Question Silly question really about upgrading stuff...

[RayGunPC]

Has it got to the stage where you can just swap the motherboard, cpu and ram but still use the same hard disk / ssd with windows 10 on it without doing a complete reinstall?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Been that way for years.

I mean, you'll have to install new drivers and probably reactivate Windows, but yeah.

That said, it's always nice to clear out the junk.

 

[Charlie98]

That said, it's always nice to clear out the junk.

That... ^^^

Personally, I always do a clean install on a new OS drive.

 

[RayGunPC]

Yeah, I would normally but I have a spare computer at work and I was thinking of changing the mobo, cpu and ram to just give it a cheapish lift.. And reinstalling the os is just a pita... I don't care so much about unused drivers although I could try one of the driver cleaners.

 

[Flayed]

I've read plenty of posts on hardware forums from people complaining of poor performance, crashes, freezing etc and it's turned out to be caused by trying to use an old OS install after a CPU, motherboard and ram upgrade.

 

[RayGunPC]

I've read plenty of posts on hardware forums from people complaining of poor performance, crashes, freezing etc and it's turned out to be caused by trying to use an old OS install after a CPU, motherboard and ram upgrade.

I'll keep that in mind. As this is a non - critical pc I may 'cheat' at first and then be forced to reinstall after.
Thx.

 

[fastamdman]

It's always better to do the job the right way the first time around. It might take you 30 minutes longer but can save you an hour headache or two down the line.

My vote is to do a fresh install (especially if it's a work machine).