Rebuilding-Upgrading

[Bikewer]

After dithering about upgrading my processor or my video card, I went with the card. Seems to have worked out for now, but the system cant be pushed much further. No PCI express, limited memory capacity, etc.

So, seems to me the best way to go (cant afford an entire rig) is a new case, and a contemporary motherboard and processor. All the other bits are new or upgraded already; 2 hard drives, new DVD reader, Video card, etc.

On the face of it, this seems like a fairly straightforward project. However, leafing through an upgrade manual at the bookstore, it said I might have to reinstall the operating system and all. This Gateway rig came with the OS installed, so all I have is the "recovery" discs.

What's the chance I can just slap in my hard drives and it'll boot? Good reference sites on the web?

[BlackCat]

I'd say your chances are pretty good, as I've done things like that before. It probably won't hurt anything, even if it doesn't work, but you do have your hard drive backed up, don't you?

BlackCat

[jimlintott]

I've been through this upgrade thing many times before. I usually start with a similar plan to yours. Then I start pricing out case, mobo, processor, ram. Then I look at the value of a new HD, optical drive, keyboard and mouse and compare that to the fact that I'll have to disable a perfectly usable machine and I always ended up just buying a new rig and networking it to the old machine. Mostly because I hated to throw away all the old machine's parts that I no longer needed. So weigh your options carefully.

As far as booting the disk, I have tried this more than once myself and have found that a Linux system without a custom kernel will usually boot fine but Windows won't. Windows got all confused over driver loading for the mobo and such. I wouldn't be surprised if you could just reload and it would work though (maybe delete the windows folder and reload the system). That was also Win98 IIRC.

[Molinaro]

I would recomend the following things to help it go smooth:

1) have all the needed drivers (freshly downloaded) on your HD, for the new hardware

2) just before shutting down to do the hardware changes, go into the device manager and uninstall the drivers for whatever you are changing. Windows seems to start up and recognize the new stuff smoother that way.

[jimlintott]

I would recomend the following things to help it go smooth:

1) have all the needed drivers (freshly downloaded) on your HD, for the new hardware

2) just before shutting down to do the hardware changes, go into the device manager and uninstall the drivers for whatever you are changing. Windows seems to start up and recognize the new stuff smoother that way.

Hey, never thought of that. Sounds like it would work.

[Rat]

After dithering about upgrading my processor or my video card, I went with the card. (...) No PCI express, limited memory capacity, etc.

So, seems to me the best way to go (cant afford an entire rig) is a new case, and a contemporary motherboard and processor. All the other bits are new or upgraded already; 2 hard drives, new DVD reader, Video card, etc.

If you get a new system, I assume it'll have PCI-E, in which case, what do you have planned for your already-existing new graphics card?

Cheers,
Rat.

[Bikewer]

Hopefully the new MB will have an AGP slot as well... Don't think I can spring for a new high-end card for this project.

[Rat]

You can, I believe, get mobos with both AGP and PCI-E. I never saw the point, really; but now, I guess, I do.

Cheers,
Rat.

[Mongrel]

You can, I believe, get mobos with both AGP and PCI-E. I never saw the point, really; but now, I guess, I do.

Cheers,
Rat.

You can but they're a rarity new nowdays. Your best bet is a reliable second hand board from E-bay.

What do you use your PC for mainly and what sort of budget do you have Bikewer?

[moopet]

If it's Windows NT/2000/XP (what a stab in the dark) and your new MB has a different drive controller chip then it'll bluescreen before Windows gets to the login screen. 95/98/Linux and maybe many other OSs will be fine :)

[Bikewer]

It's an everything machine, but I do a lot of gaming, both single-player and online.
My budget is very low, that's why I'm searching out alternatives instead of plunking down 12-1500 bucks for a new rig.

I was leafing through a copy of Repairing and Upgrading your PC, by Thompson, and he gives detailed instructions for MB installation and rebooting using the Windows recovery disc in it's repair mode. Says you should be able to boot up and then install the necessary drivers.

