So I'm Planning To Build A New PC...

[Zaune]

My current machine is a refurbished ex-lease tower that I've had for about a year. It's given me fair service for the price, but it's severely bottlenecked by the CPU, which can't be upgraded without buying a new motherboard which means all new RAM and so on and so forth.

I'm going to keep the hard disk and the Blu-Ray drive, and I already bought a used GeForce 480GTX. My current machine also came with a copy of Windows 7 Professional which I think I can reuse, if I ever find it. My total budget for everything else is circa £200.

With the assistance of someone on Reddit, I've devised a target build:

CPU: Intel Pentium G3420 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor
Motherboard: MSI H87M-E35 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

That takes me to about £210 if I shop carefully. That's Phase 1. Phase 2 will happen a few months down the line when I've saved up a couple hundred more for an SSD, some extra RAM and possibly a new graphics card.

I do have a couple of technical questions, though. Will I be able to install Windows from scratch with a disk marked "for reconditioned PCs", and do I still need a fresh install or can I just swap the drives over and press the on button the way I can with Linux?

[Jub]

You might want to try and download the appropriate copy of windows and put it on a disk/thumb drive as I don't think your current disk will do the job. Though you should be able to swap the drive over and just install the needed drivers to get things working.

[TheFeniX]

My current machine also came with a copy of Windows 7 Professional which I think I can reuse, if I ever find it.

Download Magical Jelly Bean to get your CD key. Then torrent a Windows 7 Pro ISO (it's legal) and burn it to a disk or use a flash drive. I don't know if you need a special edition of the Windows CD key since you have a refurb. Since it's just a license key issue, I think a standard copy will work.

I do have a couple of technical questions, though. Will I be able to install Windows from scratch with a disk marked "for reconditioned PCs", and do I still need a fresh install or can I just swap the drives over and press the on button the way I can with Linux?

I don't think you will have an issue with a Refurb Disc. That seems to be more a "trust" issue with Microsoft: They sell these refurb keys to refurbishers under the assumption they will use them for what they were purchased for. After that, there's no real checking.

I don't know how this works for W7, but back on 2000 Pro and XP, if you delete your chipset, CPUs, HDDs (usually only when you're cloning a HDD), and a few other drivers out of Device Manager (it's been so long, I can't recall), it should boot just fine. But you're usually better off doing a fresh install.

[Mr Bean]

Better a fresh install.
Also for keys try belarc.com free advisor program
http://belarc.com/free_download.html

Give you a happy http edition of every single one of your keys on your computer for most programs, save the website to a thumb drive and now you have all of your keys and a full breakout of your computer specs and takes about five minutes from downloading to fully running. Jelly bean has way to make fake malware infected verisons floating around atm.

[Zaune]

There's no worry about finding the license key, it's on a sticker on the side of the tower, but that Belarc thing looks rather handy. Thanks.

[Starglider]

Phase 2 will happen a few months down the line when I've saved up a couple hundred more for an SSD, some extra RAM and possibly a new graphics card.

I have loads of spare Radeon 7970s sitting about, you can have one of those if you want.

[Zaune]

Thanks. I might take you up on that, although seeing as I've spent sixty quid on the 480 I really ought to find some use for it.