HD and Processor

[mimseridge]

I am adding a new hard drive and am thinking of adding a new processor to my pc. I am getting fairly good at adding new hardware and am familiar with my motherboard. But when I add the new HD and dispose of the old one (faulty) will I have to reinstall windows xp? And if so does this require buying a new copy?
Also how will adding a new processor affect windows? Will I have to reinstall again?
Thanks

[pam123]

Hello mimseridge and welcome to PCMech.
If that's a home build then your present copy of XP will do just fine and yes you will have to reinstall XP and all your drivers and programs.
If it's not a home build then go over to the OEM's site ( that's Dell, Gateway, etc.) and get their instructions for replacing hard drives.
If your comp has restore disks make sure you have them or that you create them if you haven't done so already.
As for the processor, depending on the limits of your motherboard, if your machine is a homebuild, that might or might not be a good idea.
OEM machines aren't usually friendly toward processor upgrades but we can't tell you one way or another without your specs so post'em here.

[mimseridge]

Thanks v much
I have an
Abit KN8 Motherboard (939 socket)
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
ATI Radeon X300
2 HDD one 20GB and one 80GB both IDE/ATA
1GB RAM (512MB DDR 400 and 512MB DDR 200)

I have an XP disk that I bought with my original PC that was fried by a power surge. I replaced the mainboard, processor, psu and gpu with the parts listed above. Only the 2 hard drives were in the original rig. I installed an illega/piratel copy of windows xp which I would rather have replaced with a legal version. So when I install the new HDD (400GB SATA 150) will I be able to use my original legal copy of win xp? Even though It was registered with the old rig?

[pam123]

I don't know how the store of socket 939 processors is holding up in your part of the world but if you want one you better get busy they've been discontinued so replacements are scarce on the ground.
If that first PC was major OEM, meaning you've got a Dell, etc. disk, then no you can't.
If that first copy was OEM because the builder ordered an OEM disk, no Microsoft support, then there's a good chance you can ( We're talking small custom builder here.).

[mimseridge]

Sorry what is OEM? The first build was by a small local business he installed the the OS and gave me the disk along with the pc. He made the pc to my specs and doesn't mass produce them like Dell etc
ps I never realised how expensive windows could be!

[pam123]

OEM is original equipment manufacturer (Dell and Gateway are OEMs) and if that's what you've got then it's likely you can use the disk he gave you.