Death Inc

Hey guys,

got a question here since y'all are more tech savy than i am. i like my pc i really do i got it set up just nicely, all my backgrounds are good and i know where shit is on my 5 hard drives. but the processor and graphics card are getting older now.

is it possible to get a new mobo, cpu, ram and gpu, without having to reformat and start from scratch. like if i stick with intel and ati, can i change shit without marking my system have a brain fart and just be able to play games prettier and move on without all the hassle of reinstalling everything and reconfiguring everything?

The answer is a bit of yes and no. your 5 hard drives can stay the same, as by the sounds of it, they are just storing data. The only issue you will have is the Hard drive that has your OS installed (most likely your C drive). Back up the data on that, and then do a new motherboard, cpu and ram, and then try it. You might get lucky. I did this once and it worked ok afterwards. Then I tried it again later on and it didn't...which is the far more likely scenario...

I'm no tech either but i don't see why not, just uninstall all the old drivers for the old hardware and install the new drivers for the new hardware. You can go either way amd or intel. Personally i like to start fresh, everything wiped with a new build except my storage hard drives movies/downloads ect.

Ive only changed over a cpu and gpu like that and had no probs

as a rule of thumb it is best to have a new OS for new motherboard and cpu config. gfx card it wont matter so much.
for what you want to do i think win 8.1 can do this but i think win 7 has issues when you change to much hardware.
depending on your CPU and graphics card you have currently there may only be the need to update the graphics card and not the CPU. it may even be worth getting a SSD if you don't already have one, that would improve the performance of about any PC.

Negative. When I do a major change such as mobo/CPU. I will be forced to reformat due to a massive hardware change. Retarded I know. Followed by a call to Microsoft as they think my Windows Key is still in use.

Graphics card, RAM, harddrives and other little gizmos wont require a reformat.

Given the chance I'd use Windows 8.1. As cowcar said. Backup the important shit on your OS Drive. Reinstall everything once new hardware is installed and create a image of your main hard drive to save you any reformatting hassles. Because of imaging i can make a reformat job from a few hours to 10 minutes.

i might just do a new gpu

I'm at the point where I need to reformat 4 PCs due to the general growth in sluggishness and bloat Windows develops after a while. Despite the hassel of trying t set up from scratch a complete wipe and restart every 12 to 18 months can be a good thing.

Helps to keep images stored somewhere Kes. Makes the entire process painless. :)

My general imaging goes like this for a new PC
1. Complete all of Windows Updates up to the most recent copy.
2. Install all necessary software
3. Create image (Needs to be stored externally)
4. Run image when reformat is required 

RAID?

Get your self a synology. Put all your shit on that.

Get a Mac - they are nifty :P

Wouldn't call it painless, just a few less steps :)

Normally that's what I do, but I need to put Windows 8.1 Update 1 on everything and I'd prefer to do that as a clean install rather than updating an image. Plus I also discovered last time that if I'm using Windows Image Backup if I try to restore a Windows 8 image on a Windows 8.1 system it won't let me (I have since changed to AOEMI Backupper which overcomes that limitation).

(http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj190/jake_mikel/032908_gay_mac.jpg) (http://s272.photobucket.com/user/jake_mikel/media/032908_gay_mac.jpg.html)

WTF Cow , see your still playing dress ups lol.