have no drivers at all and it still works. Ive never gone from ATi to nVidia, so I cannot promise anything.

Try it, you really have nothing to lose. You arent throwing anything away, so worst case scenario you can put your old shit back together and give it another shot. Your plan seems to cover everything you need to. My only suggestion is to uninstall as many drivers as possible before taking it apart. Again, your machine will still function w/o drivers. It might suck, but you will still be able to use it.

[BottleRocket]

Oh and BTW, what PSU are you installing with all of this?

[RiSk]

Problem is the HAL keeps track of all that junk, IE what the mobo was, what the ram configuration is, the gfx card, ect ect, and then when they all change to one time he system can do 1 of 3 things,

1) boot up fine and ask you to install shit
2) boot up and ask you for you're cdkey to verify
3) boot and say that there is an error with the hal.dll

What i would do is a OS repair, if the latter of the three happen.

[jakesford]

Personally I would do a fresh install when changing the mobo no matter what... But in my experience XP does pretty well with mobo swaps. No matter what I would go ahead and make a second partition to put all your data on, and if you have to reinstall you can just format your windows partition.

[blackedv]

just do a fresh install cuz from what im understanding your gonna have to reactivate it anyways cuz its a major component change, although i have seen people do it but it took them a few hrs cuz they had to uninstall all of the drivers and delete alot of the registry but even then they just changes mobos and not the cpu

[black2002ls]

Back up all of your important files or stuff that you want to keep. And do a clean install. IT will be best. Hell you should re-install windows almost once a month to keep it running smoothly. I strongly recommend 2 HDD's atleast. One SOLELY for the operating system, the other for your media and files that you want to keep when you do have to re-install. It makes things so much easier.

[ram57ta]

been there done that. Im 100% sure it wont boot up into windows, and about 75% sure it wont even boot into safe mode. Too many hardware changes. Based on my experiences, XP will allow video card changes, more or less memory, sound cards, Wi-fi cards and NIC card swaps without much hassle but when you start changing processors and motherboards it freaks out and stops on boot.
Back up everything you want to keep (thats why I have a second hard drive which I use to store everything I want to keep..music, videos, pics, documents, etc) and just start with a fresh install...it will probably run better and be faster.

[32VfromHell]

[QUOTE=BottleRocket]Oh and BTW, what PSU are you installing with all of this?[/QUOTE]
a 610w unit. There are only a few PSU's out right now out that are SLI 8800GTX approved, and they are prohibitively expensive.

[BottleRocket]

[QUOTE=32VfromHell]a 610w unit. There are only a few PSU's out right now out that are SLI 8800GTX approved, and they are prohibitively expensive.[/QUOTE]

Thats why I was asking. Didnt want you overlooking that and frying shit your first day.

[Roliath]

Nice system you got going for you there 32vfromhell, I got my 8800GTX last week and have been loving every minute of it..Its an amazing card and a pretty nice performance increase from my 7950GX2 in high resolution (1920x1200).
The swap would be best to just do a clean format, trust me as this would avoid any potential issues with driver conflicts and system "congestion."
Just back up everything you want, download the installers for the programs you want/need and burn them. Download the drivers/chipset drivers the whole shabang and it should go without a problem.
It would be in the system's BEST interest to do a clean format, please do.

HDR+AA is AMAZING in Oblivion, and be sure to check out the new Rainbow Six (Vegas!) VERY fun game...
The 8800GTX has a slight problem with some rigs though, upon shutdown it will beep because it thinks its lost power (but the system is being shutdown). It will not damage your card and you may not even have this problem but I thought i'd tell you nonetheless.
It should also overclock pretty damn well too I got my EVGA 8800GTX up to 630/2000 with temps in a fairly reasonable range.
Remember, Nvidia recommends a 450w + PSU with a MINIMUM of 30amps on the +12v rail so check that out aswell.
What PSU are you running anyways?
Enjoy the card, and here's a thread listing some of the issues with the 8800GTX and games. Since the drivers aren't ALL that great for them yet. Its a good read and may solve any issues you'll encounter when you get it running
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=82074

and one last thing, how much did you pay for your GTX? My friend picked one up from dell for 549 with free shipping! I paid $649 with free shipping from ZZF.
Its a monster card, and i'm shocked how well it performs in all my games..
My system is humming now! lol
Opteron 175 @ 2.75Ghz / 4GB Pc4000 ram / 8800GTX on a DFI SLi-DR board..
I will be going conroe in january should the money permit, and those conroes clock to hell and back! Damn its exciting to build a new rig!

