Originally posted by: Ages
My P4 ABIT MAX3 mobo is finally giving out. I'm planning a new build using the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P. I'm not sure whether to go Quad or simply put in a Core2 Duo E8400. I'm leaning toward the E8400. I'm want this to be my gaming rig and I'll be doing some web-authoring, video editing and using photoshop from time to time.
Which OS should I use, Vista 64 or Vista 32? I think I'd like to go to 64, what do you recommend? I will be putting a new hard drive in this computer. Can I take my old hard drive from my P4 XP-Pro system and add it to my new system build? Will my programs function fine? What can I do to salvage my programs and use them with the new build?
I am no expert but I just had a situation similar to yours with the same questions. My old mobo gave out and I bought the same Gigabyte you did and the same processor. I had 2 hard drives from the old winXP Pro 32bit system. They will not work on your new build since the hardware and drivers have all changed.
When I did my new build I booted from my installations XP CD and did a "repair". After that the old hard drives were then recognized by my new system and everything worked as normal. Do not use system recovery panel option or you may lose everything on the drives unless you know what you are doing!!! Select install windows....then select the option to "repair" windows. You will be fine.
Your old programs should work fine after the "repair" in the Win XP Pro OS. If you install Vista they may or may not work depending on how old they are and if drivers are available from my experience. I have no experience changing over to Vista from XP Pro.
The reason I purchased the E8400 Core Duo over the Quad was that in my applications the Quad would have been overkill. I do not know your usage but unless you have the apps to make use of a 64bit OS and a Quad processor I decided to just save the money. In few years you will be looking for a different processor anyway possibly the i7. You can overclock the E8400 to 3.6Ghz easily with the easytune6 software provided with the board with proper cooling. My guess is that is plenty of speed for most applications you will be using. Sorry but I am not a gamer so I cannot comment on the Quad processor advantage in gaming.
Why do you want to go to Vista and not use your old OS? I assume you now have XP Pro 32bit. For me there was no real advantage to go to Vista so I kept my old OS so I cannot comment on the best OS. All I know is XP has been stable for me and Vista seems to have issues with drivers at times especially with legacy hardware.
Good luck with your new build. I just built mine and it posted on first boot I am very happy with this combination of CPU and mobo.
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