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Wowww you can change mobo without reformatting on windows 7!!

Ironmonk

Active member
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
38
Hello there,

I just swapped my motherboard CPU and memory(P5Q Pro, E8400) for a core i7-860 on a P7P55D motherboard.

I boot the comp and windows 7 runs smoothly, updates some drivers and thats it!!!!

I can hardly believe it.

Would you suggest a reformat or would it be safe to run it like this?

Thanks!
 

encorp

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
Messages
3,440
Yeah it's almost always been tied to the HDD with Windows.

I'd still reformat.
 

Perineum

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2009
Messages
4,050
Location
Surrey, B.C.
I've done it successfully dozens of times, it works just fine. Vista was fine too.

Just go through add/remove programs and remove software for the old MB.
 

botat29

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
830
Location
Montreal
Do it all the time. Just don't forget to setup the AHCI in the bios of the new board if you are using a SSD.... don't ask how I know it.....
 

chrisk

Folding Captain
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
7,702
Location
GTA, Ontario
Smooth driver installs, especially on a mobo, are the foundation of a solid system IMO. Just to make myself feel better, I always do a reformat when changing the mobo, even if its possible to do without.
 

boggtrotter59

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2009
Messages
920
Location
Kingston Ontario
I find swapping mobo's without reformating works good as long as the chipset is the same... have done this numerous times without issue ( I just reinstall the latest chipset and vidcard drivers). Even if the chipset isn't the same it seems to work better with Intel chipsets... With that said.... it's ALWAYS better to reformat and do a clean install...
 

JD

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
11,931
Location
Toronto, ON
Since it's Intel to Intel, probably no major difference in reformatting. Intel stuff basically all use the same driver set.

It's good practice to reformat though, but in most cases (unless moving from Intel to AMD or vice versa) you probably don't HAVE to.
 

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