HELP!

stormbreaker · 22 May 2009 at 22:52

OK. Thank you very much. Looks like I will just have to spend that little bit extra.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice.

stormbreaker · 26 May 2009 at 22:13

OK. I am considering my options again. Can I keep the case, optical drive, HDD, fans?

Also if I upgrade the CPU, Motherboard, PSU and Graphics Card will I have to reinstall the Operating System?

I am currently looking at
CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 940 Black Edition 3.0GHz (Socket AM2+)
Motherboard -Biostar TSeries TA790GX 128M AMD 790GX (Socket AM2+) DDR2
PSU - Corsair VX 550W ATX Power Supply
Graphics Card - XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 XXX 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI
RAM - OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel

cmndr_andi · 26 May 2009 at 22:31

stormbreaker said:
OK. I am considering my options again. Can I keep the case, optical drive, HDD, fans?

Also if I upgrade the CPU, Motherboard, PSU and Graphics Card will I have to reinstall the Operating System?

I am currently looking at
CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 940 Black Edition 3.0GHz (Socket AM2+)
Motherboard -Biostar TSeries TA790GX 128M AMD 790GX (Socket AM2+) DDR2
PSU - Corsair VX 550W ATX Power Supply
Graphics Card - XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 XXX 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI
RAM - OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel

You should be fine keeping the case, fans, HDD and DVD drive. I just checked and the HDD and DVD drive are SATA - so they should be fast enough. The case looks reasonably roomy and will fit full height GFX card. That said - you may want to measure how much length there is for the graphics card - some modern cards are rather long and have trouble fitting in mini/midi tower cases.

You will indeed have to reinstall your operating system when you do the upgrade (windows will not boot up with a new motherboard) so make sure you backup all your stuff.

As for your build - it looks very solid. Personally, I'm more partial to a core 2 setup for the price, but a Phenom 2 will be fast enough for sure. As for your choice of GFX, PSU and RAM - they all look great and should make for a very nice computer.

nutsnut · 26 May 2009 at 22:36

I think that his OS will be an OEM copy supplied by HP and not a retail OS hat can be installed on a new non-propriety mother board.

cmndr_andi · 26 May 2009 at 22:41

His pc should have come with a disk copy of the OS (all my dells did). The product key is affixed to the case. As long as its the same PC, you can use the same OEM copy of windows. In my books - same case = same PC, he's just doing an upgrade, so he can use his old OS disk no probs

stormbreaker · 26 May 2009 at 22:44

Sorry. I'm a little confused. What is the difference between an OS and an OEM?

reflux · 26 May 2009 at 22:45

stormbreaker said:
OK. I am considering my options again.

I am currently looking at
CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 940 Black Edition 3.0GHz (Socket AM2+)
Motherboard -Biostar TSeries TA790GX 128M AMD 790GX (Socket AM2+) DDR2
PSU - Corsair VX 550W ATX Power Supply
Graphics Card - XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 XXX 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI
RAM - OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel

Now that's a bit more like it

cmndr_andi · 26 May 2009 at 22:47

Sorry, OS is the operating system ie Windows Vista/ XP/ Mac OSX etc

OEM is a version of a product sold only to system builders. It is usually cheaper and does not come with much packaging or extras - just the product. In the case of operating systems - OEM copies are only supposed to be used on one computer - not transferred onto new computers. In your case - HP have bought an OEM copy of windows and installed it on your computer before you bought it.

stormbreaker · 26 May 2009 at 22:51

Sorry, I still don't really understand OEM. Does this mean I have to buy a copy of Windows again?

cmndr_andi · 26 May 2009 at 22:54

If you got a windows disk with your computer and you can locate the windows product key sticker on your PC - you will not have to buy a new copy of windows.

stormbreaker · 26 May 2009 at 23:02

Oh brilliant.

So the system upgrades should be fine.

Will I have to reinstall Windows Office?

Thank You.

cmndr_andi · 26 May 2009 at 23:21

Yes - everything will be removed from the computer when you reinstall windows. So you will need to backup all your files and find all the disks/files to re-install your programs including office.

stormbreaker · 26 May 2009 at 23:23

OK.

Thank You very much.

How would I do complete system backup and reinstall?

Thanks Again.

cmndr_andi · 26 May 2009 at 23:40

To backup I just get an external hard disk, a large flash drive or some DVDs and copy all my important files over (things I cannot simply download back again). To install windows again, put the windows disk in the DVD drive - go into the BIOS and set the DVD drive as no1 boot priority drive. Then save and restart- and press a key on the keyboard when it says "press any key to boot from DVD". Then you will go into the windows install procedure - choose a clean install (not upgrade) and pick your main hard disk as the location. Then just wait with it and press the buttons when they come up. It will restart a few times - this is normal. At one point it will ask you to put in your windows product key in. Find the sticker on your case with 25 letters and numbers - enter it into the box onscreen.

When you are all done- you will have a brand new install of windows with no programs or files - install the new drivers (for motherboard, graphics card etc) then put everything you backed up on it again. Then reinstall your programmes (like office).

Job done (hopefully).

stormbreaker · 26 May 2009 at 23:45

Thank You for all your help guys.

MagicBoy · 26 May 2009 at 23:52

cmndr_andi said:
If you got a windows disk with your computer and you can locate the windows product key sticker on your PC - you will not have to buy a new copy of windows.

Wrong.

It will be OEM, therefore it's tied to the motherboard shipped in the system. Try and install it on a PC with a non-HP motherboard and it will refuse to activate.

cmndr_andi · 27 May 2009 at 00:15

MagicBoy said:
Wrong.

It will be OEM, therefore it's tied to the motherboard shipped in the system. Try and install it on a PC with a non-HP motherboard and it will refuse to activate.

Apologies to stormbreaker and credit to Magicboy, you are quite right. After a bit of reading it looks like the main PC makers have worked with Microsoft to clamp down on this - so activating an OEM copy of XP like I was talking about will need a lengthy chat with a microsoft rep to check you aren't trying to do exactly what we are trying to do. I'm not sure if the OS will fail to work with a non HP motherboard - but activating the OS again will certainly be difficult.

I apologise for my error- I have been using store-bought OEM windows for a long time - clearly it is different for large PC makers OEM operating systems.

Stormbreaker - I recommend you put Windows 7 release candidate (64 bit version) on your new PC for the time being and buy it when it gets released (or March 1st 2010 at the latest).

nutsnut · 27 May 2009 at 18:35

Thats what I said. A dell/HP OS will not install on a non dell/HP motherboard/

MagicBoy · 27 May 2009 at 18:44

nutsnut said:
Thats what I said. A dell/HP OS will not install on a non dell/HP motherboard/

It's not the OS, it's the product key. You can install any version of Vista from a single common CD. The lock mechanism is in the product key and activation process.