[SOLVED] Does upgrading CPU, RAM, and Motherboard require a full reset of PC?

[steventung666]

If I were to upgrade my CPU(1st gen intel to 9th), RAM(DDR3 to DDR4), and Motherboard, then will my data be reset or will be as if I just turned on my PC with my old components. Will I need to reinstall windows or not?

 

[Eximo]

It is highly recommended that you do so.

However, it is possible that simply dropping your OS drive onto that new hardware will simply require all the motherboard and other hardware drivers to be installed. I suggest taking a backup of your OS drive (a complete clone) and trying it out. If it fails, you simply overwrite with the drive image and your old system will be back up and running for you to do any file transfers or whatever you need to do.

I have successfully done this a few times, but never such a big jump.

AMD E350 -> i3-4130 - ASUS to ASUS board, realtek audio chipset didn't even re-install!
i7-950 -> i7-4770k - both DDR3 but going from Intel SATA II to SATA III
i7-4770k -> i7-7700k not successful when cloning the old SATA drives to NVMe, a fresh install was necessary. I did not, however, try the same drives in the new system. 4770k is still intact actually, though I swapped the CPU out of the 4130, need to pick up a cheap 4790k sometime.