Afraid to begin!!

[ThatOneDude]

Ok so I have just finished buying my hardware for the computer I am building. THE LIST:
ASUS M4a785-m
Phenom ll x4 955 3.2 ghz
PNY XLR8 GTS 250 Video crad
XION 800 WATT PSU
4GB CORSAIR & KINGSTON RAM
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED GAMING CASE
And various cpu fans and case fans.

Hopefully this will be a pretty solid starter gaming pc. However I do have some reservations about actually starting the build. I have never upgraded this much at once before and I'm afraid I may mess something up. My major question is: I have been reading the forums here for a couple days and most seem to think that if I upgrade my motherboard that will have to reinstall windows. I don't have a disk to install windows, therefore how can create a disk that I can use?? I hear people talking about making a backup disk, but how do I do that?? I would hate to get this thing together only to have it collect dust until I spend more money on an O.S. Please if anyone can help I would really appreciate it.

 

[NVX_185]

What OS would you like to reformat & install?
Search up on google on how to make up a backup disk, depending on your specific OS. By the looks of things, it seems you can easily run x64 of an OS, and utilise all of your 4GB Ram. (Using only x86 or 32-bit will only use 3Gb of RAM).

If you have a spare USB, you can turn also it into a bootable USB drive, place your files on that and then boot up the windows files from there.

 

[ThatOneDude]

What OS would you like to reformat & install?
Search up on google on how to make up a backup disk, depending on your specific OS. By the looks of things, it seems you can easily run x64 of an OS, and utilise all of your 4GB Ram. (Using only x86 or 32-bit will only use 3Gb of RAM).

If you have a spare USB, you can turn also it into a bootable USB drive, place your files on that and then boot up the windows files from there.

UMMM...that is a little bit to much advanced computer language for me...did I mention I'm kind of a beginner in this? LOL. Right now I am running vista home premium 32bit sp1, sad yes I know but as I said just now really taking this computer gaming seriously. By "spare usb " I assume you mean using an external hdd to back everything up. If that is the case, I just simply cannot afford it, I'm up to about 800 bucks spent on this and my fiancée my castrate me if I spend anymore. I just want to make sure that when all is said and done, and I press the power on switch, it comes on and stays on lol. I talked to the good people at MicroCenter (Awesome store, bought everything from them), and they say just create a backup cd of windows, but they didn't really specify how. And that is the question, How??

 

[joh06937]

i am not entirely sure if it is legal (anyone know?) but i assume if you know your product key and purchased it somewhere legally, there shouldn't be anything stopping you from just downloading an .iso file and burning it to a disk and using your legal product key to validate it.

 

[voyagerfan99]

i am not entirely sure if it is legal (anyone know?) but i assume if you know your product key and purchased it somewhere legally, there shouldn't be anything stopping you from just downloading an .iso file and burning it to a disk and using your legal product key to validate it.

But whatever you download may have extra spyware/malware and other stuff on it, such as Windows XP Black Edition.

 

[joh06937]

*cough* comments *cough* again, not trying to say he should illegally download and install some os. i mean all of this in a strictly legal sense. do not ban me for this, like this forum

 

[Drenlin]

If you can't use your current OS, and can't get a new one right away, you can always use some form of Linux. It can be a pain in the arse to set up sometimes, but Ubuntu and its variations are typically fairly newb-friendly and should work for you. Linux Mint is one such variation, and is by far the easiest one to get going.

 

[ThatOneDude]

It's not illegal what I have. I am currently using an hp that i bought about 2 years ago as a open box display from circuit city. It didn't come with any type of O.S disk so I am afraid that when I'm done putting the new comp together I won't have a o.s to put on there. But yes totally legal system. As far as the product key...I do have it in my computer properties screen.

 

[Drenlin]

See, the thing is, that' an OEM machine. Technically it's against Microsoft's EULA to move that OS to another machine. They're usually pretty lenient about it though...you can probably activate it over the phone.

 

[ThatOneDude]

ok the new computer is together, i'm proud of myself, it fired up the first try, i'm using it right now. But..there is a stupid little thing in the bottom right of my monitor saying "Windows Vista (TM)
Build 6001
This copy of Windows is not genuine"

Every time I boot up it says I have to activate windows with a product keycode. The key code I get from my system properties screen is not working, and I don't know why. It says like unacceptable keycode. what the hell?? Then when I try to buy a new one over the web it says it doesn't support my browser. I just don't get it.

 

[ThatOneDude]

ok nevermind I got it activated.!!

 

[Drenlin]

Nice.

Congrats on getting the new rig running. :good:

 

[ThatOneDude]

Hey thanks a lot man, very trying but it's running good.