Windows 10 Reactivate Needed after GPU Added?

[Boomwebsearch]

Would I need to activate Windows 10 again after I added a graphics card, have seen in some of Linus's videos that the system asks for the activation key again after hardware configuration is changed, would this be applicable to GPUs?

[Lurick]

No, not from what I've seen. Usually it's motherboard/CPU that will trigger it but sometimes not even that.

[BlackManINC]

1 minute ago, Boomwebsearch said:

Would I need to activate Windows 10 again after I added a graphics card, have seen in some of Linus's videos that the system asks for the activation key again after hardware configuration is changed, would this be applicable to GPUs?

No, but you should uninstall the GPU drivers in your control panel before hooking up the GPU, and then install the latest version of it. 

[Boomwebsearch]

1 minute ago, BlackManINC said:

No, but you should uninstall the GPU drivers in your control panel before hooking up the GPU, and then install the latest version of it. 

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

No, not from what I've seen. Usually it's motherboard/CPU that will trigger it but sometimes not even that.

 

Thanks for the replies, I don't have a GPU in the system already, running off integrated graphics, would it be okay to disable the integrated graphics' driver in Device Manager and then install the driver for the GPU?

[Guest]

Just to add for more confidence, I've changed the GPU in my bench no less than 15 times and have never had to reactive it.

[minibois]

6 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

Would I need to activate Windows 10 again after I added a graphics card, have seen in some of Linus's videos that the system asks for the activation key again after hardware configuration is changed, would this be applicable to GPUs?

Probably not, at least I didn't have to when I replace my videocard.

Linus' example was probably more like "oh after a mobo I didn't have to re-enter the key.. But then once I did this part and that part and then the videocard, Windows wanted me to re-enter the key!"

[BlackManINC]

5 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

Thanks for the replies, I don't have a GPU in the system already, running off integrated graphics, would it be okay to disable the integrated graphics' driver in Device Manager and then install the driver for the GPU?

It is my understanding that the bios is programmed to automatically disable the integrated GPU when a dedicated one is detected. So you shouldn't have to, and I'd leave it alone just in case your dedicated GPU starts acting up anyway.

[Boomwebsearch]

17 minutes ago, BlackManINC said:

I'd leave it alone just in case your dedicated GPU starts acting up anyway.

16 minutes ago, NZgamer said:

Yeah you should DDU those to be safe anyway

 

If I use DDU and uninstall the integrated Intel graphics driver or disable it in Device Manager, and this new GPU starts having issues (hardware and/or driver related), wouldn't I still be able to troubleshoot it with the MSBDA (Microsoft Basic Display Adapter) which get installed automatically upon system restart and no graphics driver being present?

 

If not then I would have to go through safe mode and install the driver, kind of a hassle.