Is it possible to use an old HD in a new machine?

[RufusLeaking]

Similar to DREDIOCK’s thread, my old gaming machine just crapped out.

I am wondering if I would be able to use my old hard drive, with Windows XP and all my files, in a new machine.

How would I get and load drivers for things like the graphics card and network adapter?

Would a new machine even boot up if I plugged in my existing drive?

I am not looking to drop big bucks. Would an Intel I3 do the job for Aces High?  At what settings?  Paired with a 54xx or 55xx Radeon?  My recently deceased machine ran AH at min graphics settings.  I hope to take this opportunity to enter the 21st century of eye candy.

The tale of my machine’s death:

It is an HP Pavilion.  The power supply has a flashing green light on the back, and it will not fire up.  Per the web, one fix was to unplug the power cord from the back of the machine, discharge the capacitors by holding in the power button, and hook everything back up.  It didn’t work.  The light was on steady while the PSU was disconnected from the MB.

So….  I looked more closely at the MB and saw a heat sink flopped off a chip.  Other than that it is not the CPU, I have no clue which chip.  The heat sink is mechanically attached to the board on two wires, so now it swings as if on a hinge.  It appears to have become unglued. 

It is about six years old.  I am at work, so I don’t have the specs on hand.  But, I believe most of the innards would be tough to match to a new MB.  Last year I replaced the graphics card, and it was a PCI-E, I believe.

[Masherbrum]

Only way is to buy a new HD and migrate folders (but you still might be S.O.O.L.).  

When you change hardware, you need to reinstall the OS.  Different components require different drivers, etc.

I'd get an i5.   You will enjoy an i5 for at least as long you owned this prev. PC.  

[Edit] Here is an option: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=4910&name=Intel-Core-i5-Barebone-PC&Nav=|c:333|&Sort=0&Recs=10

[SectorNine50]

The only way you'd be able to put the old HD in a new computer is if you were to get a motherboard with the same chipset.  Problem with this, is you wouldn't really be upgrading at all, as you'd probably be stuck with another (I'm assuming) P4.

I agree on the i5, you'll get very decent performance out of it.  And if I may recommend a graphics card; the ATi HD5770 is an absolute steal for it's performance.  It runs at the same levels as the previous generation's top-of-the-line models (HD4870).  Great thing about the HD5770 is it uses barely any power, so you can get away with even a 400 watt power supply while still running AH2 at full graphics.

Windows is where you may start running into problems.  When you reinstall your existing version of Windows, your CD key will not activate.  You can often reactivate via telephone (I usually spam the '0' button until the silly robot girl connects me to some guy with an accent that I can hardly understand who says his name is "Steve."  I don't think his name is Steve.) and just tell the guy that your old motherboard died and now you have this one.  They will 90% of the time start relaying activation numbers to you.

[RufusLeaking]

Thanks for the responses so far.

Follow up questions:

Which dash number on the i5?  i5-xxx.

Any particular manufacturer for the ATI 5770?  Is the last two digits what to look for?

Graphics memory amount?  I had 512MB and the 'cntrl I' display never seemed close to maxxing out. 

[Tigger29]

Similar to DREDIOCK’s thread, my old gaming machine just crapped out.

I am wondering if I would be able to use my old hard drive, with Windows XP and all my files, in a new machine.

Maybe.. maybe not.  It's hit or miss.  I've had some systems that I just plugged the hard drive in and BAM it just worked.  I've had others that I plug it in and it won't even boot all the way.  Sometimes you can reinstall windows over the old installation and it may or may not work, but even when it DOES work, it never seems to be 'quite right'.  My recommendation is to buy a new hard drive.  They have become so inexpensive there really is no point not to.  Then, you can use both hard drives using the new one for windows and programs, and using the old one for storage. 

You will hook up the new hard drive and install windows.  Then you will hook up the old hard drive as well and boot up.  Then you will copy any files you want to keep (pictures, financial records, AH settings folder, etc) from the old to the new.  Then you will format the old hard drive.  Then you can either CLONE the new hard drive onto the old and then disconnect it and keep it in a safe place for an emergency backup... OR you can copy whatever from the new to the old hard drive and use both.. or there are even more options available (such as RAID, etc).  If you don't know what that is then don't worry too much about it.

How would I get and load drivers for things like the graphics card and network adapter?

