Question on motherboard swapping

[beagley]

Swapping from a MSI G31TM-P21 to a MSI G41M-P26

I was informed by a friend, that after 7ish years of building PCs that you can in fact swap motherboards WITHOUT reformatting if done correctly. Was told I need to roll back to windows defaults for most system parts. I was curious that with a motherboard so similar, if that was even necessary?

Both are MSI, and of similar builds, one being ddr2 and the other ddr3. Thanks for the help!

P.S. ddr2 is outrageous. 8gigs of g.skill ddr2 was $140, when this mobo and 8gigs of ddr3 came to $84. yeesh.

 

[tlmck]

You did not say which Windows, but it should ask for drivers after loading up. Insert the mobo CD and proceed. You may also have to re-register with Microsoft. Depending how long it's been since you last registered the copy, you may have to call and get a new key. Just tell them your old mobo died and you had to get a newer model or something.

Having said that, I have always found it to be better to back up your data and do a clean install when changing mobos.