Upgrading motherboard, anything i need to know?

[Hyypan]

So im going to upgrade my PC this week, and im only going to keep my GPU, PSU, RAM and SSD/HDD. So im wonering if I need to know something? Or if its just to go and build it like a new PC and not worry about my old BIOS and all that other crap? Thanks in advance!

[samcool55]

If you want to stick with mainstream stuff, go Ryzen or coffee lake.

Don't bother with kaby lake.

 

Just make sure the chipset matches with the CPU, that's about it. No need to worry about BIOS versions.

If you get a motherboard however, make sure you actually run the latest BIOS, it can make a big difference especially for Ryzen systems.

[Tabs]

Windows will probably complain about activation after you replace the motherboard and cpu.

 

Contrary to popular belief though, it's 100% fine to transplant your hard disk/ssd with your current install into a new machine (so long as it's win7+) - you just have to do it properly. 

Before you finish using your current setup for the last time, shut it down using this command:

Sysprep /generalize /shutdown /oobe

 

That will remove all system-specific drivers so that when the disk is transplanted, windows configures itself properly for the new hardware. Make sure the disk isn't booted again until after the transplant is done though, since the first boot after generalizing can take a few minutes, and you'd have to shut it down again using the sysprep command above.

[Hyypan]

29 minutes ago, Tabs said:

Windows will probably complain about activation after you replace the motherboard and cpu.

 

Contrary to popular belief though, it's 100% fine to transplant your hard disk/ssd with your current install into a new machine (so long as it's win7+) - you just have to do it properly. 

Before you finish using your current setup for the last time, shut it down using this command:

Sysprep /generalize /shutdown /oobe

 

That will remove all system-specific drivers so that when the disk is transplanted, windows configures itself properly for the new hardware. Make sure the disk isn't booted again until after the transplant is done though, since the first boot after generalizing can take a few minutes, and you'd have to shut it down again using the sysprep command above.

Thank you very much!!! I guess you put it in the command-thingy?

[Hyypan]

34 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

If you want to stick with mainstream stuff, go Ryzen or coffee lake.

Don't bother with kaby lake.

 

Just make sure the chipset matches with the CPU, that's about it. No need to worry about BIOS versions.

If you get a motherboard however, make sure you actually run the latest BIOS, it can make a big difference especially for Ryzen systems.

 I bought a 8600K with a Z370 MSI gaming pro carbon, upgraded from a shitty i5 lol

[Tabs]

44 minutes ago, Hyypan said:

Thank you very much!!! I guess you put it in the command-thingy?

That's correct, when you're ready to do the swap, load up an admin command prompt and run that command exactly as written. After you boot the drive up the next time with the new hardware, windows will run through it's Out of Box Experience (oobe), as if you had fresh installed Windows on the machine. The difference is that all your programs and data will still be there exactly as you left it.

 

If you're running Windows 10 and your license is listed as "Activated with a digital license tied to your Microsoft account", like the pic I attached, and Windows complains about activation when you do the transfer, you should be able to reactivate by going to settings > update and security > activation and running the troubleshooter listed at the top.

 

That should pretty much be all you need to do to get back up and running.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Edited November 15, 2017 by Tabs
Spelling error

[Hyypan]

6 hours ago, Tabs said:

That's correct, when you're ready to do the swap, load up an admin command prompt and run that command exactly as written. After you boot the drive up the next time with the new hardware, windows will run through it's Out of Box Experience (oobe), as if you had fresh installed Windows on the machine. The difference is that all your programs and data will still be there exactly as you left it.

 

If you're running Windows 10 and your license is listed as "Activated with a digital license tied to your Microsoft account", like the pic I attached, and Windows complains about activation when you do the transfer, you should be able to reactivate by going to settings > update and security > activation and running the troubleshooter listed at the top.

 

That should pretty much be all you need to do to get back up and running.

 

 

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Thank you very very much you kind sir! Appreciated!