Swapping motherboard

stephenmarr · 28 Jun 2018 at 13:55

Hey everyone I'm going swap my motherboard

An Asus maximus x hero z370 (bro buying it)
To a
Gigabyte aorus gaming 7 (have a cracking deal)

What's the best way to do the software swap do I need to start over or will the new board recognise the games and programs on the m.2 & ssd's?

ViRuS2k · 28 Jun 2018 at 20:36

if your running windows 10.
just shut down system and swap boards and boot windows 10 it should say during boot that it is pre pairing system hardware, it should all be seamless... if older os i would advise clean install.
but windows 10 has better detection for hardware changes without the need for reinstall.

the only thing you might need to do is reactivate the os digital cdkey licence or reactivate the os with a oem digital licence from the flee or somewhere that you trust to get a key from.
and since your going from z370 to z370 it should be even easier as i went from a gigabyte z97oc to a gigabyte z370 gaming 7 and worked perfect.

eddiew · 28 Jun 2018 at 21:27

Even with Win 10 I can't imagine just swapping the board to be a good idea... I'd need to see a good write up confirming that performance after transferring motherboard is identical to believe it won't be slow and buggy on the new system.

stephenmarr · 29 Jun 2018 at 09:46

Cheers for the pointers.
Probably best to just have the m.2 drive installed.
Leave the ssd's disconnected until all is up and running.
@ViRuS2k
How do you find the Gigabyte gaming 7 motherboard?

pandem0nium · 2 Jul 2018 at 12:38

I would advise a clean install when swapping any motherboards.

stephenmarr · 2 Jul 2018 at 15:01

What's the best way to delete all data on the m.2 drive for new install

orbitalwalsh · 2 Jul 2018 at 15:14

stephenmarr said:
What's the best way to delete all data on the m.2 drive for new install

normally windows install allows you to reformat it if its not locked

Simon Belmont · 3 Jul 2018 at 19:34

pandem0nium said:
I would advise a clean install when swapping any motherboards.

This^

If you swapping for new mobo you must do a clean install. You will have issues otherwise.

Minstadave · 3 Jul 2018 at 19:38

Simon Belmont said:
This^

If you swapping for new mobo you must do a clean install. You will have issues otherwise.

I’ve swapped an install through multiple motherboards (775 to 1155 then 2011) yes it’s lazy but it’s worked fine for me.

stephenmarr · 4 Jul 2018 at 15:11

Hey will do a clean install.
Wipe the drive and start afresh

mattyfez · 4 Jul 2018 at 16:10

Clean install is probably the path of least resistance.

8 Pack · 5 Jul 2018 at 13:49

Who would ever change like this.....

mattyfez · 5 Jul 2018 at 14:59

8 Pack said:
Who would ever change like this.....

Maybe the new board has something the other doesn't that he wants and is not really losing money in the deal by selling to his brother..

But agreed, generally speaking there's not much point swapping boards outside a complete rebuild.

stephenmarr · 6 Jul 2018 at 13:53

Helping a brother out sometimes trumps anything else

IT Troll · 6 Jul 2018 at 19:33

I would say try a swap without reinstalling. Especially as it is the same chipset. Windows 10 will just do a hardware rediscovery, exactly like it does when you install one of the biannual updates.

If you run into problems you still have the option to wipe and load.

Jim Jervis · 7 Jul 2018 at 07:22

Personally I'd do a clean install, but why are you swapping out the board? the Asus maximus x hero is a great board.

bakes0310 · 7 Jul 2018 at 08:41

Clean install personally but if some people have never bothered and it works then try if you want.

HoneyBadger · 8 Jul 2018 at 17:49

If you’re using Win10, you really do not need to do a reinstall. I’ve swapped boards loads of times and Win10 is a peach. Just re-activate and job done. Seriously, save yourself a heap of time.