[SOLVED] New build. What is the best way to transfer Windows 8.1 key to W11?

[dugt]

I think I might as well start with W11 on my new build, Z690 & i5-12600K, but I'm a little reluctant because of mixed reviews. Anyway, should I just install W11 and then use my W8.1 retail key, or, should I start with W10 or W8.1 and "Upgrade" to W11? I'm looking for the easiest way to get W11 where I won't have to jump through hoops to get my W8.1 retail key to work. Initially I'll transfer my current W10 SSD to the new build.

A tom's HARDWARE article recommended W11. "To get the most out of the Intel Alder Lake chips, you need to be on Windows 11 with its updated scheduler. In most cases, Windows 10 performs well. However, some tests (Cinebench R20, Corona and POVRay) take a significant hit. In short, if you’re going with Alder Lake, you should upgrade to Windows 11 for the best results across the board. " Is that consensus or a minority opinion?

Thanks!

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

not sure 8.1 license will directly transfer over.
you may need to contact Microsoft support directly and see what they have to say.

while 10 is an easy update & free transfer, from 8/8.1 it may be more involved.

"...if you’re going with Alder Lake, you should upgrade to Windows 11 for the best results across the board."
Is that consensus or a minority opinion?

definitely an opinion.

i've tried "uprading" my 10 Pro system to 11 twice now and have found it full of ridiculous bugs and having a horrible GUI compared to 10.
by my second attempt i had hoped over time they would have updated the GUI and fixed the majority of issues but ended up reverting both times within a week.

a couple newer builds i've done for 3rd parties also returned similar issues with system bugs and one begging me to help them revert to their old Windows 10 setup.
11 showed no noticeable performance increases that i could determine for these 2x Alder Lake builds with gaming or other heavy processing.

but there are also a few that state how they like the difference and are glad to be rid of the Start Screen and other aspects of Windows 10.
one also claiming that they thought they had better performance in games but with no comparison benchmarks to show for it.

 

[Eximo]

Depends on the Alder lake CPU. Anything below the 12600K doesn't have E-cores so they are just like 11th and 10th gen chips for the most part. Windows 11 has a scheduler designed to handle the E-cores.

The idea would be that your background tasks would get shuffled to the e-cores freeing up additional resources for your games. But since most games don't consume 12 threads anyway, it only has an impact on some of the latest titles.

Windows 11 itself has a little more overhead as well, so sometimes it actually comes out behind. (of course most of the information out there is from launch, it may have improved with the last few Windows updates)

 

[dugt]

Thanks for the help. It sounds like I might as well stay with W10 for now. I was unhappy with W10 at first but now I have it setup in Classic mode, or something like that, so I don't have to suffer with the newer design.

When I built my current W10 computer I think I eventually had to install W8.1 with the CD so I might as well start there and upgrade to W10.

 

[dugt]

Sorry but I made a mistake in the OP. My new CPU is an i5-12,600K, not 10,600. I corrected the OP. The most recent game I play is Far Cry New Dawn. I still think I will stick with W10 until W11 gets better.