Reinstalling XP home upgrade
 

I'm expecting the arrival of a new motherboard/processor/ram to upgrade the kids pc. Going from a p3 600 to amd 2800+ asus mob.

I will need to reinstall win xp home (upgrade), I've had a look at microsofts support site and couldn't really find what I was after.

The questions are this:

1/ Is it best to reformat C drive prior to upgrades, due completely new mob, or after mob in?
2/ As it is win xp upgrade will I need to reinstall, 3.1, 95, 98 then xp?
3/ Is there a way to avoid having to do that as 95 was an upgrade from3.1 98 from 95 etc?
4/ Would you leave xp on an ide drive or install on a new sata?

spannersatcx,

1. You do not need to format the Drive if you do not want to.
   
2. With an Upgrade CD, all it wants is to see you have the software that makes the Upgrade Licence Valid. You can do a fresh install of WinXP on a blank Hard Drive. All the Install will do is ask you to prove that you have the required software. It will ask you to point to a location where the corresponding software is located, you can at this time put the Win98 CD in the Drive so it can verify. (Do not worry if you have only one Optical Drive, just remove the WinXP CD and put the other CD in to Verify and then put the WinXP CD back in the Drive.)
   
3. Refer to above.
   
4. I would install on a new SATA Drive if you have one.

Take Care,

Richard

Thanks for that, will let you know if all goes well, or not as the case may be!

spannersatcx,

Fingers crossed. :ok:

Take Care,

Richard

Finally got all the bits yesterday, problems with the supply of the cpu, everything installed, no problems, yet! just got to reinstall all the software now, that's the long bit.

Any ideas as to what would be a reasonable graphics card upgrade, at the moment it is an old geforce 256, looking around the £100 mark (max) for gaming, it is the kids pc, that'll be next months upgrade (once paid that is)?

spannersatcx,

Not sure what the current prices are in the U.K. but I would still recommend they GeForceFX 5900XT 128Mb and the Radeon 9800Pro 128Mb. Both card will give your kids great eye candy. ;)

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. I will have a look around when I get a little more time.

I have a 9700 in my pc, which drives a nec multisync 1760 tft, and I have to say I've been pretty happy with it.

The new MOB being this n force thing, doesn't have any compatability issues with ati cards does it?