Upgrading - migrate without reinstall questions

[mrk]

Hi! I currently have:

- Athlon XP 3200+ Barton
- Abit KW7 (VIA KT800 chipset)
- 2gb dual channel xms3200 platinum
- 7800GS AGP 256MB
- Seagate SATA drive (Windows installation)
- Maxtor SATA drive ("My Documents" drive)
- Santa Cruz Soundcard
- Linksys PCI Wifi card
- Leadtek PCI digital freeview card
- Enermax Liberty 500 PSU

My system is very stable, never crashes in windows etc and I run a tidy setup which is well maintained drivers wise so would prefer not having to reinstall windows and putting all my apps/customisations back on (takes ages).

At the end of this month I am upgrading to the following:

- Asus A8N-SLI SE
- AMD Athlon 64 (ADA3700BNBOX) 3800+ venice Retail
- GeForce 7900 GS 256MB DDR3 PCI-E

Total = £262

What I wanted to know is what components in device manager I'd need to uninstall in order to migrate to the new mobo without needing a windows reinstall since I'm switching chipsets?

I know I'll have to run the VIA Hyperion driver setup again to remove the via drivers (this part is quick and easy) and also:

- Uninstall nvidia drivers
- Uninstall PCI devices
- USB devices would not really matter since they are plug and play
- Uninstall the Athlon XP from device manager

I do not have SATA Raid installed and I am not using the VIA SATA drivers (native xp configuration) so won't need to touch anything on the SATA front hopefully as long as the A8N SLi can boot into windows off an SATA drive ?


Is there anything I am missing that anyone can spot ?

Gotta prepare myself for Alan Wake, was going for an X2 but the prices are high for the X2 I want so this will do until prices drop, likewise for the gfx


Cheers!

 

[wizardmaxx]

My system is very stable, never crashes in windows etc and I run a tidy setup which is well maintained drivers wise

Based on this statement alone i would seriously consider a fresh install. It's going to take up three hours of your time and may potentially save you six hours of headaches, system freezes, etc.

 

[mrk]

^_^ Surely it cannot be that hard to just move to a new base system with the same windows install!

I wish Vista came out last year, then no more reinstalls :/

 

[wizardmaxx]

Pu it this way ... are you potentially going to re-load windows in the next six to twelve months ? If yes then do a fresh install and create an image of it before you load games, etc on. That way you can re-load windows every week and its only going to take you ten minutes. Point being you are going to spend the time to do it, might as well gert it over and done with. You said it yourself...there's a different chipset involved and thats where most problems start in the first place.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Sometimes you can just plug the hard drive into the new motherboard and it will simply accept this and update the drivers, other times you will need to reactivate Windows by phoning up Microsoft for a new licence key. It is probably less hassle all round to go for a fresh install but try it if you want, I'd just say be willing to accept that it may not work.

I'd also suggest you change the CPU to a 3700 San Diego so you end up with these parts. The San Diego has 1mb L2 cache rather than the 512kb of the Venice and you also end up with a better CPU cooler.

CP-150-AM AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM)
£51.99 £51.99
GX-042-OK OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-042-OK)
£97.99 £97.99
MB-101-AS Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS)
£54.99 £54.99
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£13.99 £13.99
Subtotal £218.96
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.25
VAT £39.77
Total £266.98