Question Swapping components from one system to another and vice versa.

[z_3]

So, I have a HP Elite 8200 (?) SFF pc with an i7-3770, 16gb of ddr3, a GTX 1050 3gb low profile, 3tb HDD, and a 512gb SSD, but due to it being SFF its proprietary 240w PSU and obviously space issues for card length and for heat.

I was wondering if I was to buy a Dell Optiplex 7010 MT, which has an i5-3470, 8gb ddr3, 500gb hdd,and 275w psu.

I would swap my i7 for its i5, my 16gb for its 8gb,my 1050 3gb lp into its empty pcie slot and my 3tb and 512gb drives for its 500gb drive.

This would in theory leave me with my pc in a normal case so heating would be less of an issue, and i would have more upgrade paths (psu and gpu) for the future, and let my family have the i5,8gb,500gb hdd in my sff case.

Just wondering if there would be any issues in doing this (Compatibility,booting, data loss,etc)

 

[Darkbreeze]

Probably you would be ok, but, you will want to investigate whether or not the motherboards for both systems SPECIFICALLY show support for the other CPU. Seems like a no brainer that they would since they are same gen, but you would be surprised how often a CPU is released late in a cycle and support for it is never added to the BIOS on many OEM type systems, unlike aftermarket boards where it is pretty much always done.

Also, you are probably going to run into digital entitlement/license activation issues if you move the drive with your OS installed on it to the other system and visa versa, since it will be a change of motherboard. If you are running Windows 10 then it's probably not a problem so long as you attach your license to a MS account first, as explained here:

How to associate your windows 10 license with a Microsoft account

Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change

Windows build 1607 (Or newer) and activation after a hardware change

​

Also, it is very likely you may want to do a clean install of Windows even though you are side-grading to a same or similar chipset, because there may be other significant differences such as the storage controllers, audio controllers, network adapters and other onboard devices that are different between motherboards and may not want to play nice with the current installation, which means a clean install. You can certainly try it without doing that however but don't be surprised if you have unexplained OS issues and have to do a clean install after all. Either way, be sure to attach your license first.

If you do NOT have Windows 10 installed, you would be very wise to upgrade now, before doing the change, to avoid a lot of complications later, the possibility that 8 or 7 will not allow the hardware change without buying a new license and the additional fact that come January, it is very likely that the free upgrade to Windows 10 will end for good when Windows 7 support completely ends from Microsoft. At least for users of Windows 7 and potentially in general since Windows 8 has very few hangers-on at this point but Windows 7 still has some market share.

Not to mention that Windows 10 is just worlds better in terms of driver support, memory management and plug and play compatibility with old, new and upcoming hardware.

 

[z_3]

Probably you would be ok, but, you will want to investigate whether or not the motherboards for both systems SPECIFICALLY show support for the other CPU. Seems like a no brainer that they would since they are same gen, but you would be surprised how often a CPU is released late in a cycle and support for it is never added to the BIOS on many OEM type systems, unlike aftermarket boards where it is pretty much always done.

Also, you are probably going to run into digital entitlement/license activation issues if you move the drive with your OS installed on it to the other system and visa versa, since it will be a change of motherboard. If you are running Windows 10 then it's probably not a problem so long as you attach your license to a MS account first, as explained here:

How to associate your windows 10 license with a Microsoft account

Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change

Windows build 1607 (Or newer) and activation after a hardware change

​

Also, it is very likely you may want to do a clean install of Windows even though you are side-grading to a same or similar chipset, because there may be other significant differences such as the storage controllers, audio controllers, network adapters and other onboard devices that are different between motherboards and may not want to play nice with the current installation, which means a clean install. You can certainly try it without doing that however but don't be surprised if you have unexplained OS issues and have to do a clean install after all. Either way, be sure to attach your license first.

If you do NOT have Windows 10 installed, you would be very wise to upgrade now, before doing the change, to avoid a lot of complications later, the possibility that 8 or 7 will not allow the hardware change without buying a new license and the additional fact that come January, it is very likely that the free upgrade to Windows 10 will end for good when Windows 7 support completely ends from Microsoft. At least for users of Windows 7 and potentially in general since Windows 8 has very few hangers-on at this point but Windows 7 still has some market share.

Not to mention that Windows 10 is just worlds better in terms of driver support, memory management and plug and play compatibility with old, new and upcoming hardware.

Would it be easier if i spent a few extra dollars on one which has an ssd already as boot drive (mine had an ssd as bootdrive as well) and just swapped the secondary drives so i could have my main storage, without having to mess around with reinstalling windows?

 

[z_3]

Would it be easier if i spent a few extra dollars on one which has an ssd already as boot drive (mine had an ssd as bootdrive as well) and just swapped the secondary drives so i could have my main storage, without having to mess around with reinstalling windows?

Or if i was to migrate my OS from my ssd to my hdd, then from the other pcs hdd to my ssd, and my hdd to its hdd. This would give my new tower my ssd and hdd while keeping its os, and give my old tower the new drive while keeping its os.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Would it be easier if i spent a few extra dollars on one which has an ssd already as boot drive (mine had an ssd as bootdrive as well) and just swapped the secondary drives so i could have my main storage, without having to mess around with reinstalling windows?

Yes. But honestly, it's not a big deal to install Windows. I have a guide I wrote that literally gives you every single step required to do a clean install, WITH pictures of what every screen will look like. But, if you can gain a decent SSD out of the deal and not have to bother with it, that's up to you. Personally, I would not WANT any preinstalled Windows installation because they are generally either very old and full of crap, or they are not done correctly, or they are done correctly but then they install a ton of useless bloatware and "tuning" applications that literally choke the operating system to death much as a serious malware infection would do.

If you are going to start fresh, just start ALL THE WAY fresh. or else just swap over the OS you have now after attaching it to yourself via a microsoft account so that all you have to do is log into your MS account on the new system after the change and it will automatically activate. All of which is assuming you DO run Windows 10, because if you don't all of this is moot anyhow.

 

[USAFRet]

Not merged due to too many replies, but:

Question - [Q] Swapping parts between systems.

So, I have a HP Elite 8200 (?) SFF pc with an i7-3770, 16gb of ddr3, a GTX 1050 3gb low profile, 3tb HDD, and a 512gb SSD, but due to it being SFF its proprietary 240w PSU and obviously space issues for card length and for heat. I was wondering if I was to buy a Dell Optiplex 7010 MT, which has...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Darkbreeze]

Do what you gotta do.

 

[z_3]

Yes. But honestly, it's not a big deal to install Windows. I have a guide I wrote that literally gives you every single step required to do a clean install, WITH pictures of what every screen will look like. But, if you can gain a decent SSD out of the deal and not have to bother with it, that's up to you. Personally, I would not WANT any preinstalled Windows installation because they are generally either very old and full of crap, or they are not done correctly, or they are done correctly but then they install a ton of useless bloatware and "tuning" applications that literally choke the operating system to death much as a serious malware infection would do.

If you are going to start fresh, just start ALL THE WAY fresh. or else just swap over the OS you have now after attaching it to yourself via a microsoft account so that all you have to do is log into your MS account on the new system after the change and it will automatically activate. All of which is assuming you DO run Windows 10, because if you don't all of this is moot anyhow.

Would i just have to load windows media w.ever onto a usb, plug into pc after swapping drives, set it as boot priority and the usb and sign in with my attached windows account?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Exactly, this:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

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