Switching Motherboards What Software do I need?

[EpicBliss]

- Right now I have an HP Pavilion running "windows vista." 64bit

- Switching the physical motherboard is no problem. My question is what do I have to do when I turn my PC back on.

- Do I need to buy a new OS? Or is there a way to keep the OS I have now?

- If I need a new OS, where do I buy it?

- How do I down load it after I swap MoBo's?

It's kind of a lot. I just don't want to mess up my PC.

 

[boosted1g]

Are you replacing it with the exact same HP motherboard or a different one?

If you are replacing it with anything but an HP motherboard of similar chipset and type then you can not re-use the OS and will have to buy another one.
The license key is tied to the motherboard and will not even work with a non HP motherboard.

Everything else is dependent on how different the motherboards are.
If you replaced it with the exact same model of motherboard then that it is it, you are done.
If you replaced it with another HP board and it as the same exact chipsets then you likely just need to load the new lan/audio drivers.
If you are replacing it with non HP board then you will need to reinstall windows and load all the necessary drivers for the motherboard (chipset, video, audio, lan, usb 3.0 if it has it).

If you are replacing it with a non HP motherboard and have to buy new OS anyways then I would suggest putting the money into a full upgrade (CPU/Motherboard/RAM) as your current system is very old and even $200 in upgrades will be a massive improvement.

 

[Calvin7]

Microsoft > Operating Systems
http://www.newegg.com/Microsoft-Operating-Systems/BrandSubCat/ID-1149-368

The Windows installer will ask where on the hard drive to install the operating system. You can delete old partitions from that screen including the Recovery (D) partition.

You need to set the boot order BIOS on new motherboard to boot from the OS disk.

 

[EpicBliss]

Sorry should have been more specific. I'm putting in a different MB and CPU.

Adding...
- ASRock H97M Pro4 LGA 1150 Intel H97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
- Intel Core i5-4590

So it looks like I will need to buy a new OS. Then switch MB's and boot the BIOS to install the new OS? Is that it or am I missing something?

Also will I need new RAM? I have 6GB RAM already on my old MB, should I buy all new RAM?

 

[boosted1g]

Ok, then yes you will need a different OS.

As far as new ram that depends on if the ram is ddr3 or ddr2. If ddr3 you are fine, if not you will need modern ram. 8GB kit from gskill runs $50, get 2x4gb over 1x8gb as ram is meant to run in pairs.

As far as windows 7 vs windows 8 that is up to you. Either way you can upgrade to 10 here in a month or so.

 

[boosted1g]

So once you put in the new mobo/cpu you will have to put in your windows install cd, wipe your hard drive and reinstall windows.
You will also need to load the chipset, video, audio, lan, and usb 3.0 drivers from the motherboard cd.

If you need your data off of the hard drive, then you will need to either get a second hard drive to install windows to (In that case I strongly suggest an SSD for the massive increase in boot/program load performance), or get a usb-sata adapter so that you can plug the drive into a different computer and extract the files before erasing the drive.


ADDED:
If you opt to do the second hard drive option:
Unplug original drive, install windows, then after windows is installed you can plug the old drive back in.
If doing the SSD drive, make sure to change sata mode in BIOS to AHCI before installing windows

 

[EpicBliss]

Awesome! Thank you guys so much!