Question Swapping out MOBO, any potential problems?

[danno147]

I'm trying to solve a problem with my PC by replacing the MOBO and keeping all other components the same. If I swap the MOBO with the exact same model, would my system drive have any problems with it? Or what if the replacement MOBO is similar but not exactly the same?



CPU: INTEL | CORE I7 2600K 3.4G 8M R
MB: GIGABYTE | GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 Z68 RT
RAM: 4 x 4 GB | CORSAIR CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B
SSD: SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 500GB SATA III
DVD: LG BLURAY BURNER | WH12LS30
CASE: COOLER MASTER | RC-922M-KKN1-GP BK RT
PSU: CORSAIR | CMPSU-750TX 750W RT
GPU: EVGA | GTX570 HD
OS: Windows 7

 

[Darkbreeze]

Windows 7 will balk about a change of motherboard and want a new license to be installed unless you contact Microsoft and tell them that you had to change the motherboard. That's not a problem, although it's an unnecessary hassle.

In 52 days, Windows 7 is going to be End of life, with no further support from Microsoft. It is time to bite the bullet and move to Windows 10 while you still can do so for free. This would not only put you on a better operating system that has much better driver support from ALL manufacturers, many of whom are no longer supporting Windows 7 for new devices in ANY capacity anyhow, but it would also eliminate the issue of having to reactivate through Microsoft by phone when changing motherboards or even when moving your Windows license to an entirely different computer if you were to build a new one.

Some people have had good reasons for not changing to Windows 10, but in 52 days those reasons are going to be gone, because there won't be any choice if you wish to have continued security and driver support for new hardware, at all.

 

[USAFRet]

Exactly the same will probably work.
Similar may not.

And either way, you'll have licensing/activation issues.

What problem are you trying to solve?

 

[jon96789]

It should not be a problem... There are occasional motherboard revisions (e.g. 1.0, 1.1, etc), but normally that would not be a problem either.

The only issue would be the software... When I did a board swap, Windows, MS Office and some other apps recognized it as a different computer and invalidated the licenses. I had to get new licenses if i could not convince the companies it was the same PC...

 

[1LiquidPC]

Likely be fine. If it's exact same model, shouldn't be an issue. Did this at work a few times for PCs in machinery where changing out PC all together wasn't an option. Upon booting, OS or system drive never skipped a beat.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What problem are you trying to solve?

This is actually the more important question here.