I'm kind of confused as to what I should reinstall when updating my motherboard, cpu and RAM

[Vertex0]

So I'm updating my Motherboard, CPU, RAM and CPU cooler. Now I am kind of getting confused as to what I should do on the software side of things. I don't want to lose any of my files. I know I have to reinstall windows in some way but I have no idea in what way, how and when. I only have a windows 8 disc but I should get windows 10 again by that right? 

My original plan was to uninstall all drivers that are part of the old hardware, then swap everything and install new drivers, but that doesn't seem like a good plan after reading stuf online. So how should I do this? I will of course back everything up, and uninstall current drivers but what should I do after that?

 

If anyone could link me to a good guide or explain what to do I would be very thankfull!

 

List of parts:

• AMD fx-8230 -> Ryzen 5 1600x
• msi 760ga-p43 (fx) -> Asus Prime B350-Plus
• corsair ddr3 XMs3 -> Corsair Vengeance LPX - ddr4
• Nvidea GTX 970
• Cooler master 500 W psu
• Samsung evo SSD 250 GB (has all the drivers)
• WD 500 GB hdd (has no drivers and only files and games)
• an optical drive

[JakeNTech]

You may not ned to reinstall windows, just contact microsoft about re-activating it. But what I would do is find a blank drive for a new install then recover the files you want. Format the old drive then use a drive cloner. 

[JoostinOnline]

You don't need to reinstall anything.   Once you're done swapping everything out, go to "Settings" in Windows, "Update and security", and "Activation".  You'll have to reactivate there.

[You_are_a_cunt]

2 minutes ago, fixitnow said:

You may not ned to reinstall windows, just contact microsoft about re-activating it. But what I would do is find a blank drive for a new install then recover the files you want. Format the old drive then use a drive cloner. 

That will NOT work. source: me spending 8 hours explaining to a bunch of idiots what an upgrade means.

 

After swapping all the parts, try to boot from the old install of windows to guarantee the re-activation then either reinstall or use the "refresh windows" option

[JakeNTech]

1 minute ago, revsilverspine said:

That will NOT work. source: me spending 8 hours explaining to a bunch of idiots what an upgrade means.

 

After swapping all the parts, try to boot from the old install of windows to guarantee the re-activation then either reinstall or use the "refresh windows" option

What? Not loosing all your files to a clean install? or phoning microsoft?

[JakeNTech]

5 minutes ago, revsilverspine said:

That will NOT work. source: me spending 8 hours explaining to a bunch of idiots what an upgrade means.

 

After swapping all the parts, try to boot from the old install of windows to guarantee the re-activation then either reinstall or use the "refresh windows" option

Which method? 

[You_are_a_cunt]

Just now, fixitnow said:

What? Not loosing all your files to a clean install? or phoning microsoft?

phoning Microshaft.

I made the mistake of formatting before re-activating and ended up having to use one of my last Win 8.1 keys in the upgrade process (yes, it still work. no, I won't tell you how. Google is your friend). Long story short, the activation process failed after reinstalling, contacted support, bounced back and forward from technician to technician and a night's worth of lost sleep later, I basically needed to buy a new key. I highly doubt many people have access to a metric shitload of keys like I do

[JakeNTech]

Just now, revsilverspine said:

phoning Microshaft.

I made the mistake of formatting before re-activating and ended up having to use one of my last Win 8.1 keys in the upgrade process (yes, it still work. no, I won't tell you how. Google is your friend). Long story short, the activation process failed after reinstalling, contacted support, bounced back and forward from technician to technician and a night's worth of lost sleep later, I basically needed to buy a new key. I highly doubt many people have access to a metric shitload of keys like I do

Fair enough. It work for me, but after a very long phone call. Why can't we go back to windows XP days? You put the key in once and activate it an boom, never to worry about it again. 

[You_are_a_cunt]

12 minutes ago, fixitnow said:

Fair enough. It work for me, but after a very long phone call. Why can't we go back to windows XP days? You put the key in once and activate it an boom, never to worry about it again. 

because no offline activation because reasons

[Vertex0]

Thank you all for answering, I guess I'll go by JoostinOnline methode

17 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

You don't need to reinstall anything.   Once you're done swapping everything out, go to "Settings" in Windows, "Update and security", and "Activation".  You'll have to reactivate there.

Now if I plug everything in and the system doesn't start windows up correctly (after all settings in bios are correct) I should reinstall and get everything from backup right?

Now can I just keep hhd as it and shouldn't delete anything on that is if that is the case? Because I didn't install windows and drivers on that?

Also, in one of the LTT videos they linked to a program where you can just pick what drivers to uninstall, does anyone have like a link or anything to that?

[JoostinOnline]

12 minutes ago, Vertex0 said:

Thank you all for answering, I guess I'll go by JoostinOnline methode

Now if I plug everything in and the system doesn't start windows up correctly (after all settings in bios are correct) I should reinstall and get everything from backup right?

Now can I just keep hhd as it and shouldn't delete anything on that is if that is the case? Because I didn't install windows and drivers on that?

Also, in one of the LTT videos they linked to a program where you can just pick what drivers to uninstall, does anyone have like a link or anything to that?

Your old drivers shouldn't be a problem.  With the hardware missing, Windows won't use them.  It doesn't hurt having them on your system, although they obviously take up a little bit of space.  You'll have to install a bunch of new drivers though.  Usually motherboards come with a CD that has drivers on it.  The only thing that could be a problem is the GPU, and you're keeping the same one.  Once you've got your new system up and running, you can uninstall any motherboard-specific utilities from Settings->Apps.

 

Just to be safe, use ProduKey to back up the key you have.