[SOLVED] Help appreciated on the order in which to upgrade

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Globe221

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Jun 16, 2019
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Hello everyone :)

So after some 10 years of use I have decided to upgrade my custom built PC.... It has been a reliable machine for 10 years, but it now struggles to run more demanding games & programs.

I am changing the MOBO, CPU, GPU & RAM... pretty much the lot except the case, PSU and storage!

Hardware wise I am ok with what's what but, being as Win7 support has ended I have also, very reluctantly, decided to upgrade to Win10 (mainly because I gather it can still be done free).

I haven't ever done an OS upgrade along with HW upgrade so aside from the starting point of backing everything up... where is best to start?

Should I upgrade the OS, then upgrade components, or upgrade components then upgrade OS?
I'd quite like to not lose my licence/activation keys for either Windows or Office etc or have to reinstall many programs during the change, if it can be helped.

Thanks :)
 
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Djoza said:
i pretty sure that when you upgrade the motherboard,you lose your OS.
Look at this:https://www.minitool.com/backup-tips/upgrade-motherboard-without-reinstalling-windows.html and see if it helps you out since i dont know anything about moving OS,the guys with more experience will tell you that.
But components wise i know some things,so whats you budget for upgrading?
Click to expand...

Yes, looks that way from the link... helpful, thanks :)

Budget wise I had hoped to spend about £500 to get mid range. As nice as it'd be to max out everything, I don't need to for what I do and I have a mortgage to pay so money is a consideration 🤣

Since I built it back in 2010 its been sat in a CM690 ii Advanced... love it, not changing it!
I have a MOBO, CPU & GPU already - Asus X570 TUF Gaming+ wifi & Ryzen 5 3600 package deal and a Sapphire RX590 Nitro+... Now all I need to get is a new CPU cooler (not decided yet - any opinions on what is good?) and some RAM... 16Gb should do
 
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Globe221 said:
Hello everyone :)

So after some 10 years of use I have decided to upgrade my custom built PC.... It has been a reliable machine for 10 years, but it now struggles to run more demanding games & programs.

I am changing the MOBO, CPU, GPU & RAM... pretty much the lot except the case, PSU and storage!

Hardware wise I am ok with what's what but, being as Win7 support has ended I have also, very reluctantly, decided to upgrade to Win10 (mainly because I gather it can still be done free).

I haven't ever done an OS upgrade along with HW upgrade so aside from the starting point of backing everything up... where is best to start?

Should I upgrade the OS, then upgrade components, or upgrade components then upgrade OS?
I'd quite like to not lose my licence/activation keys for either Windows or Office etc or have to reinstall many programs during the change, if it can be helped.

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Would you mind listing your current PSU(type and wattage) Is your PSU also 10 years old? If so, I would highly suggest replacing it as well. If that goes, it could take all your other components with it or could cause other issues.

Also, what games and programs are you planning to run on this computer?

As for upgrading to Windows 10, assuming your computer meets the minimum requirements, you can upgrade to Windows 10 first, but make sure you have a full copy of all your important files and programs in case something happens and you need to go back to your original configuration. Buy a backup program like Acronis. You can clone your entire OS and software so if you need to restore back you can. There is also a utility that will allow you to move the entire OS and all of your programs to a new machine(which for all intents and purpose, yours will be.) But try upgrading to WIndows 10 first before upgrading your components and definitely back up each time you're about to make major changes.

Another option is to make a full backup of the programs and files you wish to keep. Then at cnet.com there is currently a promotion to buy Windows 10 Home for $30.00 and Pro for $40.00. You could buy the OS from them and install it on your upgraded components and then restore from backup the files and programs you backed up.

There are articles that will tell you how to retrieve the product key for Windows and Office from the registry. If you are not comfortable going into the registry, then see if you still have the product keys from there. But if you save your files, and have the executables for Office, you can install it, use your current product key and then reinstall.

Sometimes it's best just to reinstall, otherwise the programs may have issues since the majority of the hardware is changing.
 
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Allanag said:
Would you mind listing your current PSU(type and wattage) Is your PSU also 10 years old? If so, I would highly suggest replacing it as well. If that goes, it could take all your other components with it or could cause other issues.

Also, what games and programs are you planning to run on this computer?

As for upgrading to Windows 10, assuming your computer meets the minimum requirements, you can upgrade to Windows 10 first, but make sure you have a full copy of all your important files and programs in case something happens and you need to go back to your original configuration. Buy a backup program like Acronis. You can clone your entire OS and software so if you need to restore back you can. There is also a utility that will allow you to move the entire OS and all of your programs to a new machine(which for all intents and purpose, yours will be.) But try upgrading to WIndows 10 first before upgrading your components and definitely back up each time you're about to make major changes.

Another option is to make a full backup of the programs and files you wish to keep. Then at cnet.com there is currently a promotion to buy Windows 10 Home for $30.00 and Pro for $40.00. You could buy the OS from them and install it on your upgraded components and then restore from backup the files and programs you backed up.

There are articles that will tell you how to retrieve the product key for Windows and Office from the registry. If you are not comfortable going into the registry, then see if you still have the product keys from there. But if you save your files, and have the executables for Office, you can install it, use your current product key and then reinstall.

Sometimes it's best just to reinstall, otherwise the programs may have issues since the majority of the hardware is changing.
Click to expand...


Thanks, that's useful advise. I have a copy of Acronis for backing up data already so that side of things is taken care of. My current set up should run Win10 fine, so I'll go for converting to Win10 then change the hardware.

PSU wise, I currently have a Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W. It has done approx 3800-4000 hours (based on a Crystal Disk Info calculation of power on hours of the HDD thats been in since I built it)
It has a MTBF of 100,000 hours. It hasn't ever been pushed beyond 50% capacity.
 
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Djoza said:
what much would you like to spend on a cooler.
30-50$ -budget,but good
50-70$-good
70-100$ you are in a liquid cooler range.
For ram i would go for this:https://www.corsair.com/eu/en/Categories/Products/Memory/VENGEANCE-LPX/p/CMK16GX4M2B3600C18
Click to expand...

I've been looking around the Cooler Master Hyper 212 area - £40-£50.

Not sure on the performance differences of the MA410P and MA410M, can't find a useful comparison anywhere.

I have a Cooler Master V8 in my current build - Any chance with a mod to AM4 it'll do a good job of cooling a Ryzen 5 3600??
 
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logainofhades said:
You can check with coolermaster, to see if they made an AM4 bracket, for your exact version of CM V8. An R5 3600 doesn't need a huge beefy cooler, but it doesn't hurt. This cooler would be plenty, if you decide to buy new.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...te-v2-645-cfm-cpu-cooler-dp-mch4-gmx-gte-v2bk
Click to expand...
Thanks, I've gone with a Gammaxx GT BK.... I powered up the CM V8 out of the case and it is pretty much soley responsible for the 45+ dB my pc ran at so I didn't bother trying to faff upgrading it. The GT BK is basically silent :)
 
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I've replaced my motherboard back and forth multiple times (from Intel to AMD and AMD to Intel) and each time during startup it just adjusted it's settings and everything ran fine. Just keep your hard drive safe.
 
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