few Q's about upgrading (psu, mobo, OS)

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by faqman98, Feb 3, 2008.

  1. faqman98

    faqman98 Regular member

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    so i've got a lot of anime to the point that my 250gb(main) HDD has about 3gb of free space on it so i decided to spill over to my second HDD that i got free from dell thats 160gb. my prob is that when that fills up i'll need to upgrade my mobo (not enough slots for 3rd HDD) so i was looking around and found me a nice one
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131013
    (plese comment on it).
    but in that same search i wasn't able to find a psu that had more than 4 SATA cords for my 2 dvd drives and a third HDD (i only checked in the sub-700w section cuz anymore would be a waste that i dont want to pay for). so what should i do?
    my third prob is that i've been getting mixed answers whether my vista (OEM from dell and will only reinstall under dell bios) will tolerate the new BIOS without any probs other than drivers

    so who can answer this
     
  2. phill2000

    phill2000 Guest

    You could always buy a new IDE / SATA controller card. Cheap as chips and a 4 port SATA card will knock you back about £20-30 ($40-60). This would let you gain the extra storage without upgrading the motherboard. This is probably your cheapest option too.

    Nice choice

    Most motherboard manufacturers provide a molex (old style HDD / CD PSU connector) to SATA power connector, to allow you to change a molex to a SATA plug. Ideal and again cheap as chips. Otherwise try and check for the modular PSU's, you will spend more, but have more choice over what connectors you use / don't use.

    Not too sure what you mean here. Do you mean you are purchsing an OEM version of Vista from Dell, or do you mean your purchasing an upgrade from them for your current system? Or do you mean your purchasing a fresh copy, and asked Dell if it would work on your new system?

    If you can give a bit more detail about this I will let you know.
     
  3. faqman98

    faqman98 Regular member

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    i meant can i uprgrade my cpu and such and when i press the power button will my OS thats on my HDD say either "ok this is a computer im going to work" or "O no's this has a different bios and drastically different specs therefore its a differnent computer therefore im pirated ALL YOUR BASE BELONG TO M$" also a fresh copy of vista would be out of the option cuz thats not how dell works. they send a reinstallation disc that only works on dell bios but has no VLK (hence the way to get legit copies of vista illegally)
    and thanks a ton for all of ur help so far

    EDIT:can u also provide a link to some of those molex things for psu's on newegg?
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2008
  4. pcdoc1

    pcdoc1 Guest

    Maybe you should consider an external storage device.
    As for upgrading your computer, Windows will more than likely crash because of the new hardware you install. The required drivers such as the chipset and the IDE will not match what you were previously using.
     
  5. phill2000

    phill2000 Guest

    Eh?...... True external storage is an option but what do you mean by what you said after???

    Depends on what kind of windows installation you have. If it is an OEM version then if you change what MS seem to be a main component (i.e CPU, Motherboard, or sometimes HDD's), you will not be running the O/S on the "system" it was bought for. In other words you will be breaking the law if you change a CPU, M/B or sometimes a HDD and continue to use Windows without purchasing another licence for the "new" system

    If you have the retail version then you can re-activate the O/S on your "new" system. You can usually do this 3 times before you are required to purchase another licence.

    This is one of my main gripes when I repair PC's. If a CPU is faulty and you replace it, the cost of repair shoots up due to having to buy a new licence. That's M$ for you...
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 3, 2008
  6. faqman98

    faqman98 Regular member

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    thanks for all of ur help phil. i do in fact have the OEM install (or so im assuming) from dell when i bought the cpu which is on vista in case that changes anything.
     

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