a little updrage confliction.

[Bouchane]

Hi thanks for picking my post.
Wanting to upgrade a little more, heres what I would like to do but
as would aslo want the pros (you) to tell me. lol
Ok so heres the Deal, at the moment I have this set up.

GA-EP35-DS3L Motherboard (non SLI)
Intel Duo E7220 (Non OC'd still running at 2.53)
XMS2 2GB PC-8500 DDR2 Memory Kit (Two 1GB DDR2-1066 Memory Modules)
EVGA 9600 GT SC edition gpu (can be SLI)
TX 650 Watt ATX Power Supply
WD 500GB Hardrive.

22 inch Acer screen and I also run another Because im into online gaming
and still gotta work at the same time... (eeep lol)


I wanted to get a little more juice from my pc
now that I have this setup and will most likly
move to Vista withen the next year or two.

I was thinking about getting this Motherboard
(GA-EP45C-DS3R 775 ATX Motherboard)
and getting another 9600 GT from EVGA.

OK now to the main point of this post.
Im pretty good with PC's and I built this
one but Im not too good at changing this as
aposed to startning from scratch. (sounds weird but...)
How hard is thing going to be?

Will I loose all my info?

Will I need another power suply with more juice?

I know I dont have the best ram at the moment but
it is compatible with the "possible new" motherboard.
I would prolly get some new better one down the rode
cause its a slow process.

As far as Im concerned, and PLEASE correct me if im
wrong or flame if im doing this the wronge way but...

1. boot in safe mode.
2. uninstall all motherboard drivers.
3. remove old mobo install new one.
4. install drivers.
5. install the other 9600gt
6. update possible updates cause im SLI???
not sure about that... dont know.

Reason why I dont "think" I can just get a new graphics card
that has more power for games since new ones are SO big im scared they wont
fit in the case, as I dont have a modular power supply.
and just have a antec 900 case.

What do yall think?

 

[Pinscher]

Well what is your budget? You could fit a 4870 in there. Then you wouldn't have to upgrade your mobo too. You could also probably sell that 9600gt. It would make for a fairly cheap awesome upgrade.

 

[saltynay]

Changing out the motherboard for a new one is very annoying as it basically is building a new system from scratch.

Your info will be lost on the partition of the OS (windows/linuz/hackintosh) this is because the motherboard chipsets will more then likely be different and the partition needs to be formatted. Having said that I recently upgraded my motherboard from a P5B to a striker 2 formula and windows automagically worked. I did reinstall the OS anyway as there was a high chance of driver conflicts which would cause more of a headache then a clean install. Uninstalling motherboard drivers whilst its running isn't the greatest idea and will more then likely lead to something crashing clean install is the simple quic and easy way.

You won't need a new psu that one is sufficient.

As above why change the motherboard? The 9600gt is not a true gaming card its kinda crud so I wouldn't double my expense for a 60-70% performance boost. The Antec 900 is a large case a large graphics card will fit no problems. I would sell the 9600gt and buy a 9800gx2 they are really cheap in the US atm or as your motherboard is ATI a 4850 or 4870 with the possibility of crossfire when they get too slow for you.

For sli/crossfire a cable/bridge will come with the motherboard that goes on the top of the cards and they are connected in the normal way to the pci-expresss slots. Special drivers are available but standard drivers should also work.

Your CPU is probably a bottleneck for your graphics and with that ram you really should overclock. If your getting a new mobo its the perfect chance to get an aftermarket cooler such as the thermaltake ultra 120 and push that cpu to 3.2ghz which is a relatively small jump.

 

[meat_helmet]

Yeh that mobo you have is still pretty good, the P45 is not that much better (overclocks a bit more etc). As ferarri said, getting a 4870 would be better, cheaper and easier. It should be fine in an Antec 900.

The PSU you have is fine for either a HD4870 or 2x 9600GTs.

Also, SLI 9600GTs will not be as good one 4870 i dont think. It may come close, but considering the issues with SLI, it is easier and more efficient to stick with one card.

If you do decide to go with a new mobo, i recommend nothing less than a full re-install. This means; a format or a clean drive, a reinstall of windows and all your drivers and programs. You will hear of people managing to do it with swapping the mobos and drivers or with a windows repair, but i would strongly advise against this. There are to many possibilities for conflicts otherwise (im pretty sure most here would agree).

EDIT: Bah, satlynay got in before me...