I am basically upgrading my current set up completely except for the motherboard, optical drives and hd (I can't afford anything better so I want to do the most with the least $$). I though that changing my mobo would be good as well (stock Dell trash and 4+ years old anyway). I realize I could probably do a lot better with different equipment and it's being considered, but just stick to the question, 'kay? So, if I were to connect my old HD to a newly built rig, what I do need about attaching the hard drive to new equipment (assuming new mobo as well)? Basically, I know how to hook things up, but as far as the software aspect of it. Is replacing the whole thing as smooth as replacing the graphics/sound drivers, etc or is there more? Thanks in advance.
Things will go more smoothly if you can backup your important data first, reformat the drive, and then install everything fresh. That's especially true if you switch to a different motherboard. Otherwise, the drivers for your onboard hardware may not uninstall cleanly, which would cause you an enormous headache. If you're reusing the old board, you might be able to get away with not reformatting, but I'd still advise it. *Waits for random "buy a Mac" asshole to pollute the thread*
I don't think XP (and probably Vista) takes kindly to major hardware changes, so a format and clean install may be your only choice.
EDIT: One question remains: do I reformat before or after I plug in my new gear? Thanks for the answers. I will take into consideration reformating. Fortunately for me, there's not a heck of a lot for me to back up. I would, but $$$. lol
One more thing: I'm getting a HIS X1950Pro Ice Q3 512MB. I'm running the latest Fatality soundblaster card, a 3GHz P4, 2GBs of PC3200 Ram. Will a 550W Power supply cut it more or less?
I did this a few months ago. I upgraded everything on my PC except for the Hard Drive. To reiterate from previous posts, back up EVERYTHING! Next make sure you have that copy of Windows on hand because you're going to have to do a repair install. Generally it's going to look like a fresh install, but most of your settings (i.e. files, favorites, programs) will carry over after the install is complete. For a better reference go to the link below. http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html That explains everything in much better detail and it's what I went by when I transferred my HD. There might be the chance you may have to reinstall some drivers for your hardware, but that shouldn't take too much time or effort. As for the power supply, look at what your motherboard manufacturer and video card manufacturer recommend. Depending on your video card, 550W may barely cut it. Especially if your board is either SLI or Crossfire configured (i.e. two PCIx 16 slots). One more thing. If you have iTunes (or any service that uses DRM), the change in motherboard will make iTunes think you transferred everything to a second computer. You can transfer iTunes songs to up to 5 computers before you can't use it anymore.
The number of Harddrives and DVD/CD drives will figure into the power requirements. No sense buying a small psu if you'll be adding more stuff in the next two years. In my case I went with a 600w psu and it's been more then enough for..... Three WD HDs,Two DVD drives,and a geforce graphixs card. The thing to keep in mind is that the psu will provide limited amounts of power for each of it's rails (3.3v,5v, and +-12v)
You want a good powersupply to handle the demands of your video card. I thought you said you were keeping your HD, and by the looks of it, your CPU as well. What CPU? What kind of HD sata or IDE? make sure the motherboard will be a pci-16 type vor the VidCard. or whats that other one...oh ya AGP. Make sure the pin from the Power Supply is either a 20 or 24 pin that matches the MB. (Most PS are universal but, just make sure.) Im sure you know all this. Oh and make sure the new PS (if you get one) will have the VidCard Power out. If you VidC takes one that is lol. EDIT: One question remains: do I reformat before or after I plug in my new gear? Only format BEFORE, is an excellent thing to do. however unwise if you want to keep all files intact, because you know FORMATTING means deleteing everything right? If you format, do it twice, I always do for some reason and Ive never had a problem. However, if you DONT format the HD , windows now notices youve changed your hardware dramatically, so it tries to DL the correct drivers for you for a sec on first startup after the upgrade. One last word. If you do choose to upgrade, REALLY UPGRADE, dont sell yourself short. Purchase at LEAST 1 gig of mem now as it is SOOOO cheap right now. Make sure the Pins on the Memory Sticks match your new, (or OLD) Motherboard. If you can afford it, get a good CPU HeatSink. And a L.e.d. Fan of course lol.!
