Can you upgrade from am3 to am3+ without having to format your HDD?

[MrWheatley]

Hi,
Just wondering is it possible to upgrade from and am3 motherboard and CPU to an
am3+ motherboard and CPU without having to do a clean install? I know I will have to buy a new
Windows 7 as mine is OEM.

Was looking to upgrade to an AsRock 990FX Extreme 3 board:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/asrock-990fx-extreme3-am3--amd-990fx-ddr3-atx-7XNH.html?refs=473460000&src=3

and the AMD FX4-4300 BE Vishera:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/amd-fx4-4300-black-edition-vishera-quad-core-am3--3-8ghz-8mb-95w-8BXJ.html?refs=486710000&src=3

Open to other suggestions.!
Thanks!

Here are my specs:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0GHz
Motherboard: Biostar N68S3+
PSU: Corsair CX750
GPU: PNY Nvidia GTX660
Ram: 8Gb

 

[AMD Radeon]

changing mobo will always need reinstall OS

btw for amd build, i strongly suggests you to get at least fx 6300, even better with fx 8350
nothing below that is good enough

 

[jay2tall]

I've swapped out motherboards in the past. I had a core2Duo on a 975x chipset and upgraded to an i7 on an x58 chipset and had Vista. I replaced the motherboard, cpu, and RAM and did not have to reinstall or purchase a new license. Now that was Vista at the time and I ran that for 5 years until recently upgrading to Windows 7. Now I believe technically the OEM license is attached to your motherboard, but it is worth a try. I believe it took a while to install the new drivers and things, but that was about it. As long as your motherboard SATA interface is setup the same on the new motherboard it should technically boot. Most new motherboards have the SATA interface set to AHCI where as I think most older ones are IDE. In that case windows doesn't have the AHCI drivers installed and would not boot. I had this issue and had to do a work around. If it requires a new license, it will tell you it has been deactivated. I think it is worth a try.

Also, Why are you looking at a highend 990FX motherboard and a low end CPU? Why not get a 970 chipset and an FX-6300? Just a suggestion.

 

[legendkiller]

You dont have to format but there can be some bugs or issues depending if it's ganna be updated by W7 when you get into Windows... You dont usually have problem unless you got no internet for auto driver install or no disk lol... just make sure that drivers are install for functional of the motherboard...

 

[MrWheatley]

Also, Why are you looking at a highend 990FX motherboard and a low end CPU? Why not get a 970 chipset and an FX-6300? Just a suggestion.

Yeah thats an idea! Is 970 a good chipset compared to the 990FX? I get a bit lost when it comes to motherboards.! But I will be using it more for gaming so would it be necessary to get a 6 core CPU? Would it use all six I mean as most games are optimised for four are they not.?

 

[MrWheatley]

You dont have to format but there can be some bugs or issues depending if it's ganna be updated by W7 when you get into Windows... You dont usually have problem unless you got no internet for auto driver install or no disk lol... just make sure that drivers are install for functional of the motherboard...

So would it be possible to upgrade from AMD to Intel without doing a clean install? Because I had my eye on the i5-3350P and a H61 board for about €220ish and would rather switch to Intel if atall possible.!

 

[legendkiller]

You dont have to format but there can be some bugs or issues depending if it's ganna be updated by W7 when you get into Windows... You dont usually have problem unless you got no internet for auto driver install or no disk lol... just make sure that drivers are install for functional of the motherboard...

So would it be possible to upgrade from AMD to Intel without doing a clean install? Because I had my eye on the i5-3350P and a H61 board for about €220ish and would rather switch to Intel if atall possible.!

It's possible, I did this like lots of time and nothing gone wrong(It's just basically the drivers and info that need the update).. I moved a HDD with OS on a old PC to a new PC with 100% different hardware and it still worked fine even today

 

[MrWheatley]

It's possible, I did this like lots of time and nothing gone wrong(It's just basically the drivers and info that need the update).. I moved a HDD with OS on a old PC to a new PC with 100% different hardware and it still worked fine even today

I think I'll do that so, I wasn't sure if it'd work or not? But I'd be totally lost in how to do it especially when having to install W7 again onto the same drive..

 

[jay2tall]

Also, Why are you looking at a highend 990FX motherboard and a low end CPU? Why not get a 970 chipset and an FX-6300? Just a suggestion.

Yeah thats an idea! Is 970 a good chipset compared to the 990FX? I get a bit lost when it comes to motherboards.! But I will be using it more for gaming so would it be necessary to get a 6 core CPU? Would it use all six I mean as most games are optimised for four are they not.?

The difference in chipsets are typically feature related and NOT performance. The 990FX would have more features and you would need to determine if they are needed. Here is a link with a few differences. http://www.anandtech.com/show/5714/990fx-motherboard-roundup-with-thuban-and-bulldozer-a-second-wind-for-asus-gigabyte-msi-and-biostar

The FX-6300 falls between an i3 and i5 performance, for the most part. It is a nice chip because Intel really doesn't have one that it directly competes against. Anything higher and you want an i5.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/fx-8350-8320-6300-4300_6.html#sect0