Building my computer

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claudius

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
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I'm going to build my own computer by using the parts from my old Sony Vaio, I plan on purchasing a new mobo, CPU, GPU, PSU, and a new case.

Im going to use my current HDD's and optical drives and eventually get more memory to add on. What exactly would I have to do? Is it just as simple as taking apart my current computer and just put the HDD and opticals in the new case with everything else??? Will I have to clear my HDD's and then reinstall windows, etc??? If I do, then how do I do this???


Thans a lot for the help...
 
Theres a good possiblity that your old ram is not compatible with a new board if it uses the old sdram or slow ddr ram.

Yes, you will have to reformat your old hard drive and re-install windows unless you want alot of trouble.

Hope that helps you out a little.
 
IceDigger said:
Theres a good possiblity that your old ram is not compatible with a new board if it uses the old sdram or slow ddr ram.

Yes, you will have to reformat your old hard drive and re-install windows unless you want alot of trouble.

Hope that helps you out a little.
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You probably know this already, but you only need to format your HDD with the OS on there. So move all your files to your backup HDD if you have one
 
I'm pretty sure the memory isn't proprietary ;). But you might want to check what kind it is and what you need in your new computer.
 
The memory is PC3200 DDR RAM. And how do I reformat my HDD? I have a ext HDD for backup isnt a problem. What exactly does reforatting do?

EDIT: And would the memory, HDDs, or optical drives be propriety? or is that only the mobo?

propreity = not going to work w/ other parts.....correct?
 
if you're moving from one set of chipset and component drivers to another, usually they don't play nicely with each other right off the bat. The best way to fix this is to reformat the HDD and start over.

You can reformat by sticking your Windows XP cd in the drive and rebooting. It will boot off of the CD and start the installation process. Just delete the old copy of Windows and install your new one after formatting (just follow the steps as presented).
 
Since it seems to us that you are very new at building computers, and have very little knowledge of how computers run (not knowing how and what formatting is) I would suggest that u do go ahead and get ur parts, and then have a friend, or even a shop install them for you.

Im not trying to bash on you, but it seems you are very unfamiliar when it comes with computers, and I personally think it would be better for you to learn from someone else more knowledgeable instead of taking a chance and just doing all this stuff urself when it seems that you dont really know what ur doing. You dont want to mess something really simple and then ruin ur system. Plus, its not somethin to be ashamed of to be a newb about this, i mean all of us were there one day and we all couldve used help and knowledge when building our first rig.
 
hennessy1 said:
Since it seems to us that you are very new at building computers, and have very little knowledge of how computers run (not knowing how and what formatting is) I would suggest that u do go ahead and get ur parts, and then have a friend, or even a shop install them for you.

Im not trying to bash on you, but it seems you are very unfamiliar when it comes with computers, and I personally think it would be better for you to learn from someone else more knowledgeable instead of taking a chance and just doing all this stuff urself when it seems that you dont really know what ur doing. You dont want to mess something really simple and then ruin ur system. Plus, its not somethin to be ashamed of to be a newb about this, i mean all of us were there one day and we all couldve used help and knowledge when building our first rig.
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Actually, I am familiar w/ a bunch of stuff about parts and know how to do lots of stuff like installing but I just don't know some things, ex. formatting. I would rather build it myself and learn, than get someone else to do it. (I know noone that can)
 
Instead of wiping the hd clean, would it be easier to just do the windows repair and replace the windows filesand then install drivers for the new hardware?
 
OK, opened my computer to take a look into it and I noticed that there is only one HDD (D drive) in there, But I have two HDDs (C and D) C has 15gigs and D has 160gigs, and the C Drive has my OS on it. Where is the C Drive inside my computer??? lol
 
Your HDD is partitioned into two separate drives. They are both on 1 HDD.
 
claudius said:
OK, so will the PC3200 DDR RAM from my old computer work on the new mobo?
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That depends on what mobo you're getting. Most that support DDR (as opposed to DDR2) do, but I'd check the specs of the motherboard to make sure.
 
PWMK2 said:
That depends on what mobo you're getting. Most that support DDR (as opposed to DDR2) do, but I'd check the specs of the motherboard to make sure.
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AMD s754/s939 all use DDR memory. Intel uses DDR2 (with the lone exception of SOME 915P boards in LGA775...and all 865/875 boards with LGA775 since I'm being technical). So general guide is AMD = DDR, Intel = DDR2 ;).
 
kirbyrj said:
AMD s754/s939 all use DDR memory. Intel uses DDR2 (with the lone exception of SOME 915P boards in LGA775...and all 865/875 boards with LGA775 since I'm being technical). So general guide is AMD = DDR, Intel = DDR2 ;).
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Well, this would again depend on the motherboard. Socket 478 mobos, for instance, use DDR because they all use the older chipsets. If he went with an Intel CPU, he would have to check for that. Although it is a given that if he went for an AMD proc., DDR is what he would definitely need.
 
PWMK2 said:
Well, this would again depend on the motherboard. Socket 478 mobos, for instance, use DDR because they all use the older chipsets. If he went with an Intel CPU, he would have to check for that. Although it is a given that if he went for an AMD proc., DDR is what he would definitely need.
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Well, the way I look at it is if he's upgrading from a Vaio which already has an Intel P4, and the P4 has PC3200 DDR RAM, then most likely he's working with a 865/875 with a 800FSB chip since the previous 845PE only supported up to PC2700. The only logical Intel upgrade over that is a LGA775 and DDR2 :cool: .

Sherlock Holmes said:
Elementary, my dear Watson
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What else is in your Vaio anyway. You might not benefit much from an upgrade...or by keeping your Vaio whole, you can sell it to someone on eBay :).
 
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