Windows 7: Swap out Motherboard,, Need to reformat?

JRockZ · 04 Aug 2012

Im pretty sure from past experience that if i change from my Asus motherboard to a differnt brand board (gigabyte in this case) that i will have to wipe my drive (in this case SSD drive) with a fresh install of W7U is that correct?

Also the board i want to swap to is an SLI board which will be my first ever SLI set up,,, i do not have matching graphics cards but i do have 2 that are GeForce one being 512gb gddr3 and one being 256gb gddr3,, will that work or would i need matched cards??

Thanks in advance for any help!

Anthony · 04 Aug 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by JRockZ

Im pretty sure from past experience that if i change from my Asus motherboard to a differnt brand board (gigabyte in this case) that i will have to wipe my drive (in this case SSD drive) with a fresh install of W7U is that correct?

It can be done but I would advise against it, a clean install is always best with new hardware.

Whats the model numbers of the gfx cards?, from memory they have to be the same chipset on each card.

JRockZ · 04 Aug 2012

[QUOTE=Anthony;2037291][QUOTE=JRockZ;2037251
Whats the model numbers of the gfx cards?, from memory they have to be the same chipset on each card.[/QUOTE]
Agreed i will just do a fresh install rather than chance just doing the swap.

The 512 Card is Geforce 7950GT
the 256 is 7800 GTX

JRockZ · 04 Aug 2012

Ok so now i guess my next question to add to this is,, would it be worth it to change from my Asus M4A785-M
ASUS - Motherboards- ASUS M4A785-M

To this Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 ???
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM2 - GA-M55SLI-S4 (rev. 2.0)

Im not sure how to tell which is a better board,, the only thing i can tell is with the gigabyte i will now have SLI capabilities how ever this is a much older board than the ASUS so not sure if its worth doing the swap,,, any suggestions??

Solarstarshines · 04 Aug 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by JRockZ

Ok so now i guess my next question to add to this is,, would it be worth it to change from my Asus M4A785-M
ASUS - Motherboards- ASUS M4A785-M

To this Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 ???
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM2 - GA-M55SLI-S4 (rev. 2.0)

Im not sure how to tell which is a better board,, the only thing i can tell is with the gigabyte i will now have SLI capabilities how ever this is a much older board than the ASUS so not sure if its worth doing the swap,,, any suggestions??

Ok First off the board you mentioned is old technology Nforce ect you can get a AM3 + Board and run sli to but it will be a little more money / what is your budget for MB ?
what is your GPU Budget ?

You will defently need to buy new ram the boards in question ddr2 most new Sli CF boards will be running DDR3

JRockZ · 04 Aug 2012

[QUOTE=Solarstarshines;2037337]

Quote: Originally Posted by JRockZ

Ok First off I dont see any Crossfire or Sli features for any Board

What is your budget and what is your GPU Budget ?

You will defently need to buy new raw the boards in question ddr2 most new Sli CF boards will be running DDR3

The gigabyte is a SLI board with two PCIe slots.
ATM no budget i was hoping to work with what i have

Solarstarshines · 04 Aug 2012

[QUOTE=JRockZ;2037340]

Quote: Originally Posted by Solarstarshines

Quote: Originally Posted by JRockZ

Ok First off I dont see any Crossfire or Sli features for any Board

What is your budget and what is your GPU Budget ?

You will defently need to buy new raw the boards in question ddr2 most new Sli CF boards will be running DDR3

The gigabyte is a SLI board with two PCIe slots.
ATM no budget i was hoping to work with what i have

I corrected my post look up sir

Solarstarshines · 04 Aug 2012

Understood it has what you need ATM

also if your cards aren't compatible for Sli you would be wasting your time anyway

But if you need to go with Gigabyte it seems to have some features that will be good for you

JRockZ · 04 Aug 2012

Ahhh ah ha! thats what i was wondering,, and i have no budget right now,, i just got this gigabyte board for dirt cheap, thought maybe it would be worth swapping with my ASUS board,,,, i guess maybe not. Thanks for the help

Solarstarshines · 04 Aug 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by JRockZ

Ahhh ah ha! thats what i was wondering,, and i have no budget right now,, i just got this gigabyte board for dirt cheap, thought maybe it would be worth swapping with my ASUS board,,,, i guess maybe not. Thanks for the help

No problem if you could gather up let's say 200.00 extra dollars you could get a sli board and maybe a couple 9800GT sli then you will be cooking