Need advice: How good/bad does this build look?

wolfeking said:
I would upgrade it if I were you. You don't have to, but it is a good idea.
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Yes I will. That was the plan all along anyway.

I think for now I will stick with my old monitor and then work on finding a new one later. It's tough with my space limitation, although I did find a good one with a lot of 5-star reviews, but it's from 2009 and there are a few new ones since then that are LED (but they have a lower brightness rating, which seems odd).

I'd rather purchase the monitor from a place like Best Buy with a liberal return policy. The idea of ordering it online is a little scary, especially since many places won't accept returns for dead pixels.
 
wolfeking said:
If it is more than about a year or 2 old, I would just upgrade. You have to take into account capacitor aging.
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Does that advice happen to apply to my HDD as well? I didn't plan to get a new one, because this one is all I need and I've never had issues with it.
 
no. Your HDD should be fine. Before you run it in the new system run a full scan with seatools. If that is clear, then you are fine to use it for a long time.
 
wolfeking said:
no. Your HDD should be fine. Before you run it in the new system run a full scan with seatools. If that is clear, then you are fine to use it for a long time.
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Is this seatools scan something I can do right now? I ran the disk check program that comes with Windows (the one that requires a restart) and it seemed to complete without any errors.

Also, I was wondering, once I upgrade my PC and have this old HDD connected to the new motherboard, how do I format and reinstall Windows? When I first turn on the computer, won't it just automatically boot into Windows since it's already installed on the HDD? I don't want that to cause any issues, because I've heard that you should do a fresh install with a new motherboard.

When I built my first PC, I remember turning it on the first time and it booted up to the DOS-looking screen, and I knew everything was okay and I shut it down again. But what do I do this time, since I assume it will boot straight to Windows?
 
wolfeking said:
yes. You can use seatools right now. follow the directions here (http://www.computerforum.com/211596-list-hard-drive-diagnostic-utilities-test-your-drive.html) and you will be fine.


You will have to boot from the windows install disk, and then format and install to the new partition that will create. It is an easy process.
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But I'm just trying to think how this will go when I turn on the upgraded PC. Will it automatically try to boot from the Windows disc, or will I have to press a key to force it?

Are there any tests I need to do to make sure all the new hardware is working properly before I reformat and reinstall Windows, or will the simple fact of booting up mean that everything is working?
 
You will have to press a key. On my system it is F11 and F12 on the laptops. You will see it probably if you look at it.

The fact of booting up for the most part means everything is working.
 
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