Upgrading CPU/MoBo Boot help

[Rekindled]

hey there, I have been thinking of upgrading my current PC by replacing the motherboard and CPU, However, I dont want to have to re-install windows and all that jazz. As such, I was wondering if you replace the Mobo and CPU will the PC boot as normal, or will i need to do a complete re-install? Thanks

[bargiddle]

it depends, but in general you probably should.

install the hardware the try and boot up, if it doesnt work, or you start getting BSODs, you have to reinstall. if it does, well, there may still be problems, bur hell it might work fine anywho. try and see, but be ready to have to reinstall

[averiy]

Motherboard replacements virtually always require a reinstall of Windows. New peripherals, RAM, and usually CPUs, you're OK, but with motherboards, you're changing virtually everything Windows knows about addresses, hooks, capabilities, etc.

[Naididae]

It does depend though. I had a recent motherboard + cpu change and surprisingly I didn't have to reinstall windows (I reinstalled lots of drivers and programs, but that's it).
Been running fine ever since.

[OhpUldum]

Amongst techies they will always tell you to reinstall Windows as it removes any chance of driver corruption and drivers from the previous mobo/cpu still being on the HDD. This removes the possibility for BSOD errors and problems cropping up in the future.

However if it is a short generation bump say AM2+ to AM3 I have just installed the motherboard drivers over top and ran a system file check and chkdsk rather than a complete reinstall to save customer's some money. When going from AMD to Intel or vice versa you have to reinstall.

[noremac]

If the OS originally installed on the machine was OEM it may not even be possible to do a motherboard swap. The OEM operating systems are tied to the motherboard and thus won't activate again on another system. Sometimes you can get lucky and call Microsoft to get someone to do an over-the-phone activation for you but most of the time you will just have to go out and buy another copy of the OS.

[Rekindled]

Thanks all for the help, Really appreciate it!

I think I will do a full re-install and just back up all my video files and what not to my external HDD and deal with the windows install, Thanks!