Upgrading processor, XP reinstall needed?

P

Pip

n00b
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Jun 22, 2005
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23
Hey all,

I am currently running an Athlon 64 3700+ (San Diego) on a Asus A8N-SLI Premium motherboard with 1gig of ram. I am considering replacing the processor with an X2 4200+ or 4400+ and adding another gig of ram to help with multi-tasking. Can I just drop the new processor in and go? or will I need to do a complete reinstall of Windows XP?
 
well, maybe. Since you are upgrading to a dual core cpu from a single core, you need to install the multi core/socket windows API. You can install it without reformatting windows, but I dont know how. If you just plug in your new chip w/o installing the new API, then you will only see 1 core installed (bc it still thinks you have a single CPU setup bc of the Single core API that is installed)

maybe some [H]arder member on the forums can elaborate further...

EDIT: realized that Shock_Hunter has a Dual core cpu, so I would trust him - just dont be too surprised if it doesnt go 100% smoothly
 
I upgraded from Intel P4 2.6, Asus P4P800 Deluxe, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro to AMD X2 4200+, Asus A8N SLI Premium, Nvidia 7800GT. I didn't reinstall windows at all. I just swapped everything, load up windows, it detected new hardwares, installed a few drivers, after a few reboots from the driver installation, and it's ready to go. System detected dual-core (checked in task manager). So no, you don't have to reinstall windows.
 
I did the Hotfix from MS on the dual processors and no problem.
 
Pip said:
Hey all,

I am currently running an Athlon 64 3700+ (San Diego) on a Asus A8N-SLI Premium motherboard with 1gig of ram. I am considering replacing the processor with an X2 4200+ or 4400+ and adding another gig of ram to help with multi-tasking. Can I just drop the new processor in and go? or will I need to do a complete reinstall of Windows XP?
Click to expand...
You could probably just do the dual core hotfix, make sure your drivers are there, and you'd be ok - ram & cpu isn't as major as a cpu & mobo...

If you're concerned, use something like Acronis TrueImage to make an image of your boot drive and if it fails, you should be able to restore it.
 
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D,
A64 X2 4400 Toledo @ 2420MHz
MSI X800pro, Silent Boost Lapped
Maxtor 6Y120MO and 6Y160MO SATA HDs
Corsair 2x512-XMS-4000PRO v3.1
Vantec 520 Stealth PSU

This is my other rig, I did the MS hotfix for dual core and installed the AMD dual core drivers. I haven't had a problem.
 
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