CPU upgrade

[ceego]

so forgive me for being thick, ive always built my own PCs for like 10 years now and i normally reformat with every major hardware change.

This time hower i just reformatted last week and then discovered im gonna have more money this month that i thought, is it possible to change your CPU without reformatting? Is there a special method or is it just a case of powering down and swapping them over?

Currently im using a Q6600 SLACR edition with a maximus formula 1 m/board thinking about change to a Q9550 or 9650.. that is if its even worth it which i'm still looking into.

Cheers.

 

[95thrifles]

Yeah you can just swap them out, its fine, its your BIOS what controls your CPU not your HDD so it'll just detect the new one. Tho imo if youve already bought it its not worth the upgrade, just clock your Q6600 and save your money til you can afford a whole new set up and go i7, either that or get a new gfx card or somat if you think youd see any benefit there

 

[ceego]

Yeah you can just swap them out, its fine, its your BIOS what controls your CPU not your HDD so it'll just detect the new one. Tho imo if youve already bought it its not worth the upgrade, just clock your Q6600 and save your money til you can afford a whole new set up and go i7, either that or get a new gfx card or somat if you think youd see any benefit there

cheers for the info i just got a gtx285 which is why i reformatted, i think i have a spare zalman cooler somewhere i might install that and clock the q6600 then..

 

[IAmATeaf]

Depends on the mobo but with some you have to clear the CMOS also when swapping out a CPU.

 

[freddie64]

Got to agree with 95thrifles, save your money and clock your q6600.

 

[muppetkiller]

Like the above poster said it depends on your mobo.

Have had older machine once i changed CPU i had to rinstall windows. But with my new machines that i have built in the past 6months. I can change the CPU's till the cows come home and i will never have to rinstall windows.