Operating system help

[Coxy-Clocker123]

my pc is running an OEM version of windows 7, but i want to upgrade a few components, primarily the motherboard, and also i would like to upgrade to windows 8 sooooo how do i go about this without losing all my data on my hard drive

 

[Coxy-Clocker123]

unfortunately yes

 

[Coxy-Clocker123]

i dont mean to be rude and ignore what you just said, but my worry is that the OS is tied to the motherboard and if i switch out the motherboard, regardless of what i have done to my hard drive it just wouldnt work??