Question Windows 11, do I need it? Can I upgrade with a fresh install?

[DAG93]

Hey Everyone, I am reaching out to see what your opinion is on windows 11 and if I should make the switch. I will list my specs but the main reason for my urge to switch is that I have changed so much about my PC as of late (only thing left is mobo and ram) that I feel it would be better to start fresh. That being said I am wondering if I would see any benefit from the switch or if my PC is expected to before about the same on windows 10. Is direct storage only a windows 11 option? I have a windows 10 key, is there a way I can upgrade directly to windows 11 from a fresh install? I can see the option to upgrade in my windows tray right now. Any info would be great thank you!

MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI (MS-7C37)
Bios Version E7c37AMS.1J0
What CPUz says
Version 1.J0 - AMD AGESA ComboAM4v2PI 1.2.0.7
Ryzen 7 5800X3D
32 Gb of Corsair DDR4 3200
Gigabyte 4090 gaming OC
2 - ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 PCIe M.2 2280 Solid State Drive
1000watt EVGA 80+ gold PSU

 

[siaan312]

Windows 10 and 11 are very similar under the hood, you would be unlikely to get any benefit from upgrading.
There is slightly less janky HDR support, there is hardware gpu scheduling and there is support for android apps, so those are 3 pretty fun and good things about windows 11, but other than that, not much.
I believe directstorage will work on both 10 and 11, but even so, it is yet to come out.
You can definetly do a clean install with your windows 10 key.
Search recovery in the settings and continue from there.

 

[Theresa N]

I "upgraded" to Windows 11 because I was having trouble getting Amazon Prime Video to play in HD in Windows 10. It solved that problem. No other benefits that I can tell.

 

[DAG93]

Thanks for the info! Like I said, I think I have just changed too many things on my install at this point. Certain programs give me trouble etc. just wanna start from scratch when I get my new GPU this week.

 

[DavidM012]

sometimes it's worth checking the site front page for news windows 10 isn't being sold to retail customers after Jan 31 and retires October 14 2025 so Microsoft has started winding it down already, you can catch the blurb about that. If you're keeping your PC more than 2 years then it's inevitable you'll need to upgrade to 11 eventually when it retires to get any more updates so might as well go forwards now and don't look back.

There's nothing terrible about it but the improvements are subtle and don't really enhance your hardware much besides a somewhat improved cpu scheduler which might make a difference in some scenarios and not others don't think it massively impacts ryzen more 12th/13th gen intel but you can always fact check technical questions if you need to.

Whether it will fix 'programs giving you trouble' it could go either way haven't really asked whether windows 11 starts to hammer nails into the coffins of older apps or if it has much the same compatibility as windows 10.

Well there are ways to still run legacy apps but there may even be windoze XP/windoze 7 holdouts still, and retro enthusiasts etc. basically all 'depends'. If there's anything specific that's giving you trouble what might it be? Gamers should probably be relatively impervious to changes whilst producitivty apps or bespoke softwares in industry can suffer. Sometimes it's a driver for some specialist or old equipment or sometimes it's just a dos program they want to keep going. Don't think that will probably impact you much.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

If it were me, I'd just to a fresh install of Win 10. You can upgrade it to Win 11 at anytime you might want to experiment, see how it feels etc. If you don't like it you can simply roll back in 10 mins,

 

[DavidM012]

I don't think microsoft has any plans to cater to users who dun like it. Years ago read about some xp holdouts paying da bomb to keep support for it going for some purpose but not gamers. Windows 95 got a cpu support patches to support more than a 200mhz cpu I think that was it. I mean sometimes an enterprising programmer might deal with a legacy problem.

I didn't really like the way the control panel changed to the settings menu between 7 & 10 while at the same time windows 7 networking seemed a bit weird but I don't think simply 'not liking it!' really influenced Microsoft much. Though I was glad to away with windows 7 setup telephone activation. I like the advancement to a Microsoft account and keeping your activation key with upgrades. Support for android apps, like it, hours of fun.

 

[DAG93]

Thanks for all the input. I went ahead and got a gen 4 SSD for my Mobo and upgraded to a 2TB drive and will be doing the fresh windows 10 install on that then upgrade to 11 from there. If i have any issues I will still have my old drives with my current install.