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Question on changing MOBO's

T

TEDDY G

Junior Member
Need some advice. I want to get new Mobo and CPU. I want to get the Asus P5N-T Deluxe Mobo which is using the Nvidia 780i chipset with Intel Quad Core Q6600 CPU DDR2 ram. I have a Asus P4CE Deluxe, intel chipset with P4 3.2 CPU, using Win XP Pro OS.
I have a lot of info on my harddrive a WD Raptor and would hate to have to redo the drive from scratch.
Question is will my HD be found or work if I chance over to the 780i chipset, I'm not sure about the CPU but more about the different chipset. Or should I just keep to on all Intel Mobo, just that for the future the SLI setup might be nice and I prefer Nvidia to ATi GPU's.
Or is there no way around the problem except to tranfer my data to another drive and just install XP and tranfer all my programs and data back to the main drive. That would be a real pain.
Other idea would be to stick with Intel chipset with the Q6600 and DDR3, ouch big bucks for the mem but perhaps better then all the hours spent redoing the HD. and perhaps still have a problem because of the Quad Core.
Any info would be much appreciated.
Thanks Teddy G.
 
Firstly, welcome to the forum.

2) Your Raptor will work fine on both intel or NVidia or Intel mobos.
3) An Intel P35 or X38 board are great boards and mostly use DDR2

Your main decision should be based on what you require from your new rig. If it's gaming and SLI is a necessity then you must not get an Intel board as they only offer crossfire. If no SLI is required then I would suggest P35 or X38 with DDR2
 
Teddy,

Welcome from me also.

If you're concerned about whether you should re-install Windows after transferring all your other info... Don't worry. Just install your HDD in the new computer and get it started. Your new rig should recognize not only the HDD, but also open Windows with all the other stuff you have on your Raptor.

If there is any trouble for the new board and chipset to accept Windows (due to different drivers, etc) just do a repair install. If you don't know, that means putting your Windows CD in the DVD drive, just like a clean install, and when the second R comes up, select it and follow all the other prompts. It will take about 45 minutes like a clean install, but you'll end up with all your programs, settings, etc. Just be cautious, DON'T select the first R which is Recovery Console. That won't do the job you need done.

Good luck, Noel
 
Adding to Noels post above.

Win XP might be troublesome. It might lose boot when it gets to load the Hard Drive drivers.

In such a case Boot from a WinXP original CD, pass the first few screen as though you are doing a New Installation.

When th New Installation screen comes uo (4th or 5th screen) choose to pres R for repair (do not choose the Console Repair option that come at the first screen, keep going few screens more).

If every thing goes well after 35 minutes you would have a new installation of WinXP with all the old structure and Data maintained.

At this point you would have to go to the Device manager get rid of the Ghosts and load the new chipset drivers.

Depending on the changes and WinXP activation status, you might need to Re Activate WinXP.

If it does not do it automatically through the Web, call Microsoft and they would help to activate through the phone.
 
Jack,

Good additions!

Teddy, another thing I might add, if you want to run your SATA HDDs as AHCI (and not IDE), you will also need to add in the new mobo's Intel AHCI drivers (eg; ICH9R or whatever number). To do that, you can install while you're doing the repair install. But, BEFORE you put the Windows CD in to start the repair, go into your new BIOS and in the first or second page, select AHCI for the HDD mode. Then when the CD starts, select F6 and install the drivers with a floppy or CD when prompted to do so. That way, after the repair install is finished, you will also have the AHCI drivers in, and your SATA drives will be running as SATAs and not IDEs... then install your mobo's chipsetr drivers and other things from the mobo CD (LAN, etc).

Noel
 
OK, Thank You All for the advice. Nice to know someone is out there who know's more then I do. I mean I'm not a noob but not an expert either. I was just concerned about the dif chipset as Have been an intel guy from year one. I still have not decided what route to go But I do prefer the Nvidia GPU's vs the ATI. Do I or will I need the SLI setup ?. I do plan on OC'ing the CPU or a faster CPU later on to whatever I can get on Air.
Thank You
Teddy G
 
I don't think currently SLI or Crossfire offer a very good performance going by the feedback I have had. On certain games it appears there is a great performance whilst on other games there continual crashes, BSODs, lock-ups and freezes. I consider it a poor investment at this moment in time due to the apparent instability of which I have been advised.

For future gaming maybe the NVidia SLI will offer a great performance on all games, just not right now.
 
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