Upgrading to GA-880GM-USB3 on Windows 7

[trublubiker]

Hi

I'm in the process of upgrading my mobo, CPU and RAM.

I'm running Windows 7 Pro (OEM) and know I'll have to re-activate by phone.

I'm switching from Asus to Gigabyte (different chip-sets) and know my drivers will be all over the place.

I'm hoping to avoid a clean install.

Anyone been down this road, or have any suggestions?

New outfit: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL(2x4GB) DDR3 (run@1333)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 Motherboard
2 x WD 500GB Green HD's
DVD-RW
Vantec iON2 460W (It's OK, checked the PSU calculator)
Gigabyte GeForce 8400GS (non gamer, into photo PP, may upgrade to HD 5670)

Thanks in advance

PS: I'll Back-up before the installation.

[splatoid]

Hi there
It would be best to do a clean install. You will have a much more stable system if you do.You could try to uninstall most of your drivers and then just try a reinstall but I'm not sure how well that would work. I've been able to pull that off with boards that were close to the same like to different MSI boards but with two different boards from different makers I would just back up my stuff I needed to keep and do a clean install.

[absic]

Hi there,

Like splatoid I also would recommend a clean install. It is the safest way of ensuring your OS is clean and that there will be no problem from old drivers sitting in the registry.

[trublubiker]

Thanks Guys.

I guess I was always going to do a clean install, apart from a fresh registry you also get rid of a lot of accumulated crap.

It's all the other stuff like updates, and re-installing and downloading all your software again that the real pain.

Cheers