I'm also looking at the article at Tom's Hardware on building a 500 dollar gaming rig, but so far the specs are only about as good as what I have now. My goal is a 3-gig processer, 2gigs of RAM, and a decent video card. I'm currently running a GeForce 6800GS (AGP).
I will be doing well to come up with 500.00....

[Mongrel]

If it's Windows NT/2000/XP (what a stab in the dark) and your new MB has a different drive controller chip then it'll bluescreen before Windows gets to the login screen. 95/98/Linux and maybe many other OSs will be fine :)
Actually there's a fairly good chance of it being OK if everything is removed (in safe mode) and allowed to reinstall the new stuff. The main sticking point that I've found (after much cussing) is the IDE controllers - it was recommended by a friend who had to rebuild a server on the cheap with minimal downtime ;)

Oh and Bikewer, without knowing exactly what you've got, my suggestion for your $500 is case, good motherboard and a PCI-E Nvidia graphics card. This is on the assuption that your processor will fit into a PCI-E mobo, unfortunately you've pretty much reached your limit on AGP now

Splash a little more cash on the motherboard as you'll want one with dual 16x PCI-E, this allows you to get an OK graphics card (Nvidia is easier) and SLI it later. RAM should be ok and upgradeable later.

All the people I game with from the States recommend NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com/), being a little patient will help as well as they'll regularly cycle stuff through offers on either the big name stuff or the not ok but not selling well just remember to send those rebate coupons in :)

[kevin]

if you have XP you may have activation problems after upgrading the motherboard. Since you had a preinstalled OS (assuming it was XP) Gateway activated it for you. When you change the motherboard it may assume you're trying to install a pirate copy and demand re-authorization.

[Stainless_Steel_Rat]

Yeah Newegg is the only online shop I buy from. They ha(d)ve 1-2 PCI-E / AGP boards listed last time I checked. Unfortunatly they don't appear to be the best boards out there. Upgrading computers is a touchy job anymore. My personal computer strategy is to buy the best parts I can, every 3 years :P So I drop a load once every 3 years. Some parts are almost always going to be salvagable.

CD/DVD drives, floppy drives, keyboard/mouse, case (unless you want a new one) Sometimes the sound card (but most Mobos come with a fair built on anymore.) I JUST updraded and dropped $2k. But I now have a rig that should play top of the line games for the next couple years.

I started looking into upgrading my wife's system, and the $ just kept adding up.... New CPU means new Mobo, which meant a new video card....

Good luck, I personally would recommend selling your AGP card and using the procceds to fund a new pci card.

SSR

[infornography]

For processor, I would reccomend a Pentium D 805.

That is a 2.33 ghz 64 bit processor with dual cores for around $130 last I checked.

The cool thing about it is that most of those things can easily overclock using a zalman cooler to 3.8 Ghz or even as high as 4.1 Ghz.

That is some serious value for your money.

There are a few motherboards with both AGP and PCI-E available on Newegg so that would probably be your best bet. None that are SLI capable though.

Also luckily enough they seem to support both DDR and DDR2 memory, so you might not have to upgrade your memory to get the new mobo.

As far as installing your OEM copy of Windows on a new mobo... You might be able to coax the old install into working on the new hardware but if you ever need to reinstall Windows you might run into problems. Unfortunately Windows is not cheap.

However processor for $130, cooler for $50, motherboard for $60, case for probably around $100, and probably less than $40 shipping comes to $380 for a rather significant upgrade.

The only thing I would worry about is getting one of those legacy friendly motherboards that has good overclock settings. If you get it from Abit or Asus you should be good but you want to make sure it is compatible with Pentium Ds before you buy it.

Also if you can't install your old copy of Windows you can always buy a new copy... it feels wrong to have to pay for it twice, I know, but you should have some left over to be able to afford it.