Anything I need to know installing new mb

[ITPaladin]

I seem to remember there is something special I needed to know about installing a new MB in relation to the OS.
Will I need to reinstall the OS, or is it just a matter of detecting new hardware and installing the drivers?

 

[route66]

Many times Windows 2000/XP will give you a blue screen during bootup after installing a new mobo. Attempting a repair install does not solve the problem, only doing a fresh install. It has something to do with Windows locking to the MAC of your mobo, but I can be wrong. I remember spending a day a few years ago thinking my new mobo was shot, but it was just Windows 2000 being a bitch.

 

[c3p0]

It's a 2 step process:

1. Backup

2. Fresh Reload

c3p0
:beer:

 

[Fern]

Many here say no reinstall neccessary, while others like myself always do a reformay/reinstall to ensure there are no problems.

Anyway, HERE'S an Anandtech guide on how to change mobo's w/o a reinstall. Scroll down and read the info under "misc notes"

Fern

 

[orion23]

Be smart and do a backup of everything you have before you try it.
I did this once without re-installing and although windows took about 30 minutes to restart, it actually did and worked with no problem. Afterwards I just installed all needed drivers.
Go ahead and try it. If it doesn't restart, then do a clean install!

 

[ITPaladin]

I haven't looked at mb's in a while. I read someone say that if you are a gamer you should get 939.
I am used to Abit / Asus boards for their easy soft bios. I don't want to constantly open my pc to change switches, etc.
What would you suggest? I want stability, soft enough on the wallet, SATA since I have one sata drive, don't need 1394, and good warranty / cs. I don't see any need for 64 bit until there is a larger % of games and apps using it.

 

[ITPaladin]

bump

 

[Fern]

Seems this has turned into more of an upgrade question. But your rig link doesn't work for me - so I don't know what you've got.

Lets see what you've got now and what improvements you'e looking for other than gaming (multi tasking, encoding etc).

Fern

 

[ITPaladin]

link works fine for me

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: ITPaladin
link works fine for me

This what I see when I click on it:

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My AnandTech is your place here at AnandTech. Here you can create your own My AnandTech home page, using the System Rigs feature you can also list your current computer system specifications. To use the My AnandTech feature all you need is to have joined the "AnandTech Forums". My AnandTech can also hold the book marks to your favorite articles on AnandTech.com, once you have joined My AnandTech you can then bookmark any article while you are reading. You can join by filling out this form.

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I use I.E, I wonder if that's why so many rig links don't work for me?

 

[ITPaladin]

You have to create the account and be logged in.

 

[Fern]

Umm, maybe I'm not following you? I've already got an Anandtech account, see me post 🙂

If I set up a "My Anandtech" account, looks like I would making a MY (not yours) rig page?

Anyways, it's about 50/50 that others' rig link's work for me.

But to your new question, yeah, I'd go socket 939 if I was buying now. NF3 or NF4 mobo depending on whether you plan to get a new PCIe gfx card or stick with your AGP gfx card (you'll need to figure out if you're staying with AGP or moving to PCIs b4 you can hone in on a new mobo). The 64bit processors run the 32bit apps better than anything else out there right now too.

Unlike many others here I'm not sold on the X2/dual core CPU's. I don't multitask while I play games etc.

You'll find most new mobo's don't use jumper switches for anything other clearing the CMOS these days. Everything else is done in the BIOS


Fern

 

[Tambora]

Take the time to read the manual before assembling. If possible download it from the manufacturers site so you can read it while waiting for the hardware to arrive. It helps get you through the impatient phase caused by the smell of new computer parts. 😉

 

[ITPaladin]

Thanks for answering the soft bios question since I had another post asking about that which no one answered after a few bumps.
Why would a 64 bit cpu run 32 bit apps better when they don't use 64 bit?

 

[Fern]

Why would a 64 bit cpu run 32 bit apps better when they don't use 64 bit?

For a real answer to that question you're gonaa need a computer scientist, or at least someone more educated in that direction. Anyhoo, you won't need to look too hard to find benchies that compare straight 32bit CPU's (like AMD Athlons ot Intel P4's) to the AMD 64 bit line up.

The 64bit CPU's win every time (with the possible exception of encoding, and I may be wrong there as I don't do that nor keep up with performance figures for that task).

Remember, they were designed to run 32bit from the outset. And it seems that their on-die memory controllers (as opposed to being in the mobo on the Northbridge chip) really help performance-wise.

Fern