system upgrade questions:

[Skud]

Hey, all. I should get the new guts for my computer today. Probably won't start the build til tomorrow. I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the hoops I'll have to jump through to change from an asus board with fx60 dual core amd proc to a gigabyte board with a quad core amd 940. I am using Vista premium, 32 bit. Do you think a full re-install will be required (I only have the upgrade disk [used to have xp]), or can I do something like remove all the old drivers (including the fx60 [or should I leave that?]) and maybe have it just do a "repair" job?

Well, I certainly don't expect a reply to this one, as there are so many variables and such. But if anyone has any quick pointers...like should I just use a clean hard drive and forget about messing with all that or whatever...I'd appreciate it. I am certainly no expert on any of this...have done two builds...and am just trying to get this one to work as quickly and painlessly as possible.

[Duke{CLR}]

I remember when I upgraded my MB form a 680i to a 780i there was a lot of discussion on the EVGA forums about this subject. As I recall most people said that it would be better to do a complete install but there were a few who didn't. I went with the full install.

[Skud]

I remember when I upgraded my MB form a 680i to a 780i there was a lot of discussion on the EVGA forums about this subject. As I recall most people said that it would be better to do a complete install but there were a few who didn't. I went with the full install.

Yeah, I'm guessing I'll probably have to do that. I really don't have anything that I cannot lose on the other. One drive I cleaned already...all my photos are on one that doesn't have the system software....The only drag about the full install is I may have given my XP OS disk to someone I sold my last laptop to, and my vista disk is an upgrade that I used with the xp...so I'm not sure if it will let me do a full install (since I no longer have the XP original). I'd hate to have to buy another copy of Vista! Well, we'll see. Thank for the input, Duke!

[Duke{CLR}]

I used the upgrade disk with a walk around that WalkingTarget posted in this thread. http://www.cainslair.org/showthread....t=780i+upgrade I didn't have to install XP first.

[Skud]

heh

I used the upgrade disk with a walk around that WalkingTarget posted in this thread. http://www.cainslair.org/showthread....t=780i+upgrade I didn't have to install XP first.

Thanks for the digging, Duke! I'll see what happens.

[Trooper110]

Do a full install. Sometimes you can get away with it, a lot of the time you can't. In any case you could run in to future trouble with the OS interacting with mobo components. Always safest just to go with a full reinstall and not worry about any issues that could arise now or later.

[Ghost_Rain]

Fresh Install is the way to go

[Hammy]

There isnt any reason why you cant follow the install to upgrade pathway, but the problem is that you will have a "dirty" registry thanks to the crappy way that Windows eliminates old entries.

That dirty registry slows your performance and sometimes, when you do future updates, you will get an odd error or may even get failures when applying different drivers for different hardware and software sets.

Obviously I am not using l33t terminology here, but I do know that the best way to build your platform (PC) is to underpin it with a solid foundation (OS) and that if you build and update your foundation (through the patch and upgrade) you may have gaps that will cause you pain later.

A question I asked myself when I went XP to Vista:

"I spent X on the hardware, of what percent is my investment in the OS?"

And then I went to Fry's and bought the OEM version of Vista Home Premium.