I have actually done my homework and I'm fully covered with my power supply (and then some!). I'm not inexperienced at computer building; hardware I'm at home with, it's the software part that can get me buggered. And trust me, I'm maxed out. I cannot upgrade my computer any further. I am quite literally current, or as current as dated tech can get me. But it will be enough because I can't afford the latest stuff and I don't want to be shortchanged if I went that route. Final specs: Graphics Card: UPDATE: HIS Radeon X1950PRO 512MB GDDR3 AGP 8X IceQ 3 Turbo HDCP Video Card (Originally ordered Sapphire X1950PRO, but changed it to above (it's so sexy! 'o' I just hope it won't be sold out by the time I can get it; that HIS is the best ATI card for AGP that I can buy, period. Tell me I'm wrong?) -Upgraded from: ATI Radeon 9600 128MB Power Supply: Antec True Power Trio TP3-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply -Upgraded from: Stock Dell whatever RAM: OCZ Platinum 2GB (2x1GB) 184-Pin DDR-SDRAM DDR400 (PC3200) RAM (comes recommended, but might be a snug fit in my mobo.) -Upgraded from: Dell 512MB DDR333 (2x256MB) Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty PCI Sound Card -Upgraded from: Soundblaster Live! Dell Edition Processor: Pentium 4 3.0E Prescott 3.0GHz Socket 478 RoHS Version Processor (upgrades from 533 bus to 800; better clock speed and cache; hyper-threading, basically the best I can do, but the biggest bottleneck; sticking with stock heat sink/fan - I'll survive.) -Upgraded from: Pentium 4 2.4 Northwood S-478, 533MHz Bus Speed Motherboard: BIOSTAR P4M80-M4 Socket 478 VIA P4M800 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard* OR: ASUS P4V8X-MX Socket 478 VIA P4M800 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard (Biostar is a bit rocky, but hey, the Dell mobo is shite when you think about it; still, worried about space for the CPU heatsink and the big RAM sticks; however, I'm only getting ASUS if I have no choice.) -Upgraded from: Stock Dell mobo Optical Drives: Was aiming for slot loaded, but there's only one on the market and it's ridiculously expensive. '~'; So fuck it, the Samsungs are a LOT cheaper and more reliable supposedly. +SAMSUNG Burner +SAMSUNG LightScribe Burner -Upgraded from: NEC DVD Burner, HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW ATX Mid-Tower Computer Case (Why not? Don't want no crap Dell case; this one should be better in every way for me - no stupid doors, has the window, cheap, etc) -Upgraded from: Dell Dimension case, circa 4.5 years ago Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers -Upgraded from: Logitech X-530's Hard Drive: YOU choose. (I'm open to objections/constructive criticism/recommendations!) This rig will last me as it's the best of the last generation. No DirectX 10 with AGP, but until I'm ready to go serious, whatever, like I said. Games aren't a major concern, but I'm covered just the same and amply - for now.
OK, ok. I'm getting a new hard drive. I mean, why not? Now, I want the best performer and between IDE ATA-100 and SATA-150, I definitely want a SATA drive. Problem is, it's hard to *find* a good SATA-150 HDD. So, I understand that SATA-300 drives are (sporadically?) backwards compatible. For the life of me, I cannot figure out if the below two drives have bc. Can someone give me a hand in confirming this or recommending me something else please? Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive Western Digital Caviar RE WD3200YS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive And if they're both ok, which one would you pick? Personally I've heard good things and bad things about both brands.
I got a SAMSUNG 200gig sata spinrite? i think. Its very good and extremely quiet, they might not make the best lcd or plasma, but they are good in HD's lately lol. P4 is a very nice cpu. They compared the p4 as a old muscle car, with plenty of horsepower, and the new C2d's as the benz'z of the cpu world, even though it may be quicker, the grunt of the p4 is still a good chip. I got a Pentium d 945, its okay...... Next one for sure will be the e6600, that chip was like 449 when it came out, now its 224. In a couple few more itll drop even more. Ya flip a coin on the MB. as far as HD id definatly say go SATA, you could still use your IDE with either MB? and have em plugged in at the same time? I like seagate only because of the name, and it looks like it got 5 eggs lol! and recent reviews on it too, so its been selling recently anyway! damn 1580 reviews..... I shy away from the caviars only because I had an issue with one like 5 years ago and never wanted to buy one again but thats just me. Looks like one guy got a DOA lol! Good luck, and its fun to do anyways, build a computer. Its like an adult circuit board playset lol. (thats what I think of it lol.) Money isn't everything, just be happy! These new DX10 game's are going to ask for alot of Ram nowadays, and also all this HD video content that will be popping up soon, but I see you are ready for that with the 2 gigs! Have fun man.
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/manuals/sata/100402371a.pdf Read page 12-it's bc I've had p4s in my comps for the longest time and they are great for their time,and still good today. Pissed me that I paid $320 for a e6600 only to see it drop in price a week later,lol. But a E6600 clocked to 3.0 is a new experence for me,given the amount of software I run daily. 2gigs of ram will cover alot,but you may need to get a better mb with atleast 4ram slots in the next few years around 2009.As software/game/Wins by then are expected to be using ram in the 6gig range. BTW:Are the Soundblaster card any better/different than the built-in sound system on motherboards?
Depends on if there is 7.1 sound support along with EAX for games. Some boards come with either an optical out or SPDIF out for sound. I personally use and enjoy the Auzentech HDA Xplosion 7.1 audio card. It's niiiiiiice. For a game/audiophile, you will have to get a creative card because of EAX. Other cards are only able to do EAX 2.0 IIRC. I just got the Seagate that was alluded to, it actually ended up being 400 gigs unformated. But it is a little louder than the pieces of poop Western Digitals that I've had in the past. So far working well.
Thanks for the clarification. I read in some places that some hdds have iffy bc. I'll stick with the Seagate now. As far as 6GBs of RAM by 2009? Yeah, right I say. My computer in 2007 is still performingly mildly well with 512MB and even if it were true, there are no boards still being made that support even 4GBs for the Socket 478. So, like I said, I'm maxed out, and I'm content to do the best I can with what I have until such time as I can move out onto PCIExpress, Multicore, DDR2, DX10, etc. And thanks again to everyone for their help.
You make the most of what you have. If you do run into slow downs due to unwanted programs starting up with windows or some closed programs not releasing memory,I would suggest RamIdel Pro. Lucky you,I change or add a new ram stick or even a new sata cable and windows requires me to activate it.
