Do I have to reformat when changing mobos?

S

sweets

Limp Gawd
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Jan 23, 2008
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I'm getting ready to RMA my Abit Quad GT for some work and in the mean time I purchased a BFG 680i SLI and also bought another 8800gt.

When I get all the hardware installed on the new mobo will I have to reformat the harddrive and re-install all programs?

Also, I'm running XP SP2 and I'm really hankerin' to upgrade to Vista 64. If I do decide to go with Vista Ultimate 64, should I purchase the full retail version since it would cut down on the headache of future crashes and having to re-install two operating systems rather than one? Or should I just purchase the upgrade?

Word. :)
 
I would say reinstall and for vista just buy it don't go through the upgrade crap.
 
Some suggestions, for what their worth.

If changing with new MB/chipset, I'd reformat; you could try the repair function, but generally a reformat is recommended.

If you want to go Vista 64, buy retail or OEM new disc. Then you could potentially dual boot, but I think XP is slowly fading away.....despite it being a very good solid OS.
Vista retail may give you less authentication headaches if you ever need to reformat.
 
Since you're changing chipset manufacturers I'd probably format. You don't have to, but I like a fresh registry, etc. with a new board.
 
IT guy here... at work sysprep.... at home.. I do a complete format, especially if it's a different chipset.
 
Go get Acronis's latest imaging product, it allows you to do some cool things, one of which is to slipstream new drivers into the image so that on initial boot windows doesn't freak its shit and BSOD. Did I mention the slipstreaming process is all GUI/Wizard based :D I have moved an image from a SAS box to a SCSI box, and then to a laptop all without reinstall. Fresh installs are always nice, but if you don't have the time, and you have the cash you may want to look into it.
 
Do you HAVE TO reinstall?

The answer is there is a good chance you won't have to.

I always swap out motherboards with XP without issue, even when switching chipsets. I just recently swapped out a P5WDH deluxe motherboard to an Abit IP35 pro board. If the price to pay for this convenience is a bunch of stale CLSID reg keys, I will gladly pay that since it saves allot of time from reinstalling apps.

I have done this for years without issue. Usually it is only a problem for me if I am switching to a completely different boot type when swapping motherboards.(SCSI to IDE, or IDE to SCSI) But even then there are ways around it. (ghost original boot drive from scsi to IDE, or reverse, swap motherboards then boot up off XP CD and re-install/repair)

It's never a 100% guarantee, but I personally have had very good results (98 % success) in probably 25 swaps in the last 10+ years with my systems and others.

Can the same be said for Vista? I have no idea, and don't plan on finding out for as long as possible.

My XP installs run perceivably faster then Vista so I will stick to that for as long as I can.
 
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