Build For Friend

[Counter-Strike]

My friend is finally deciding to get rid of his Dell 4400 and build his own rig! Now he wanted me to find him a low budget computer. I came up w/ parts pretty similar to mine. He already bought some weird "professional ATX case" Here is what I got for him:

Gigabyte GA-K8NSC
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 939 Venice
MSI 6600GT AGP 8x 128MB
SONY IDE DVD/CD ROM Drive
1GB Corsair ValueSelect PC3200 RAM

Now as far as HD's go, he upgraded his HD earlier to a 80GB Maxtor that he wants to switch over. Now I am asking if this build will fit and if everything looks fine.

I have another question though. He has Windows XP Home on the HD, and of course it is the Dell copy. But he still has the re-install disk, and it is the full install, not partial. Could I just switch the HD over for him and not have to worry about buying a new copy? I have heard that it usually works as long as you have the full install on it.

Thanks!

 

[Elbatrop1]

That looks like a pretty nice build!

I dont know what Windows is gonna do when you transfer the HD. I would back up all his files and try it anyways.

 

[Counter-Strike]

Yeah ^.^ I guess we should try it. Has anyone tried this before?

 

[HAVOC]

As far as i know, it "CAN'T" be done. The copy from dell, is what's called OEM software. When Dell installs your OS at the factory, they also activate that copy with microsoft online. Which sends a small system spec profile which will be associated with that OS.

The same is true for when you buy an OEM OS from say newegg.com. It is activated so only to be used for one PC.

And you can't take a HDD with an OS installed out of one machine and just simply hook it up in another machine and boot to windows. First of all the MOBO drivers will conflict as well as other windows files. You'll need to reformat and reinstall windows with all new drivers. Also, you'll need either a new OEM OS or a FULL Version.

 

[macdude425]

The hardware differences have to be minute for the Windows currently on his drive to work with his new computer. It is always a good idea to back up and reinstall.