Do I need to do a new OS install for my new build?

[xiamandrewx]

Hey guys! I hope I'm posting in the right section. I am building a new gaming rig and I'm wondering if I have to do a fresh OS install or if I can just swap the drives into my new PC and delete all the old motherboard drivers. I know that it's SO MUCH BETTER to do a fresh install on a new build especially since I will be using a new mobo from a completely different manufacturer. However, I have some pretty big games that I really don't want to have to download all over again. If there's no way around a fresh OS install, how can I keep the installed games? As an example, one of my games is Assassin's Creed Unity. I know it has lot of haters, but I am an AC fanboy and I love it! If i were to download it again that would halt my gaming for at least one day. I REALLY DON'T WANNA DO THAT! Fortunately, most of my games I have the installers saved somewhere, but for ACU and Dragon Age: Inquisition they did not (to my knowledge) keep the game installers on my drive. Maybe I'm wrong and just don't know where to look. Any help is much appreciated!

 

If it helps, my current board is Gigabyte GA-H77N-wifi and my new board is Asus Maximus V Gene. Aside from the graphics card (GTX 760), I don't have any extra hardware installed that isn't plug and play.

 

 

 

Thanks! Have a nice day!

[Laputacake]

Sometimes you can sometimes you cant. Just throw it in and hope Windows doesnt throw a hissy fit.

[syntaxgeek]

I don't think it's "so much better" to do a fresh install, it's pretty much a requirement when going to such drastically different hardware.

 

While I haven't done it for AC Unity (never played it) I have done a regedit backup for things like BF3, BF4 and Age of Empires 3 complete bundle and restored on a new install making sure to move game files to new install in same location... this won't work for every game and can be time consuming searching through regedit for all paths of a game to backup.

[xiamandrewx]

I don't think it's "so much better" to do a fresh install, it's pretty much a requirement when going to such drastically different hardware.

 

While I haven't done it for AC Unity (never played it) I have done a regedit backup for things like BF3, BF4 and Age of Empires 3 complete bundle and restored on a new install making sure to move game files to new install in same location... this won't work for every game and can be time consuming searching through regedit for all paths of a game to backup.

I'm not really certain that it's a requirement. I have known friends to get a working config by just deleting the old mobo drivers. I do, however see your logic within the registry and such. Plus, my friends with working configs were running XP back in the day. Win 8.1 is probably way different. I will look into a regedit backup for my games. I was hoping to avoid this  :wacko:

[syntaxgeek]

I'm not really certain that it's a requirement. I have known friends to get a working config by just deleting the old mobo drivers. I do, however see your logic within the registry and such. Plus, my friends with working configs were running XP back in the day. Win 8.1 is probably way different. I will look into a regedit backup for my games. I was hoping to avoid this  :wacko:

Well if you have clone software and a spare drive with some extra time you could clone and try to run off the old hdd before going the registry route - I like have a full native backup anytime I'm doing hardware refresh anyways as it's a quick to return to peace of mind if I need to get back up and running quickly.

 

Good luck!

[EpicAdom]

Yeah you definitely have to do a fresh install with a new mobo

[Mujteba]

I don't think it's "so much better" to do a fresh install, it's pretty much a requirement when going to such drastically different hardware.

 

While I haven't done it for AC Unity (never played it) I have done a regedit backup for things like BF3, BF4 and Age of Empires 3 complete bundle and restored on a new install making sure to move game files to new install in same location... this won't work for every game and can be time consuming searching through regedit for all paths of a game to backup.

It's not a requirement. I swapped out my motherboard and cpu without reinstalling os and worked fine. Just plugged hdd back in.

 

 

[How To] Keep your current Windows install with a new motherboard.

[xiamandrewx]

Thank you so much! I will try this as soon as my motherboard and case get here