Help Me Upgrade My Computer!

Thanks jed. Yeah, I could do with a bit of advice on whether my intended mobo is compatible with everything - I presume it would be, but it's good to check. It's a Gigabyte Z77 D3H, and the plan atm is to get an i5 3570k, the Crucial Ballistix RAM, an ATi 7870 and A Corsair PSU around 500W. Any potential compatibility issues there?

 

Looks good to me. All it needs is to make sure everything "fits" which you never know until you get the parts.

(Asus) 7870 = PCI-E 3.0, your MoBO will have 1x 3.0, 1x 2.0 and plenty 1.0's.
i5 3570 = Socket LGA1155, your MoBo supports all i3/i5/i7 socket 1155's.
Ballistix = DDR3, 240 pin, 1600, your MoBo supports 240 pin DDR3 2400, 1600 and 1333.

Not sure how to check PSU compatability, that'll have to go to someone else.

Also, you're getting a x64 OS right?

 

Yeah, in the long term I'll definitely have a 64bit OS. Although if for whatever reason I can only get my old 32 bit Vista working and not 64 bit W7, will the only downside be that it won't support all of the RAM?

 

Basically yes your RAM investment will be useless and you'll see no performance gain in regards to RAM until you've upgraded.

 

Okay no worries, the 32 bit Vista would only be temporary, and hopefully won't need to be used anyway. The system currently has 64 bit Windows 7 installed, so hopefully that can be used.

Out of interest, what will actually happen if I initially don't reinstall windows when I've replaced all of the components? If I try to use the old installation, activated with a different motherboard and with drivers for all of the old parts. Will it actually work, so I could temporarily check that the new parts seem to be in order? Or must I reinstall Windows immediately?

 

You'd need the update the CPU/GPU/MoBo drivers ASAP. I'm not certain if a fresh MoBo can be POSTed and successfully booted into Windows without installing the full, fresh OS install. Sorry, not much help there.

I know if you swapped RAM, CPU and GPU w/o touching the MoBo you wouldn't need a reinstall. However I think you may need one for swapping the MoBo.

 

It's always good to reinstall the OS after swaping a mobo. I've seen cases that was't needed and everything worked fine, but yesterday, for example, I swaped my GF's 775 kit for my AM3 and the system continuosly BSODed until i reinstalled the OS.

One more thing: until you get your new x64 OS, you can use the Win7 trial. It gives you 30 days of unlimited access.

 

I saw this, which I found interesting: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

Good to know, although I may reinstall fully anyway. It's just that the Windows I have is a student Windows 7 upgrade edition, and I don't have the original installation files, so it could be a bit awkward.

 

Thought people might like to know that all of my components have been ordered today In the end I went with:

i5 3570k
8GB Crucial Ballistix 1600mhz
Gigabyte Z77-D3H mobo
Corsair 500W Builder Series
XFX 7870 Core Edition - Very pleased with this. Not only was it a decent price at £173, but it comes with 8 games! Far Cry 3, Sleeping Dogs, Hitman: Absolution, Deus Ex: HR, Shogun 2, Sniper Elite, Dirt Showdown and Nexuiz.

I'm a happy man. I just want to say thanks to everyone in this thread who gave me advice, as you really helped. I may be back for advice if I have issues building it