Usually, when you install windows, it will install the drivers for you.  If it doesn't have your drivers it will either install a 'universal/generic' driver that may or may not work, or it might not install a driver at all.  After windows is installed, you can use the disks that came with the hardware to install the correct drivers.. or if you have internet connectivity at that time I would have to recommend going to the manufacturer's website for each piece of hardware you have and download the newest drivers.  It sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not all that difficult.  It is never recommended to keep using generic drivers, as while they may work well enough to get you up and running, they are almost never stable.

Would a new machine even boot up if I plugged in my existing drive?

Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't.  There are billions upon billions of possible hard combinations possible, and because of that it's very difficult to predict if it would work that way.  It helps if the new motherboard is the same chipset as the old... and it also helps if the manufacturers of the video/network/etc is the same, but even that is no guarantee.  Like I said above, even if it does boot, I wouldn't count on it being reliable.

I am not looking to drop big bucks. Would an Intel I3 do the job for Aces High?  At what settings?  Paired with a 54xx or 55xx Radeon?  My recently deceased machine ran AH at min graphics settings.  I hope to take this opportunity to enter the 21st century of eye candy.

It's so hard to tell.  Aces High is a very PROCESSOR INTENSIVE game and because of that I wouldn't skimp on the processor.  An i3 may be 'adequate' but an i5 has been proven throughout the AH community.  If the most intensive thing you use the computer for is AH you might could get by with an i3, but in a year or so when the game evolves even more, you'll wish you didn't settle for 'adequate'.  Personally, I'm running an E7400 C2D processor (basically two generations behind the "i" series) and am having no issues.  With a price difference of only $20-30, I can't find a reason NOT to go i5 over i3.

The tale of my machine’s death:

It is an HP Pavilion.  The power supply has a flashing green light on the back, and it will not fire up.  Per the web, one fix was to unplug the power cord from the back of the machine, discharge the capacitors by holding in the power button, and hook everything back up.  It didn’t work.  The light was on steady while the PSU was disconnected from the MB.

So….  I looked more closely at the MB and saw a heat sink flopped off a chip.  Other than that it is not the CPU, I have no clue which chip.  The heat sink is mechanically attached to the board on two wires, so now it swings as if on a hinge.  It appears to have become unglued. 

It is about six years old.  I am at work, so I don’t have the specs on hand.  But, I believe most of the innards would be tough to match to a new MB.  Last year I replaced the graphics card, and it was a PCI-E, I believe.

You MAY be able to reuse a lot of your old computer's hardware such as the case, drives, video card, etc.  You can also definitely reuse your old hard drive (although I will say even the 'basic' hard drives from the last 2-3 years have increased in speed dramatically) as well, but you mind need to find someone who will let you use their computer to back up anything you want to keep to CD or Flash Drive because I would HIGHLY advise a reformat/fresh install with the new system.

If you want, feel free to give us all the hardware info on your old system (HP model #, Video card model, etc.) and I don't think any of us will have any issues giving you more advice!

[Tigger29]

Any particular manufacturer for the ATI 5770?  Is the last two digits what to look for?

The first two digits is basically the 'generation' of the card.  56 is newer than 48 for example.  Keep in mind that newer doesn't always mean faster.

The second two digits is basically the 'speed' of that generation.  5770 is faster than 5750 for example.  Keep in mind that a lower number of a newer card can be better than a higher number of an older, but this is not always the case.

When I upgraded my video card I did some research and it seems that the 5830 (that I bought) is only marginally faster than a 5770... maybe 10-15%, but it supports some newer technologies that the 5770 doesn't.

Graphics memory amount?  I had 512MB and the 'cntrl I' display never seemed close to maxxing out.

The amount of Graphics Memory is no longer an issue so much as the SPEED of its memory.  Not too long ago a lot of manufacturers were pushing 1GB video cards over the 512MB video cards at higher prices, but what a lot of consumers didn't understand is that they were using slower memory on them.  This can result in a card with more memory performing WORSE than its counterpart with less.  Unless you want to max out the shadows settings (which you won't on a 'budget build' anyway), then you don't have to worry about getting more video memory so much.

Also it's been proven that the CTRL-I information is not at all accurate.. it just displays what Microsoft reports which is almost never accurate.

[SectorNine50]

Just thought I'd throw a correction out there:

The second number in the graphics card isn't based on how new or old the card is.  The position the '5' is in generally dictates newer or older, but the first 7 is just the series of card.  The 56xx, 57xx, and 58xx all came out at about the same time, it's just the 8 is always higher end card than the lower numbers.  The last two digits usually dictate relative performance in that series.

IIRC, the different series use different versions of GPU.