I have gone quadcore

[audioave10]

I ordered an AMD Phenom II 945 3.0ghz ( 95 watt version) quadcore
& the Gigabyte GA MA790X UD4P motherboard. I'll use my G-Skill
4gb (2x2) RAM, the Hiper Anubis case, Nvidia GTX275 and may stay
with my XP for now although I want W7. This upgrade was only $288
USD delivered. It was too easy to go quad this way and the price of
an i7 (or even an i5 system) was more than double that when you add DDR3 RAM and new CPU cooler. I can keep my Corsair HX620.
I give the old parts to my tech buddy and get free installation-Yes!

[Grump642]

Good for you! Now, if we only had a real need for our new quads!

[Nightwatch]

welcome to the "quad" club, audioave10 Although Grump642 has a good point there. Because I jumped from pentium D to quad, I've seen some improvements, but I don't know if there is a real noticeable improvements between core2duo and quads.

One thing is sure though, you've got a kick-ass system there now.

[audioave10]

My core2duo E8500 is in my Lian Li setup and I'm keeping that. I'm
upgrading a 5400+ 2.8ghz. I'll maybe get GTA4 retail as its getting
cheaper and it will certainly use all 4 cores. Not sure about anything
else.

[audioave10]

Cool...my tech buddy has a Windows 7 64bit license he will give me
for my new quad build-up. Newegg was amazing! Ordered parts 3pm
on Wed. - delivered 11:45 am on Thursday (21 hours). Woot!

[ket]

Quads kick arse. More and more software programs are being written as I type to take advantage of 4 or more cores. Quads may not seem necessary now, but by the mid of next year at the latest Quads will practically be standard in all but the super budget systems.

[MeanderingBeing]

What kind of software would I have to upgrade to if I decided to rebuild my system for quad core and a better graphics card? Would I be forced to use Windows vista or 7, or is there some way I can just stick to XP 64bt?

[Grump642]

You can still get Win XP 64bit. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116378

[MeanderingBeing]

Ok, now suppose all my games are installed on one hard-drive, and Windows is installed to another... If I just reformat my Windows drive to XP 64bt, is there any way I can retain all the registry entries and DLLs (codecs etc) or transfer them?

EDIT: Just to ask for future reference:
How is this new windows OS? Is it worth the upgrade, or is it going to murder my system like vista? And I can get 64bt, right?

[audioave10]

If you go 64bit...it should be Vista or 7. Windows XP 64bit does not have very good driver support. Its been reported that alot of software
has given up on XP 64bit. XP 64bit had not sold that well. Vista and 7
has forced companies to give 64bit better support with drivers etc.

Windows 7 is more friendly to older hardware than Vista is. But if you
go 64bit 7 you will need different drivers and software than you currently use with 32bit.
I'm not clear...do you use XP 64bit now? Either way, if you change
Operating System, you will need a full reformat I would think.

[MeanderingBeing]

I use XP 32bt currently, but have plans for a serious overhaul of my PC. Hence the sudden interest.
I am more or less concerned about going through the trouble of re-installing 50+ games... Obviously that would take quite a bit of time. That, and I do not want to deal with associated STEAM problems when getting a new rig. Jeez, I buy a game, my computer (for some retarded reason) won't read the disc with going der-de-dee, so I am forced to use STEAM which so far has been nothing but a system hog.

*sigh*

But anyways, I am planning on spending some serious money on getting a new CPU (as my motherboard, according to sources, can support alot better) and graphics card. Plus I think it is about time I embraced DX10's total glory.

But the point of my question was:
Is there any way I can copy programs like Fraps, and Dawn of War to my other hard-drive, reformat the OS drive, and transplant the old software...? I gots alot of poo that I am not to keen on re-installing...

Then again, I REEEEALLY need to clean my OS drive out.

EDIT: How do quadcores handle RAID 0 hard-drive configs?

[Grump642]

Not much glory to DX10. But a DX10 card plays DX9 games very well.

[MeanderingBeing]

Ah, but there is potential in DX10, is there not?

[Balious]

so I am forced to use STEAM which so far has been nothing but a system hog.

Strange as steam isn't a system hog for me. And I also use Windows XP 32bit.

Not sure how long in the future but I be updating to Windows 7 64bit whenever I need a point to.

[audioave10]

There is a few perks to D3D10 but not much...and you need at least Vista just to use them.
BTW...I really like this Windows 7 64bit !