Motherboard Upgrade

[TeamRespawn]

I am looking to upgrade my motherboard to support USB 3.0 and multiple PCI-E slots. I have found a board I am interested in getting, but I am a little confused what to do after installation. Will I need to reinstall Windows? Should I create a backup disc? What else is there to do other than swapping the actual board?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[RogueMonkeyJr. Gaming]

Yes after installing a new Motherboard you must reinstall Windows because you are basically changing the heart of your system to a different chipset. You should create backups of all the things you would like to keep. You could try to repair windows after the upgrade, but a fresh install is always better.

Cheers mate

 

[TechGuruMax]

/Worst Case Scenario/ should you take the /super/ lazy approach and just swap motherboards; you run the risk of not being able to boot into your old hard drive. Yet, even if you do manage to boot into windows, none of the drivers will work and you would be booting into a windows environment with basic graphic settings and no wifi/lan drivers.

The /correct/ way to upgrade would be to back up all your data to an external media and reinstall Windows. Your system will run better, cleaner and faster.

 

[TeamRespawn]

Thanks guys. Is there a way to reinstall windows without removing any of my programs or personal files? I have way too many programs to count that I would rather not spend an afternoon reinstalling them.

 

[Nolan Westmore]

I would honestly not recommend just upgrading the motherboard.

The alternative would be to just get a beefier GPU (if that's what you mean to PCI-E slots [a single GTX 980 will do all the work you need)].
I could also recommend getting a USB 3.0 PCI expansion card to sate your desire for USB 3.0.

Proof of availability.

 

[Nolan Westmore]

If I'm not mistaken, the one shown in my posted image [see above] requires a MOLEX connector for power, which usually isn't a big deal.

 

[TechGuruMax]

@TeamRespawn I feel yeah, i've been there but attempting to reinstall windows while keeping the programs installed run a high risk of buggy operation and slow operation. It'll take forever but just make a list of all your programs and just re-install them later.

 

[TeamRespawn]

Gotcha I will definitely look into this! A backup certainly will be needed. The reason being is that my GPU overlaps my PCI-E slot and makes it unusable. Was looking into getting the elgato hd 60 pro to install in it...but either get a lower profile GPU that isnt so large or get a new MB.

 

[Vers]

make sure your cpu is compatible
depending what os youre using you wont need to reinstall

 

[TeamRespawn]

Thanks