[RiSk]

In one of you're other post you said you where gettin a new Dell Roliath, what kinda? I just got my new laptop.

[The Big Matt]

lots of geniuses in here

Just do a sysprep on your current hard drive, then shut the computer down.

Put the old hard drive in the new machine, and boot it up. Sysprep runs through a mini setup, allowing you to rename the computer, and discover new hardware.

You can download sysprep for SP2 for free from microsoft.

I've done this tons of times. Easy as pie

[usmcluke]

Do a sysprep right before you shut down the machine for the swap and when you bring it back up it will be just like a fresh install (from a driver perspective) all of your programs etc will still be there.

[The Big Matt]

[QUOTE=usmcblown4.6]Do a sysprep right before you shut down the machine for the swap and when you bring it back up it will be just like a fresh install (from a driver perspective) all of your programs etc will still be there.[/QUOTE]

Just a second too late :D

[usmcluke]

[QUOTE=The Big Matt]Just a second too late :D[/QUOTE]
Damn you!

[Roliath]

[QUOTE=RiSk]In one of you're other post you said you where gettin a new Dell Roliath, what kinda? I just got my new laptop.[/QUOTE]
I picked a Dell E1705
Intel Core Duo T2250 @ 1.73Ghz || 1GB DDR2 533 (2GB otw) || Nvidia Go7900GS (GTX Bios 500/600) || 120GB 5400rpm Sata HD || CD/DVD DL Burner || 17in WUXGA with True Life (1920x1200) || Windows MCE
Its pretty nice, plays wow great and a few other games of mine.I got 2GB and a wireless mouse coming in on thrusday

[White_lightning]

[QUOTE=Roliath]I picked a Dell E1705
Intel Core Duo T2250 @ 1.73Ghz || 1GB DDR2 533 (2GB otw) || Nvidia Go7900GS (GTX Bios 500/600) || 120GB 5400rpm Sata HD || CD/DVD DL Burner || 17in WUXGA with True Life (1920x1200) || Windows MCE
Its pretty nice, plays wow great and a few other games of mine.I got 2GB and a wireless mouse coming in on thrusday[/QUOTE]
answer your PMs biotch!

[Roliath]

[QUOTE=White_lightning]answer your PMs biotch![/QUOTE]
PM's answered Biotch

[RiSk]

This is my new rig ^_^

Processor: AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML44 2.4GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
Chassis: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology - Conspiracy Blue
Motherboard: NVIDIA® Mobile SLi Chipset
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 60GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 5,400 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Optical Drive: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW & 24X CD-RW Burner w/Software
Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS - SLI Enabled
Sound Card: High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Wireless Network Card: Internal 802.11b/g WiFi Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth® Device

[32VfromHell]

i just wiped out my C: partition and started anew.

Hah, though i *WILL* keep Matt's suggestion for the future. That advice right there was about 100x the help that all the people on EVGA and MaximumPC could give me. Thanks for the excellent advice, too bad me and 2001_GT were feverishly installing this bitch by the time it was posted, but i blame that on my haste.


I paid a bit over 600 for this EVGA 8800GTX, which is rated (and squeezed!)higher than most of the others. I cant fucking believe this card IDLES at 70-75 degrees celcius...and thats NORMAL! Thats absogoddamnlutely insane and i will have to get used to that. The stock EVGA monitor is set at a mind-melting 125 degrees centigrade.

I had an interesting event where i thought i surged and fried the engine on my LCD monitor, but apparently during the slightest nudge after validating windows caused it to flicker and die, not even getting anything happening. I tried different sockets, and talked to a few people who thought i fried the thing by surges from the PC, but it turns out the connection at the MONITOR end of it was loose somehow and now all is well.

I updated the BIOS on this thing to the highly recommended P21 BIOS, which is nice. We had some initial heating problems installing windows, as we had it open sided at that point, which crushed any kind of circulation attempts by the fans.

Muchas gracias to 2001_GT to helping me make my wiring not look like a rats nest like mine was before.