If the upgrade works the same as previous ones then it'll ask for you to insert a Vista disk mid install, means a cleaner, quicker install...

Okay, I'll keep searching for the vista disk.

Once the cpu arrives, I'll let you guys know how it goes. RAM should be coming in tomorrow, but the i7's tracking number hasn't gotten linked to the order yet.

Since you're changing motherboards, your windows will most certainly give you a blue screen of death. This is because of the HDD controller. Windows won't be able to boot up properly if the HDD controller (and/or chipset brand or model) is different from the previous one...
You better build a UBCD4win. You'll probably need to run it's fix_hdc plugin to fix this issue.

If you're going to format then it won't be a problem... This is only a problem when you don't plan reinstalling the operative system.

^

You could run a 'repair' install, that would get it running with the old Windows relatively easy. Thing is you'll drop performance. Just reinstall, it's less hassle in the long run.

I considered the repair install, but I've already made backups of all my files for a fresh install.
I think I'll be able to do the double install trick for windows 7 upgrade disk, installing once and then again on top, so it thinks its an upgrade. If that doesn't work, there is another method I found which involved a minor registry edit.

USPS is being sorta gay, only says that the item has been shipped from NY, doesn't say where it is though. Can't really do anything without the i7.

The RAM arrived today, 3 sticks of beautiful corsair dominator. Can't wait to actually use it.

Reminds me that I should get around to upgrading my rigs, had the parts sat around for over a month now but IRL stuff has a habit of getting in the way.

You'll have to let us know how the i7 performs in 'real' tasks, i5's are pretty awesome so I'm intrigued.

I sure will! You know which benchmarking program would be good btw? I'll test it by converting a vid to iPod format.

Usps just doesn't update tracking at all

also, I hope this one can overclock well. Doesn't have to be 4 ghz, but 3.4 would be nice.

Okay so i7 arrived. Got it all installed and set up etc. But one problem is that windows says the OS is not genuine, and I know it is. Retuping the key said that it couldn't be used for the current pc.
I'm guessing it's cuz I was using it already. I'm gonna contact Microsoft later. Hopefully they will be able to help.

Haven't had time to run anything yet. Gotta do some work now.

Okay, it's all fixed now!

Reinstalling my nongame programs will be a while, but found out that a lot of my games can run directly from the backups. I'll just use that while reinstalling them to new locations bit by bit.

The windows rating is now all 7's with the exception of my hard drive. Kinda cool.

Okay, so I tried crysis. I can use Very High (no AA, I don't mind jaggies) and get 15 fps. Used to be 12 or 13, minor improvement. Didn't try it in a fight yet.

But at high, my minimum frame rates went up. I remember they would drop down to 17. Now they always stay in the 20's and sometimes the lower 30's. So about a 4 fps increase, which is pretty significant at such low levels. Oh and load times, they are so much faster. I could tell in crysis, cuz it used to linger for a while at the 100% mark. Now it just loads then immediately.

Of course, for gaming, the performance increase wasn't as much as getting a new gpu, but I would have to upgrade the mobo down the line eventually anyway.

oh and the BIOS. Oh gosh, I'm so used to the anemic OEM one that didn't let me change anything. This Gigabyte bios is AMAZING. Overwhelming even. I tried the 20x200 setting for the i7 920. Just to see if it would work. It didn't boot successfully. Of course, this doesn't rule it out yet, since I really have no experience with the nuances of OC. Right now, I'm running at stock speeds. I'll try to go to 3.2-3.4 ghz later on down the road after I read up on how.

Gonna save up for when nvidia releases their mid range dx11 cards. the 470 is very nice, but too monstrous for me, too expensive, too power hungry compared to my gts 250, which is already good enough for most games. By the time I save up enough, the gtx 450 should be out.

I did a short benchmark with just cause 2. It doesn't really stretch the cpu limits though. Didn't see any real improvement I think. Then again, I was installing crysis in the background.

GTA IV is very cpu intensive though right?

Gonna reinstall that next.

Thanks for telling me to do a clean install on windows 7. restoring is a lot of work, but I think it'll be worth it, only for the performance increase, not considering that it probably wouldn't have worked as it was anyway.

GTAIV is MASSIVELY CPU intensive. It's the only game on the market that cannot be run well with max settings on a dual core. With the exception of maybe Sup Com. :P