[SOLVED] Any tips of what i should do before or after when upgrading Motherboard and CPU?

[freddyp411]

Hey everyone, i recently built my first pc last year and decided to upgrade to a z690 motherboard and i9-1200k CPU. I am very much a novice still at computer building and generally curious of what would be needed to have a smooth transition from my current z490 motherboard and 19-10900kCPU. I already submitted a request to get a new LG1700 Bracket for AIO Cooler but in terms of the computer.. Do i have to reinstall windows or reinstall GPU Drivers or anything of that nature? Any former experience that anyone can shed light on please share. Thank you in advance

 

[Lafong]

Most will tell you to do a clean install of Windows and all applications onto the new motherboard and CPU.

However......Windows 10 is quite tolerant of new hardware, so it might be worth a try just move the system drive into the new motherboard/CPU and see what happens when you start up.

Mull that over in terms of time required, learning curve, and your tolerance for troubleshooting.

If it fails, revert to the clean install.

 

[USAFRet]

What should you do before?
Prepare for a full 100% reinstall of the OS and everything else.

Changing the system like this, there are 3 possible outcomes:

1. It works just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It "works", but you're chasing issues for weeks/months and do the full install anyway.

I've personally seen all 3, with #3 being the most prevalent.
You can just slap the old drive in and see if it works. It might. There is NO guarantee either way.

But do be prepared for failure.

 

[Lafong]

If you simply move the existing system drive to the new setup, the most likely issues are;

Legacy BIOS (CSM) v. UEFI: Both computers should be set for the same type of booting.

and

SATA drive controller mode: IDE v. AHCI v. RAID. Ideally, both computers SATA controllers should be set for AHCI.

You may be able to run any necessary repairs from within Windows or you can try running Startup Repair having booted your PC from a Win 10 installation medium.

Or boot your PC from Macrium Reflect's boot disk, and use its handy Fix Boot utility.

 

[freddyp411]

Thank you everyone.. Very useful information and i am very grateful!

From the looks of it... I may just start off fresh and reinstall windows to be safe. The next thing i will do is try to find out how to wipe my entire NVME SSD. Should be a way somehow i suppose, then also how to transfer windows ? i wonder if i just input my old Windows Activation key.

This does make me nervous though... When i originally built my PC it took me weeks on figuring out issues that were wrong with it.. I hope this doesn't happen again..

Cheers

 

[Lafong]

From the looks of it... I may just start off fresh and reinstall windows to be safe. The next thing i will do is try to find out how to wipe my entire NVME SSD. Should be a way somehow i suppose, then also how to transfer windows ? i wonder if i just input my old Windows Activation key.

Do you have a "retail" version of Windows?


If so, should NOT need your Activation key. It should already be stored on Microsoft's activation servers....assuming you have a legit install that is already activated.

You would likewise NOT need to wipe anything.

You would not "transfer" anything other than your personal data, whatever that is....pictures, mp3s, Word documents, movies, whatever.

You would do a clean installation.

By making a bootable USB installer on a USB flash drive, using Microsoft's own "Media Creation Tool" at Microsoft.com.

Then disconnect ALL drives other than the one that will receive Windows.

Boot from that USB stick and follow the prompts. You will have a chance to delete ALL partitions from your existing hard drive during the early stages of that installation. Say YES.

When the smoke clears, you'd probably install your various applications and do further updates to Windows via Windows Update.

 

[USAFRet]

From the looks of it... I may just start off fresh and reinstall windows to be safe. The next thing i will do is try to find out how to wipe my entire NVME SSD. Should be a way somehow i suppose, then also how to transfer windows ? i wonder if i just input my old Windows Activation key.

A fresh install is a full wipe of that drive.
You then install the OS, drivers, applications.
Nothing to 'transfer'.

Of course, whatever personal data may be on that drive...you save elsewhere first.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

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