Upgrading Core Components WITHOUT reinstalling everything from scratch?

[Vantage9]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Jbh6vV

 

This was my system, until something with the motherboard crapped out and it wouldn't even make it into the BIOS before the power would reset. So I ran out to the promised land, a/k/a Microcenter, and grabbed an ASRock X370 mobo, a Ryzen 1600X, and 16GB of DDR4 2400. I just finished installing everything and fired it up. Unexpectedly, Windows 10 has booted right up and is working normally, minus the things that are on the Mobo like WiFi - which clearly need drivers etc.

 

My Question: I have almost 2TB of games installed on my second hard drive, and my biggest goal is to not have to re-download and install all of them. Is there any reason I can't just download and install the drivers for this Motherboard and call it a day? I know purists would say that I should wipe clean and do a fresh install, but that means days of crap labor.

[Donut417]

4 minutes ago, Vantage9 said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Jbh6vV

 

This was my system, until something with the motherboard crapped out and it wouldn't even make it into the BIOS before the power would reset. So I ran out to the promised land, a/k/a Microcenter, and grabbed an ASRock X370 mobo, a Ryzen 1600X, and 16GB of DDR4 2400. I just finished installing everything and fired it up. Unexpectedly, Windows 10 has booted right up and is working normally, minus the things that are on the Mobo like WiFi - which clearly need drivers etc.

 

My Question: I have almost 2TB of games installed on my second hard drive, and my biggest goal is to not have to re-download and install all of them. Is there any reason I can't just download and install the drivers for this Motherboard and call it a day? I know purists would say that I should wipe clean and do a fresh install, but that means days of crap labor.

If they are Steam games, then no download necessary. You just tell steam where the "Other Libary is" as in what disk its on. Then from there, it should see all those games. Some games, I have noticed dont mind if you do this as well. But it really depends on how the games were installed and if they give a shit about registry entries. 

 

I can tell you from personal experience of installing and reinstalling Windows 10 at least 3 times, that I was always able to access my steam library after the install, no issues. 

[SkilledRebuilds]

Give it a try n Do it anyway

If you screw it up, you were possibly going to fresh install anyway.

Remove all previous hardware software installed to Windows for your gear,...and start over if you can.

It may indeed work, it may give errors at random in the future..

 

Why not try ur luck.

*Google how to move steam games, its easy and you do NOT need to reinstall your games once moved.

[Vantage9]

Thanks guys, had no idea that steam library installs already sort of protected against this.  I already feel way better, because my Worst-Case-Scenario is now just Windows 10 from scratch, not all my games.  

 

I'll probably try the driver-only approach and see how it goes.  Will update if anything notable happens.

[Donut417]

1 minute ago, Vantage9 said:

Thanks guys, had no idea that steam library installs already sort of protected against this.  I already feel way better, because my Worst-Case-Scenario is now just Windows 10 from scratch, not all my games.  

 

I'll probably try the driver-only approach and see how it goes.  Will update if anything notable happens.

You should check the Windows activation status. Motherboard changes normally register with Microsoft and Windows 10 tends to de activate as it feels its on a two computers instead of one. You might have to reactivate it as well. Make sure you delete your old drivers as well. The ones your not using.