I'm changing my motherboard and processor. Can I just plug-in all the other components? My OS is WinXP Pro.

Answer 1

Many components are "Plug and Play" standard, so can just be plugged in. However, some are not. For example, older hard drives use an "IDE ATA" interface of a particular speed. If your new motherboard doesn't support the interface for your old hard drive, then it won't work. If the new motherboard only has an SATA interface, the older hard drive could not even be plugged in.

Also, the old memory modules are very unlikely to be compatible.

And some PCI and AGP cards (graphics, sound, etc.) may not work. (Interfaces have been changing.)

Also, if the original PC was not running WinXP, there could be compatibility problems with some software.

So you need to check for any incompatibility problems. Perhaps the motherboard manufacturer has a list of possible problems? (Microsoft has a CD program that you can run on your old PC to check for XP compatibility problems.)