Hi,
I have a MSN-SLI Deluxe MB and looking to update to a newer chipset MB that will allow me to take full advantage of a quad cores FSB. I would also like a newer "more power efficient" board.

I have Vista 64 ultimate OEM. If I replace the MB, will I absolutely have to buy a new OS with it as well?

Anyone have any tricks up thier sleeve to get around this?

thanks

Install as normal. If it says you need to do a manual update, phone the 1-800. If a support person asks why you are reinstalling, tell them you were having technical issues and felt it was time for a new install.

If it does not work, call back and tell them your mobo died.

Yes you can get around the Vista oem licensing. Just tell them that you replaced a dead motherboard and they will give you new key code.

Will you be sticking with AMD or changing to Intel for the Quad core fsb.Let us know so we can make some recomendations to you.

was thinking about going this route:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813186134

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103249

right now i have a 4850 card and some gskill 1080DDR2 i would add to it. i'm actually using the gskill 1080DDR2 right now on a DDR2800 board. I did this because you can overclock the PSU and tighten the RAM timings down to 4-4-4-12 and just set it to run manually at 800. ..and the ram will run just fine without being a contributing factor to any overclocking issues as the speeds increase over 800mhz from overclocking the processor.

Also, thanks for the info. now here is the kicker.
I have my Configuration just the way I like it and backed up using the system backup tool onto a seperate hard drive.

Will I be able to install windows onto a new motherboard using the PC restore tool or will it only work installing a fresh copy of windows and then having to do all the updates/driver installs etc etc (etc times a thousand!)?

i think you will have to call the 1-800 number anyway. vista can dectact major hardware changes and deactivat the window automaticly

will this work if you only have a backup/recovery disk? if not can you use someone else's install disk but call the 1-800# with your own original product code?