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lmacmil
join:2001-01-26
South Bend, IN

lmacmil

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[motherboard] Motherboard upgrade question (Windows 7)

I am going to upgrade my 5 year old AMD 780G chipset mobo to something newer. It appears that Intel mobos/CPUs provide more processing power per dollar. I have done mobo upgrades in the past but always AMD to AMD.

Are my chances for a successful upgrade (meaning no need for a fresh Windows install) reduced by switching from AMD to Intel vs staying in the AMD camp?

Tursiops_G
Technoid
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join:2002-02-06
Brooksville, FL
ARRIS TM1602

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Not likely.
I'd do an image of your existing OS to a new drive first (and make sure it works) before attempting the upgrade.
That way, you can still use the original drive and go back to the old mobo with all your installed apps intact if things go totally fubar... (and you probably will want a bigger HD anyway. )

Good Luck!

-Tursiops_G.

JimE
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join:2003-06-11
Belleville, IL

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Typically, Windows will choke on major hardware upgrades. It's possible you could swap the motherboard and boot right up (after installing the new drivers obviously). But it's generally recommended to take the time and perform a fresh install. Even if it does work, you will have numerous unused drivers and more specifically, a cluttered registry. Which could result in odd hardware performance or software glitches/issues
Laidback
join:2001-09-30
Cochrane, ON

Laidback

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said by JimE:

Typically, Windows will choke on major hardware upgrades. It's possible you could swap the motherboard and boot right up (after installing the new drivers obviously). But it's generally recommended to take the time and perform a fresh install. Even if it does work, you will have numerous unused drivers and more specifically, a cluttered registry. Which could result in odd hardware performance or software glitches/issues

This. I've done enough of them to agree with this. there is also the possibility that you can successfully do an update from AMD to Intel. I've heard that if you uninstall all your mobo drivers put the drive in a new box, you can install the Intel drivers. I did a disk image when I installed my SSD and that was enough of a change that I had to call microsoft to have my installation reactivated.
Morris0
join:2011-05-14

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Use Trueimage universal restore (best to a new drive) and you will be good to go
asdfdfdfdfdf
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I would reinstall windows for the reasons given. You are less likely to have flaky problems and your performance will most likely be better.

mm
I Did It My Way
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join:2001-04-07
Summerville, SC

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I have had good success using Paragon's adaptive restore when moving drives over to newer hardware.

Krisnatharok
PC Builder, Gamer
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join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit

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Any thoughts on the hardware you going to (the Intel platform)? Budget? Intended uses? Let us know if you want help selecting components.

It's also possible, given the budget, sticking with a newer AMD platform would be viable. The FX series is generally acknowledged to be behind the curve compared Intel (although for home uses is certainly sufficient), but the AMD APUs are fantastic bang-for-buck machines if you aren't planning on a discrete video card.
lmacmil
join:2001-01-26
South Bend, IN

lmacmil

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said by Krisnatharok:

Any thoughts on the hardware you going to (the Intel platform)? Budget? Intended uses? Let us know if you want help selecting components.

I am torn between an AMD A8-5500 CPU w/A88X chipset and an Intel i3-4130 w/B85 chipset. They look to have about equal performance which should be 2x or 3x what I have now (AMD 4850e on 780G chipset). I will use the onboard graphics in either case since I don't play games. Either system w/ 8GB memory will run about $250 from Newegg.

Truth be told I probably don't even need to upgrade but I'm on an "upgrade every 5 years whether I need it or not" plan.

Krisnatharok
PC Builder, Gamer
Premium Member
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit

Krisnatharok

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Looks like you thought it out. Either would do well. I'm partial to the APUs, but I like rooting for the underdogs. I have the Gigabyte A88X new in box unused if you want one, I can give it to you for half MSRP.
lmacmil
join:2001-01-26
South Bend, IN

lmacmil

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said by Krisnatharok:

I'm partial to the APUs, but I like rooting for the underdogs.

That's funny because after my very first 8088 PC, I've been AMD almost exclusively (with a short detour to the Pentium 3). They've always been fine for my needs since I'm not a gamer.

One of the reasons I stuck with AMD, in addition to being a better value, is that I've always been able to upgrade mobos without having to do a fresh Windows install (even though I know that's the preferred method.) Hence the question in my original post.

janderso1
Jim
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Upgrading to Intel or a newer AMD system should work. Make sure the existing system boots when the BIOS is set to IDE. Set the Video to VGA. Create a backup of the existing system. Restore the backup to a different hard drive and verify it boots in the existing system.

Set the BIOS in the new system to IDE. Try booting from the restored backup. If it boots you can install the drivers for the new system.

shearer
Northern Lights
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join:2002-06-18
Asia

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Just 3 months ago I went from Intel C2D E7400 to Intel i5-4440 without reinstalling. Win7 SP1 detected all my new hardware smoothly. Afterwards I went into Device Manager, made it show 'Hidden Devices', and cleaned up the old hardware devices. No probs during & after the upgrade.

Just for kicks, I restored an OS image with the old hardware into a Virtualbox VM to see how Win7 would react to the new VBox's emulated hardware. No hiccups too.

I gotta admit though, I wasn't using any potential banana skins like RAID, dynamic disks/SCSI/custom 3rd-party storage drivers, etc. Just plain Jane SATA AHCI

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
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Palm Springs, CA
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I've done Intel to Intel hardware swaps without any issues. I previously did one (mobo, cpu) on Win7 (64-bit Ultimate), to my last one (mobo, ram, graphics) on Win8 (64-bit Premium). The last one I went from an old 865G AGP/DDR2 to a newer Intel G41 PCI-e/DDR3 (using an Intel E8400 Core2Duo). On bootup, Windows detected new hardware, installed a lot of new drivers, then asked for a reboot. It actually did that twice. But since then it has been rock-solid stable.

trparky
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I would go with Intel myself. Intel will generally result in better performance long term than AMD.

Note: I do not own stock in Intel and yes, I may sound like an Intel fanboy.