Posted December 11, 2020 I am in the process of building a new gaming PC switching from Intel to AMD (i7 6700K to Ryzen 7 3700X). Of course this means I have a brand new motherboard and CPU, but I am using my previous RAM that is relatively new along with my GTX 1080 until I can get my hands on a RTX 3080. I am using my 2 SSDs from my previous build in addition to a new m.2 nvme. I have read several threads about this same topic, but the responses seem so mixed that I feel like I may as well ask it again. Do I need to do a fresh install of windows 10 or can I just plug my old SSD in and use my previous windows 10 install? I should note that I would absolutely love to keep my previous windows 10 install because it has 4 years of windows related stuff on it that would be gone with a fresh install. I understand, though, that there are driver issues when you switch from Intel to AMD. However, I have also read that windows 10 is supposed to take care of this and the switch should technically be seamless. If you recommend a fresh install, how do I keep all my windows related information from my previous build? Another note: A family friend who is about ~60 years old and has been working with computers for a long time (before they were as resilient as they are today) told me that he always does a fresh install of windows with every motherboard change even if it’s just Intel to Intel or AMD to AMD. Is this advice outdated or should I take heed of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 11, 2020 Plug it in and use it If it does have issues, then you can do a fresh install You can do a backup image first before you try, in case things go south -sigh- feeling like I'm being too negative lately Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 11, 2020 it is best practice to reinstall, because you can get rnadom funky issues and errors doing this, however you can always try and if it works then great. if you get issues you can always reinstall. do note your license will deactivate if you swap motherboards though, so beware of that. She/Her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 11, 2020 yeah you need a fresh install because of the chipsets and drivers i don't know how to keep you stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 11, 2020 Author 2 minutes ago, Moonzy said: Plug it in and use it If it does have issues, then you can do a fresh install You can do a backup image first before you try, in case things go south So just to be clear, I wouldn’t cause any major system failures or hardware problems by just trying the old windows install? That was my fear but I didn’t mention it. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 11, 2020 I didn't reinstall when moving from x99 to x570. There were some weird quirks like driver compatibility that needed to be sorted out. Just be prepared for any mishaps. If anything, try doing a bare metal back up Windows 10 Edu | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | Ryzen 9 3950x | 4x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB| ROG Strix GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ Advanced edition | Samsung 980 PRO 500GB + Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB + 8TB Seagate Barracuda | EVGA Supernova 650 G2 | Alienware AW3418DW + LG 34uc87c + Dell u3419w | Asus Zephyrus G14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 11, 2020 2 minutes ago, Alireza said: yeah you need a fresh install because of the chipsets and drivers i don't know how to keep you stuff no, Windows 10 will automatically install the correct stuff for your chipset if you switch platform. at least it is supposed to, sometimes it doesn't work. She/Her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 11, 2020 1 minute ago, dylanreadel said: So just to be clear, I wouldn’t cause any major system failures or hardware problems by just trying the old windows install? That was my fear but I didn’t mention it. Thanks! Not that I'm aware of, it should be fine -sigh- feeling like I'm being too negative lately Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 11, 2020 1 minute ago, dylanreadel said: So just to be clear, I wouldn’t cause any major system failures or hardware problems by just trying the old windows install? That was my fear but I didn’t mention it. Thanks! nope. it's possible you get a bluescreen of death related to some random driver on your old install, in that case it's better to do a reinstall. but it should just boot and sort itself out. She/Her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 11, 2020 It'll work, windows will have to repair itself because of the hardware changes, but expect eventual driver conflicts, and likely you'll be leaving performance on the table. Backing up and doing a fresh install really isn't a big deal. You'd have to have a seriously unorganized clusterf*ck of a C:\ drive to not want to do a reformat. Work Rigs - 2015 15" MBP | 2019 15" MBP | 2021 16" M1 Max MBP | Lenovo ThinkPad T490 | AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | MSI B550 Gaming Plus | 64GB G.SKILL 3200 CL16 4x8GB | AMD Reference RX 6800 | WD Black SN750 1TB NVMe | Corsair RM750 | Corsair H115i RGB Pro XT | Corsair 4000D | Dell S2721DGF | Fun Rig - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | MSI B550 Tomahawk | 32GB G.SKILL 3600 CL16 4x8GB | AMD Reference 6800XT | Creative Sound Blaster Z | WD Black SN850 500GB NVMe | WD Black SN750 2TB NVMe | WD Blue 1TB SATA SSD | Corsair RM850x | Corsair H100i RGB Pro XT | Corsair 4000D | LG 27GP850 | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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