Upgrading the Motherboard. New OS and PS?

[EvilHamster]

I want to upgrade my motherboard, so that I can upgrade my CPU, (I remember having to upgrade my motherboard 5 or so years ago, because of a short circuit, and since I was quite young then, I took it to a shop, and they upgraded it and my OS remained the same. But I am not sure if it was just because they used a similar motherboard (I was too young to pay attention to that kind of things back then))


Anyways.
QUESTION is:
I have a prebuild PC with the OS it come with, and I want to upgrade my M/B and do it as cheaply as possible, without cutting corners on quality. Since I will keep my HDD, can I keep the OS as well? Will it automatically connect to the Internet and download all the required drivers, or do I have to reinstall the OS.
In which case, can I just use the backup (probably not) or do I have to buy a new OS, since Windows did not come with a CD (it was already installed).


Also and less important, can I reuse my PS or will the newer 1155 sockets need more oompfh and hence a new PS. (not sure what my current PS is, but its old (works nice though))

Please Help.

 

[randomkid]

You have to re-install the OS. If it came pre-installed or OEM, then it means it is tied up to your motherboard & you can not transfer it unless you beg from microsoft. But seeing that your PC is 5 years old, you may have only XP which may no longer be optimum for today's application so it may be a good time to upgrade both the platform (motherboard, processor & RAM) as well as the OS because drivers for the latest components comes with drivers for Win 7.

The old PS might work. The deciding factor is not the socket but the graphics card you have. The more powerful the graphics card, the more oompfh it requires. Being a pre-built PC, I doubt your PS have the oompfp ( i like saying it hehehe!) but to be certain, tell us what is your exact specification.

 

[EvilHamster]

Thanks for the replay. (Yeah I like saying oompfh too xD)

My OS is Vista, and seeing as I kinda like it more then Win 7 (I have that on a laptop), I had hoped to keep it. Kind of a shame that I can not keep it. Anyways, since I already have a graphics card installed, that required extra power, I will try to at least keep that, and see if it can handle the new power demand.

QUESTION, will it do any damage, to my system if the PS is underpowered?

Also, would you guys advise to wait until win8 comes out, or should i go for win7 or vista?

Thanks.

 

[randomkid]

Wait for Win8. After all it is just around the corners...

If the PSU is underpowered, your system may crash erratically or stress the psu such that it may shorten the life of the components. It pays so know what exactly is your power supply ( & your graphics card too). If you are not sure, take the picture of the label showing the voltages & amperes.

 

[EvilHamster]

I just have gotten a horrible virus, and will need to waste the whole day on removing this crap (i.e. saving files and reformating). Anyways, I will post here a bit later, maybe tomorrow, and I just wanted to say that its not out of disinterest that I am not answering right away.

Thanks.

 

[bkoop]

Do you use AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, because that is pretty good?

 

[EvilHamster]

Do you use AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, because that is pretty good?

Lol, either its a huge coincidence, the virus is pretty damn good. , couse AVG IS my virus, that and Boxoft Toolbox.

Anyway, thats kinda offtopic, so back to the PS.

It is a bestec atx-300-12z (300W). So what do you guy think, can it handle a deacent grapics card, say the GTX 550?

Cheers

 

[randomkid]

No, not the 550 Ti or anything that needs a 6PIN PCIe. The bestec may perform up to its rating of 300W but once overloaded it may just die so be careful.
http://h ardwareinsights.com/wp/2011/03/20/bestec-atx-300-12z-review/
A safe GPU will be the AMD 7750 800Mhz. It is the most powerful non 6PIN PCIe card.

Note: The link does not paste okay if I link it staight. So please copy & paste the URL deleting the space between the "h" & "a"

 

[EvilHamster]

No, not the 550 Ti or anything that needs a 6PIN PCIe. The bestec may perform up to its rating of 300W but once overloaded it may just die so be careful.
http://h ardwareinsights.com/wp/2011/03/20/bestec-atx-300-12z-review/
A safe GPU will be the AMD 7750 800Mhz. It is the most powerful non 6PIN PCIe card.

Note: The link does not paste okay if I link it staight. So please copy & paste the URL deleting the space between the "h" & "a"

Thank you very much. Has been a lot of help, and now I know more.