Rebuilding an old Computer (sort of)

Kagetora

New member
Hi folks, I'm a little new to this site and to the whole building PCs as a whole but I think I got a good setup for when I get the money for it.

Here is a link to the system I want to try and build, I really wish I could've gone for an 8-Core CPU but oh well, I'll just wait until they drop down in pricing.

Anyway, here's the link:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/7KtRYJ

• Where are you located?
U.S.A.

• What is your budget?
Wanna keep it between $500 to $600 if possible.

• Will you need a monitor, keyboard, and/or mouse included in that budget?
Not really but I would like to upgrade my monitor to a 1080p capable one at some point.

• Shall you be requiring an OS?
Nope, I will be reusing my old HDD from my current computer that has Windows 7 on it.

• What will you be using this rig for?
Gaming but also watching stuff on youtube and DVDs.

• If gaming, what resolution will you be playing at?
1600 x 900 (for now)

• Will you be overclocking?
I'd like to play around with it some so maybe a little overclocking.

• Do you need a full build or will you be reusing some old parts?
No, I will be reusing the Hard Drive and the PSU I bought with is a Corsiar CX 750M.

My only real question is is the going to be enough to to play the newer games like Watch Dogs along with Titanfall and Batman: Arkham Knight or should I go ahead and get either the FX 8320 or stretch and go for an FX 8350?
 
It should be fine for what you want however both the games you listed are very Nvidia bias otherwise that rig will play all the games you want to. My friend has a 6350 and a gtx 660 (slightly slower than a 270x) and he has no issues. The 8320 is a great step up but if you can't get it don't worry.
 
you know you can't just install the HDD you have and expect it to boot right? You can reuse it but will have to format it and reinstall the OS. At least thats the way I read what you want to do.
 
Well, that would be a bummer if I have to reinstall the OS as I don't have a disc for Windows 7. :( This one came from a factory so that's the only reason I have Windows 7.

I've already decided I'll be recovering my hard drive back to it's factory presets so is that what I should do or should I just buy a copy Windows 8.1 when I buy the rest of it?

If I have to buy a new OS then I would probably go ahead and upgrade to 8.1 unless I could just revert it to the factory presets... At any rate, the total cost plus the OS would run me about $636 - $640.

See here for full pricing w/ OS:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Orion3132/saved/njkgXL

Making it about $40 over my target budget. If I could just revert it back to when it came from the factory that built the PC (which was HP) and go with that then it would be better.

See here for full pricing w/o OS:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Orion3132/saved/829tt6

However, I'll do what I need to. If it'd be better to do a clean install then I will buy the OS and go that route. Tho I am unsure as to how to format a hard drive with Windows 7 on it.

you know you can't just install the HDD you have and expect it to boot right? You can reuse it but will have to format it and reinstall the OS. At least thats the way I read what you want to do.

Honestly? I didn't... and I'm not sure how to format a hard drive. :( I can restore it back to the factory preset but I bet that won't work either...

So, with the OS, it would cost me about $643.61 which is a little more than I wanted to pay and it's about 43 dollars out of my budget. However, it is doable.

Just so I know, what would stop it from booting as is?

Google is thy friend: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/wipe-hard-drive.htm I found a site explaining how to do the reformat... Thought I'd post it for others tho. :)

you know you can't just install the HDD you have and expect it to boot right? You can reuse it but will have to format it and reinstall the OS. At least thats the way I read what you want to do.

Is there a way to do this without buying the CDs? As I don't have them. :( This computer was built be HP (yea, I know) So I'd rather not have to spend another almost $100 for an OS CD. I will if I have to tho.
 
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you know you can't just install the HDD you have and expect it to boot right? You can reuse it but will have to format it and reinstall the OS. At least thats the way I read what you want to do.

If he is running windows 8 or above, it should boot as it will refresh itsealf for new hardware automatically on boot, however he must be prepared for problems with drivers
 
Is there a way to do this without buying the CDs? As I don't have them. :( This computer was built be HP (yea, I know) So I'd rather not have to spend another almost $100 for an OS CD. I will if I have to tho.

Afraid not fella, especially given that it's ex-HP it's been set up to run on the motherboard and hardware it was originally installed with. It's going to have to be a fresh Windows copy or Linux distro.
 
Afraid not fella, especially given that it's ex-HP it's been set up to run on the motherboard and hardware it was originally installed with. It's going to have to be a fresh Windows copy or Linux distro.

Ah well. :P Thanks for the answer.

So, I just gotta reformat my existing drive and install a new OS. Since there's no way around this, I might as well go ahead and upgrade to the new Windows 8.1.

I had to shuffle a few things around and go with a few different parts but the important parts are pretty much the same with the add-on of the OS:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Orion3132/saved/JHtKHx - Thanks again for the help, almost tore something up and created a needless headache for myself. :P

Oh, one question I have for future reference: If I got say a 120 GB SSD in the future after installing Windows 8.1 on my old HD, would I need to buy a new copy of Windows or would the same copy work on the new SSD?
 
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