Win7 upgrade or retail?

hyip001 · 1 Mar 2011 at 17:36

Hey guys, i'm planning on my first upgrade to an i5 2500k, so will need new motherboard and all that. Also getting new HDD to install OS on.
I'll be coming from XP 32bit which requires a fresh install if im correct.

Now i have already purchased the win7 upgrade version and now wondering how this is all going to work out and if i need the retail instead.

Do i replace all the parts then the OS, or vice versa?
And will upgrade version work if i replace motherboard and keep old hdd and install OS onto the new hdd?

Parts i'm getting:
I5 2500k
p67 mobo
DDR3 RAM
1TB HDD

Thanks for your time.

theheyes · 1 Mar 2011 at 18:11

Is XP32 a retail or OEM copy? If it's an OEM copy then it doesn't mean anything to your new system and technically you should have bought a version of Windows to upgrade from for your new motherboard, or just a retail version to start off with.

Personally I would just whack the new parts in and follow this guide

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media.aspx

hyip001 · 1 Mar 2011 at 18:33

XP is OEM version. Yeh was worried i would have to buy retail.

Will take a good look at the guide, thanks

DennisMenace · 1 Mar 2011 at 21:51

I was in the same boat with my new PC, having bought a "student" version which was upgrade only

. (It was Windows 7 Ultimate x64 for £58 though

).

I followed a similar guide (could be the same one even), but didn't fancy the "install twice" method. So I installed with a blank key, did the reg "hack", rebooted, and activated with the key. Simples.

Haven't looked back since, just installed SP1 without problems. Even without the student offer, this represents quite a saving (£35 for Home Premium, more for higher versions), if you can find the upgrade versions.