PC Upgrade Help

[350wedge]

I have a question which needs answering before i go ahead and start upgrading my PC.

What i'm planning to do is use my existing desktop but put in a new motherboard, CPU and memory. The hard drive for now will be retained from my current setup including XP thats loaded onto it.

The question is will I be able to re-use this copy of XP even though i've changed the major internal components? Or will i need to buy a new copy of XP?

Its a genuine copy of XP but its OEM and not the retail boxed edition.

Cheers folks

[BaconBonce]

If you change the motherboard in your PC, as far as the OEM licence goes, it's classed as a new PC so you legally have to buy another copy of XP.

If you try and use the same copy of XP on the new motherboard, it will certainly kick up a stink and start demanding re-activating etc.

[350wedge]

Hmmmm I kinda suspected that i would have to purchase a new copy of XP, having heard plenty of differing opinions.

I'm pretty sure at this stage that I will stick with XP rather than going for Vista, but now the thing i need to decide is whether to build a whole new machine and sell my old one or just upgrade components!!

[chris watton]

There's also the very strong possibility that your current XP set up will not load, and you'll have to do a full reinsall anyway - that would be the best way anyway, to ensure maximum system stability with your new hardware.

Oh yes, if you haven't activated your OEM version of XP for a while, you can reinstall it and the chances are that it will activate without any probs.

Edited by chris watton on Monday 23 April 14:44

[350wedge]

chris watton said:

Oh yes, if you haven't activated your OEM version of XP for a while, you can reinstall it and the chances are that it will activate without any probs.

I built this machine about 18 months ago i think and have never needed to re-activate XP at any point in that time other than the initial installation.

[chris watton]

350wedge said:

chris watton said:

Oh yes, if you haven't activated your OEM version of XP for a while, you can reinstall it and the chances are that it will activate without any probs.

I built this machine about 18 months ago i think and have never needed to re-activate XP at any point in that time other than the initial installation.

You will be fine, I reinstalled both my copies of XP Pro on two PCs I did over the weekend, and they activated without the slightest problem. I reinstalled XP after uninstalling my new Vista Ultimate - if you need your PC for work and you have a lot of V expensive (and 100% cosha) software, don't even think about Vista - spent the whole W/E trying to get some software to work properly - gave up in the end.....

[350wedge]

Its for my home pc but i do have software such as Photoshop CS2 and various Microsoft stuff on there. Nothing too serious though.

I need to give my pc a serious power boost as i've just bought a near 17 million pixel digital camera chucking out 50Mb file sizes. Hence the need for new CPU, Memory etc!

I've heard a lot of negative things about Vista, so for stability going to stick with XP for now.

[momentofmadness]

350wedge said:

Hmmmm I kinda suspected that i would have to purchase a new copy of XP

To the letter of Law, then yes an OEM copy dies with the PC. However, just reinstall and click "Activate by telephone" - the PC then generates a long number (approx 25 digits), dial the 0800 telephone number to the Indian call-centre and quote the number. He/she will ask one question "Is this installed on any other computer?" the answer is "No" and they will re-activate while you are on the phone.

Couldn't be easier and there are no questions / information needed etc to catch you out - very simple and efficient.

[altrezia]

On the other hand, My wife and I both use vista, for gaming and regular stuff, and we've had no problems at all.

[chris watton]

altrezia said:

On the other hand, My wife and I both use vista, for gaming and regular stuff, and we've had no problems at all.

if your PC is strictly a 'family' PC, to be used only for internet/gaming/Word, then it's a great 'Media Centre' choice. If howver, you need the PC for CAD/rendering/DTP work, you may change your mind very quickly, as I did. I wanted to keep it on my system because I did prefer it, but if it gets in the way of my everyday work output, it's simply no good - it has to work for all things, work/games/office etc, and not just a select few applications....

[madmat]

BaconBonce said:

If you change the motherboard in your PC, as far as the OEM licence goes, it's classed as a new PC so you legally have to buy another copy of XP.

If you try and use the same copy of XP on the new motherboard, it will certainly kick up a stink and start demanding re-activating etc.

I upgraded my pc and replaced everything apart from the harddrive, when I started up the pc it asked me to re activiate windows and told me that i needed a new activation key as all the changes I had made, rang the microsoft activation lie that comes up on the screen and without even explaining the situation was provided with a new key.

I think you should be fine!