upgrading motherboard - baremetal restore?

[Owls]

I finally dove into getting an X99 setup and I was wondering if anyone has had experience doing a BMR when upgrading the motherboard? Was it worth it? Would it be simply better to do a fresh install? Windows 8.1 deprecated the easy transfer so it's no longer possible to move settings, files, etc between computers.

 

[Burpo]

I'd just hook the drive up & see if it boots & loads drivers. If that fails there's always Windows Recovery Environment..
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825173.aspx

or as you pointed out, you can always do a fresh install..

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Would it be simply better to do a fresh install?

Seriously, always do a clean install when changing mainboard. Unless you have a very good reason not to.

 

[vailr]

Depending on the age of the old installation: if it's over 6 months old, and more so if it's over 1 year since the last fresh install.

 

[razel]

I finally dove into getting an X99 setup and I was wondering if anyone has had experience doing a BMR when upgrading the motherboard? Was it worth it? Would it be simply better to do a fresh install? Windows 8.1 deprecated the easy transfer so it's no longer possible to move settings, files, etc between computers.

If you still have Windows 8 or can get to the ISO. You can copy the migwiz folder (probably under support) to a USB drive and still run Easy Transfer manually. I just tried this on my Win 8.1 machine to copy my settings/files over to Win 10. Not all my settings transferred, but it definitely got all my files. My settings did eventually get synched when I connected my MS account.

Since your OS is Win8 I found it to be easily transferrable between different machines. Literally. I took an HDD with Win8 on a 2008 Core 2 moved it to a Core 1, booted fine, then over to Sandy Bridge and it booted fine. In each case it installed new hardware.

Of course, if you want to do that I do recommend uninstalling any specific video/accessory drivers that you know of that don't exist on the new machine prior, but I have yet to run into a blue screen or a boot into safe mode.

If your are interested in forcing a OOBE (Out-of-the-Box) experience which makes the OS hardware independent and cleans up you can run the following:

%windir%\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe
SELECT: Enter System Out-of-Box-Experience (OOBE)
Check - GENERALIZE

Then boot up on the new hardware.

 

[Binky]

I've changed out motherboards without an OS reinstall many times, with surprisingly few major issues. I would suggest always making a full system image before, so you can restore it if things don't go as planned. Many image utilities also have a different hardware restore option that is made for this situation.

 

[Owls]

thanks for the suggestion guys. I did not know about the sysprep option. I'll do that after I do a system image and a windows easy transfer just to be safe. thank you!

 

[Owls]

just a quick update so I put together the system and I had a few interesting situations.

1. upon turning on the computer, the fans spun up, and then the whole system turned off. I smelled something burning but I could not find the culprit for the life of me.

2. I should read the manual better because I put the ram in the wrong slots and cursed the heavens when I saw only 8GB in the bios.

3. Maybe it is my case but I had another bout of panic when my second 780 TI would not turn on or be recognized in windows. Even though it was 3AM and half asleep I realized that the video card was not seated all the way in the slot. I had to bend the bracket in order to get it to fit.

4. it's the last time I put together a computer starting at 2am.

So far I have been able to get the 5930k up to 4.5GHz @ 1.297v. Input voltage is 1.9 and ram is at 1.3v (vengeance LPX 2800MHz memory) with Prime95 stable for about 2 hours before I start getting concerned because my kraken x60 water temp reaches about 42C. All the cores stayed under 80C for the duration.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

1. upon turning on the computer, the fans spun up, and then the whole system turned off. I smelled something burning but I could not find the culprit for the life of me.

Check all wires thoroughly, it may be the insulation on one having been in contact with something hot.

If its that, needless to say, you have a risk of something short circuiting suddenly...

 

[Owls]

Check all wires thoroughly, it may be the insulation on one having been in contact with something hot.

If its that, needless to say, you have a risk of something short circuiting suddenly...

Well it got weirder because after that I took the entire system apart. Everything was checked where I looked over the board, PSU, video cards, I couldn't find any trace of the burning smell. I didn't go to bed until I knew everything at least physically looked OK.

The system has been solid the last few days. I haven't tried going further than 4.5GHz and quite frankly I don't see the need to.

 

[Puffnstuff]

If you haven't already done so switch your user account to the ms one so one drive will back up your settings. This will come in handy later should you need to perform a clean install of windows 8.