Should I reinstall Windows after changing motherboard.

[starstalker]

I have a M5A97 board and 965BE CPU.

Switching to FX8350 and Crosshair V Formula Z

Do I have to reinstall windows to be sure ? I've swapped CPU's but dont know what to expect with the motherboard.

 

[Suztera]

Yes and if you do not have a retail version of windows, you need a new window licence.

 

[HDMI703]

I have a M5A97 board and 965BE CPU.

Switching to FX8350 and Crosshair V Formula Z

Do I have to reinstall windows to be sure ? I've swapped CPU's but dont know what to expect with the motherboard.

it may work but it is recommended to reinstall windows

 

[SubZed]

If you are using windows 7, you must reinstall windows reason being is that from xp-7 windows started attaching the windows key to the motherboard. If you are using 8, you should be able to just switch the board over.

 

[starstalker]

I am on Windows 8.1 x64

 

[SubZed]

Do you have a retail version of windows or no.

 

[hwc1954]

I just switched motherboards and CPUs with an OEM Win 7 license. I just entered the OEM product key (from label on my Dell computer) when the Win 7 activation pop up appeared (a few hours after the MB swap). It confirmed the product key and activated Windows on the new MB/CPU combo online in about 30 seconds. No big deal at all.

Of course, Win 7 would no longer be active on the old MB.

 

[SubZed]

I just switched motherboards and CPUs with an OEM Win 7 license. I just entered the OEM product key (from label on my Dell computer) when the Win 7 activation pop up appeared (a few hours after the MB swap). It confirmed the product key and activated Windows on the new MB/CPU combo online in about 30 seconds. No big deal at all.

Of course, Win 7 would no longer be active on the old MB.

He doesnt want to reinstall windows because his games are on the hard drive.

 

[GhislainG]

I am on Windows 8.1 x64

Other than having to update drivers and registering Windows again, it should work. I've done that several times on Intel motherboards (different sockets and chipsets) and I never had an issue; I doubt AMD would be different.

 

[hwc1954]

He doesnt want to reinstall windows because his games are on the hard drive.

Right. Same here. I didn't touch my drives when I swapped motherboards (other than to unplug them from the SATA connectors on the old MB and plug them back into the SATA connectors on the new MB. Everything stayed the same.

Didn't have to update any drivers because it was all the same drives, printers, scanners, etc. and those drivers were on the boot drive which didn't change.

Just had to reactivate Windows, which was painless and took about 30 seconds. Hardest part was reading the Product Key on the back of the computer case on my hands and knees with a flashlight!

 

[SubZed]

He doesnt want to reinstall windows because his games are on the hard drive.

Right. Same here. I didn't touch my drives when I swapped motherboards (other than to unplug them from the SATA connectors on the old MB and plug them back into the SATA connectors on the new MB. Everything stayed the same.

Didn't have to update any drivers because it was all the same drives, printers, scanners, etc. and those drivers were on the boot drive which didn't change.

Just had to reactivate Windows, which was painless and took about 30 seconds. Hardest part was reading the Product Key on the back of the computer case on my hands and knees with a flashlight!

Were you using the same chipset? Usually you will have to reinstall windows. theres all sorts of different stories on this subject, I didn't know that was possible. Thanks for letting me know. Cheers. @starstalker, try using the hard drive as is when you do it. Worse case scenario is that you have to move your games to a different partition.

 

[hwc1954]

[Were you using the same chipset? Usually you will have to reinstall windows. theres all sorts of different stories on this subject, I didn't know that was possible. Thanks for letting me know.

Different AMD chipset (same generation, but different Northbridge and Southbridge chips). It's a long story, but I actually switched the MB three times. Once to the new. Once back to the old. Once to the new again. Did the 20 second online Windows 7 reactivation (entering my Product Key) three times. Hassle-free each time.

Really, the only thing I had to do with each swap was go into BIOS and give it the correct boot drive sequence.

The confusing thing is that Windows activation has TWO numbers. One is the Product Key that comes with your original Win disks or on a label attached to an OEM system. Once this number is checked and activated, Windows generates a machine-specific PRODUCT ID. This PRODUCT NUMBER can be seen at CONTROL PANEL > SYSTEM (bottom of the screen). This number changed each time I reactivated Windows and is specific and locked to that system configuration. You never enter that number anywhere. You have to enter the original PRODUCT KEY from one of those holgographic Windows decals. This is the mechanism that Microsoft uses to prevent installing the same copy of Windows on two machines simultaneously.

 

[starstalker]

So i turned on the system and windows took care of everything.

Leaving this here incase someone else with the question can see the answer.

 

[GhislainG]

So i turned on the system and windows took care of everything.

Leaving this here incase someone else with the question can see the answer.

This is normal behavior.

 

[Giba_1]

I was told to reinstall win 10...Before doing that I just plugged in my ssd into the new motherboard/CPU (old was amd a8, new is i5 6600k).

I was surprised that it booted and seems to work. I just reinstalled the integrated drivers (LAN, audio, integrated video and etc...) and it was all up and running without no issues (Except the win activation key that took me 1 min to fix).

Everything is been recognized and my performance is amazing. I see no reason to start over and spend hours installing win, games, drivers and settings.

Does anyone have a better reason why I should forget about my PC working fine and start from scratch?

If not, I think with win 10 you should be fine..

 

[GhislainG]

You usually don't need to reinstall when going from AMD to AMD or Intel to Intel. Switching platforms can cause issues, but not always.

 

[Giba_1]

You usually don't need to reinstall when going from AMD to AMD or Intel to Intel. Switching platforms can cause issues, but not always.

Thanks. What kind of problems can arise? I just switched from AMD to intel and did not see probles (YET 🙂)

 

[GhislainG]

It can when using RAID, but usually not if you use IDE or AHCI.

 

[Giba_1]

It can when using RAID, but usually not if you use IDE or AHCI.

Excellent point. I am using AHCI and no plans for Raid for now. Will be happy to redo my system when I cross that bridge