Replacing Motherboard & Possibly moving to Windows 7

[DerekC1990]

When I first installed my operating system (Windows XP Service Pack 2) I had issues with the motherboard. It was giving me troubles with drivers and other crap and my computer has randomly crashed since day 1... not to often but still quite annoying. Here is my current system:
Mother Board: Newegg.com - MSI NF980-G65 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU: Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX
Hard-Drive Primary: Newegg.com - Plextor PX-128M1S 2.5" 128GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Hard-Drive Secondary: Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Video/Graphics Card: Newegg.com - ASUS EAH4870/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
RAM: Newegg.com - A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-2G
Power Supply Unit: Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7
DVD/CD Drive: Newegg.com - Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners
Wireless Card: Newegg.com - EDIMAX EW-7128G IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1x, WPA, AES
Monitor: Amazon.com: AOC 2436VW 24" Widescreen HD Monitor: Computer & Accessories
Keyboard:Amazon.com: Logitech Illuminated Ultrathin Keyboard with Backlighting: Electronics
Mouse: Amazon.com: Razer Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse: Electronics: Reviews, Prices & more

and here is the motherboard I'm thinking about switching to: Newegg.com - ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard


When I switch to the new motherboard I'll have to reformat my computer correct?
-> If so I think I may just move to windows 7 and just dual boot into XP if I ever have compatibility issues. Is there any compatibility built into Windows 7 that will allow me to run 32 bit programs while using Windows 7 64bit? (My girlfriend has Windows 7 Home Premium or some crap and she can't run certain 32bit programs like Battlefield Bad Company 2).

Thanks for all the help ^_^

 

[Trotter]

Nice choice on the mobo. yes, you will need to format and reinstall everything. Use Gparted to do the formatting (look for the guide here on TF).

I am running Win7 64-bit ad have no problems running anything so far. I don't bother with really old programs anyway, so it's not a problem. I run BFBC2 just fine, BTW.

Win7 has compatibility mods so you can have it run a program as an earlier version if need be.