I was considering replacing my current AM2 Athlon x2 3800+ to the X2 6000+, to compliment my recent purchase of the HD 4850. I figure reinstalling XP would be a good idea when you change procs, but given how similar the two processors are (both Windsor cores), do you guys think reinstalling Windows XP would be necessary, or could I get away without reinstalling?

No reinstalled necessary unless you feel like XP is running a little goofy.

Verify that your current BIOS supports the X2 6000+ ...

You should see a big jump in speed, Ive loved mine the past year but it does run hot. Make sure you have artic silver paste and good aftermarket fan! Im about to make the move to A C2D E8600 in August after a dedicated AMD fanboy for many years. Its been a nice ride, but time to move on. Enjoy your 6000+.

soldier37... that didnt help him at all.
To answer your question, you definately will not need to reinstall windows. Usually im think the same way, when i get new hardware i do a fresh install but since its the same mobo, same everything except your CPU, nothing will change.
Have fun with the increased speed.

You may have to reset the BIOS and may at the very last resort do a fresh install. Sometimes XP doesn't like you changing the CPU.

But thats normally for single to dual core and since you are going dual to dual you should have no need to reinstall.

no

I appreciate all the help, guys. Thanks for the responses!

If you reinstalled windows on your 3800+ alone it would feel like you got a CPU upgrade.

I would at least use windows for one day with the 6000+ so you can directly compare the difference.

Then the next day reinstall windows and feel like you have the fastest pc in the world and you got a $600 upgrade lol

^I usually do that. Its fun to make it feel all new again. But inside you still feel dirty.....

Usually depends on whether the upgrade causes any instability. If there is a difference in HT speed, such as going from HT1.0 to 2.0 you might need to. If you were going from a single core to a dual core you'd need to due to the different HAL driver. But since you're going from a dual to a dual it shouldn't be a problem. Now when I went from a dual to a quad I needed to though.

Granted I usually reinstall any time I make a major change in my system, just for piece of mind.