upgrading from K7S5A to K7S6A under Win XP

I am thinking of upgrading from the K7S5A to the K7S6A, mainly because the 5A doesn't allows control of the multiplier setting and the 6A does, making it a better MB for overclocking. My only problem is that I have WinXP, which doesn't allow you to change motherboards without formatting your drive and reinstalling. Is the K7S6A similar enough to the K7S5A that Windows might see it as the same motherboard (i.e. does it use all the same drivers), or am I stuck reformatting no matter what? If I am stuck, has anyone found any tricks to get WinXP to recognize a new MB? Thanks.

That is a very good question. If and when you figure out, please post here so the rest of us can learn. I have not heard of anyone else trying this yet...

ahecht said:

I am thinking of upgrading from the K7S5A to the K7S6A, mainly because the 6A allows control of the multiplier setting and the 6A does, making it a better MB for overclocking. My only problem is that I have WinXP, which doesn't allow you to change motherboards without formatting your drive and reinstalling. Is the K7S6A similar enough to the K7S5A that Windows might see it as the same motherboard (i.e. does it use all the same drivers), or am I stuck reformatting no matter what? If I am stuck, has anyone found any tricks to get WinXP to recognize a new MB? Thanks.

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I doubt it will be similar enough. First of all, the K7S6A uses the SiS745 chipset, and is compatible with only DDR memory. Different chipsets usually don't swap because they are quite different. Especially this one; adding support for PC2700.

My guess is that you should be ok.... .WPA only activates when a lot of things change. SO if you're running the same video, sound, NIC, etc I think you would be alright.

It went just fine on my system they are verrry simmilar as far as the drivers go. Th only problem that I had was that it would freeze as soon as it got into windows. This however may be because of some of my drivers as I have a few experimental things on there.