Do I need a new copy of windows 7 to upgrade my PC but keep my current hard drive?

You'll need to do a reinstall. Windows will probably boot, but to avoid issues, it's best to do a reinstall.

If your Windows 7 is OEM, then you will need a new Windows license. Windows 8.1 is more accessible these days and mainstream support for Windows 7 is ending.

Did your MoBo fail ? If it did, you can call and give it a shot.

When it's happened to me or my users, I have done the install, and most times it activated just fine. When it didn't I called and described what happened (power surge during storm, MoBo faiure) and they authorized for me.

Upgrades doesn't qualify as a valid reason.... you can trey and see if it electronically activates but if you call and say "I just wanted my puter to go faster", you will be turned down.

Depends on how many times your key has already been activated and the mood of the person on the activation line --- technically the OEM license is tied to the original MOBO that the OS is installed on so changing the MOBO would require purchasing a new license - however MS is pretty lax for the home user market and will usually allow the license to be migrated for a home user unless that key has been activated several times already - Also it never hurts to try it (figure worse case it fails to activate and you have to purchase a new copy within the 30 day trial period (MS allows use for 30 days without activating and only requires the akey be put in prior to that 30 days expiring so would not require reinstalling again)

Best bet would be to try the upgrade and use Phone activation after getting everything setup. At that point one of 2 things will happen -

1.) the phone activation will authorize (if the key has not been activated too many times already in the past several months) and the comupterized phone activation will give you a response code to enter and it will activate and your fine.

or

2.) the activation will fail in which case you will be connected to an actual person that you can explain the reason for reactivating (ie. MOBO failed requiring a new purchase) and depending on your answers to a few questions (ie. is this key being used on any other systems, etc.) the support person will either explain you need to purchase a new license (technically what should happen) or will give you a response code to type in and activate the license you have based on the info on your screen.

In my experience as long as you are friendly and explain the situation to the person on the phone they will usually supply a working response code (figure they are mainly trying to keep pirated versions from being activated 1000s of times not trying to keep a single user from using a key they paid for on another system from being reactivated after an upgrade) - If it doesn't get activated and the person insists a new key be purchased you can then either purchase a new license and use it to activate ( can order a new license online or at a store) once you receive the product just change the key to the new key and run the activation again. Or you can hang up and try again and hope you get a more flexible CS agent on the next try (chances are slim you'd get the same person and each has their own method of deciding whether to give you a new key or making you purchase one so there is no fast and hard rules whether they give you a new key)

So in the end there is nothing to lose by trying to reuse the old license key as the worst case you wind up purchasing a new one within 30 days and best case it activates without problem and you save the $$.

If upgrading to a different motherboard CPU socket (i.e. LGA 1366 to LGA 2011), then you will certainly need a new Windows license. Since it's currently speculated that Windows 8.1 users can upgrade to Windows 10 for free, you can upgrade to Windows 8.1 now and then upgrade to Windows 10 later. (Windows 7 users will need to purchase a Windows 10 upgrade license.)

No that is incorrect..... I have done it three times electronically w/o calling anyone. 1st two cases where 1156 => 1155 with different CPUs. The next one was, IIRC, 1155 => 1150. The key issue here is that while warrantees cover 3 - 5 years, shelf life is usually much shorter. If you bought at the end of a cycle, a failed 1156 (during warranty period) will be replaced by a 1155 cause there are no more 1156's available to send to you. And if you replace a 1156 board with a 1155 one, the pld CPU won't fit which means you need a new CPU too.

Now each time I did it, I replaced an Asus board with an Asus board. Now if you replaced an Asus 1156 with a 1155, I;'d expect that to trigger a re-activation

Best bet would be to try the upgrade and use Phone activation after getting everything setup. At that point one of 2 things will happen -

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Agree with everything said but I'd first try electronic activation. As described above, I have had multiple successes doing this several times over the last few years with MoBo / CPU replacements.

In fact.... if you can actually replace every single component in your system without triggering reactivation as long as you space them out over time.

This activation thing was big news when introduced with XP and unfortunately almost nothing has been written about it since.... undoubtedly there's been changes but here's how it was originally set up

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/activation.html

Reinstallation of Windows XP on the same or similar hardware and a subsequent reactivation can be accomplished an infinite number of times. Finally, the Microsoft activation clearinghouse system will automatically allow activation to occur over the Internet four times in one year on substantially different hardware. Every 120 days, the current configuration of a user's PC will become the new "base," so to speak. This means (for example) that on a non-dockable PC you could change 8 of the above parts without a reactivation. After 120 days, you could again change 8 parts. This last feature was implemented to allow even the most savvy power users to make changes to their systems and, if they must reactivate, do so over the Internet rather than necessitating a telephone call.

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