Upgrading Processor and Motherboard for Windows 11 (or 12)

Rob 63

Rob 63

Rob 63

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29 Nov 2024
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Hi,
A question from a total newbie. I'm looking to upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 (or maybe Windows 12 if it's out by then), before next year's October date when MS support is cut-off, on a PC that was put together for me back in 2013 as a Windows 7 or 8 (I don't recall which) machine and that I had upgraded to Windows 10 Pro in 2022.

Some basic details of my PC:
ASUS x64 system
Intel Core [email protected] Processor (which I understand is 4th Generation)
ASUS Z87-C Rev1.xx Motherboard
8GB RAM
Samsung 500GB SSD

When I used Microsoft's PC Healthcheck App to see if I could upgrade to Windows 11, there were 2 reasons preventing it: (1) TPM 2.0 was not detected; and (2) My processor won't support windows 11.

I've done some reading online and understand it's not just as simple as buying a new processor as the modern versions won't work with my motherboard. It seems I need to replace the Z87 board with a Z790 which will then fit the 12th/13th and possibly 14th Generation Intel Processors.

Can I ask where you'd steer me to go? I've seen 3 recommended Processors: i9-14900k (£415); i7-13700k (£263) and i5-12400k (£99). I believe the ASUS replacement for my board is the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 (£542) but there is a more budget friendly MSI Z790 Tomahawk (£200) but this will not support 14th Generation Processors.

I don't need anything particularly powerful - I don't do gaming. Most use is Microsoft Office and emails, lots of spreadsheets, documents and Power Points, around 8000 songs on i Tunes which I have going in the background, I'm regularly looking at YouTube videos for long periods, stream football matches around once a week but I want to install Ableton music production software too. I want to get as future-proof as possible without going too extreme. Reliability, stability, speed and compatibility with latest software is my main driver.

I have no idea on how to get TPM 2.0 on my PC, if possible. And I'm wondering whether upgrading the Motherboard and Processor will be enough or whether there will be other things that also need changing as I upgrade those 2 components.

Many thanks for any advice.
 
Thanks Tetras for taking the time to do that. I'll go through your recommendations and make a choice.

You've also put my mind at rest by confirming that I can get things upgraded at a reasonable price (£300 to £600) to keep going for another few years with the latest Operating System when a new PC from Dell or Lenovo to that spec would have cost me around £1500 from what I saw. The advice I was getting over the phone was that it was not fixable or would cost me more to fix than a new machine...
 
Really helpful, thanks.
The more I look into things, the more I realise how many variables there are and how I could easily miss something in my PC which dictates the suitability of new parts.
Is there such a thing on the site as recommended specialists who could look at my PC and make specific recommendations? Am in West London
 
Thanks again Tetras.

I found my original invoices from late 2013/early 2014 when my friend built the PC and still have some of the original boxes. I don't really know what I'm talking about here so apologies if any of this is irrelevant:
  1. CASE: Antec 25 Solo II. It has front headphone, microphone and 4 USB ports of which 2 ports are USB3. There are also USB ports at the rear
  2. MOTHERBOARD: Asus Z87-C (C2) Rev 1.xx [Stickers on the box say: (1) Intel CHIPSET Z287; (2) Supports Intel Core; (3) CPU support LGA 1150; (4) Windows 8 Ready]
  3. CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 [email protected], 3101MHz, 4 Cores, 4 Logical Processors
  4. OS: Microsoft Windows 10 PRO, 10.0.19045, Build 19045 (Upgraded from Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1 - [OEM] EN in early 2022)
  5. INTERNAL HARD DRIVE: Seagate Barracuda SATA 6 Gb/s - 2.0 TB
  6. SSD: Samsung SSD 870 EVO SATA 2.5" 500GB. (Replacement for Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic SSD SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5" - 500GB SSD in early 2022 as a precaution after rough transit from overseas)
  7. RAM: Corsair XMS3 Vengeance LP DDR3 PC3-12800 (CL9...) 8GB Kit. I still have the box which has 2x 4 GB written on it.
  8. PSU: Be Quiet! PURE POWER L8 CM 430W
  9. COOLER: Corsair H60 High Performance Hydro CPU Cooler Hydro Series H60 v2
  10. OPTICAL DISC DRIVE: Asus DRW-24F1ST SATA - Bulk (Black)
  11. BLU-RAY DRIVE: Asus BC-12D2HT
Other information that appears on my current System Information Report that may be relevant:
SYSTEM TYPE: x64-based PC
BIOS VERSION/DATE: American Megatrends Inc. 1405, 19/08/2013
EMBEDDED CONTROLLER VERSION: 255.255
BIOS MODE: UEFI

I can't find any details of the Graphics Card but I do remember my friend telling me at the time of the build that it was a good standard (for the time, of course)

I hope this is enough for any recommendations. It's not urgent as (touch wood!) everything is working fine atm. I just want to future-proof myself as much as possible and be able to upgrade to Windows 11 or ideally 12 before next October. I had been looking at 14th Generation Intel Processors but as pointed out in other posts both 13th and 14th generation seem potentially risky, although I've also read that this only affects the i9 CPUs. I'd wanted to go as powerful as possible for future-proofing and speed/stability but maybe I should stick with i5 or i7 if more stable. Or wait until 15th Generation comes out (I understand fairly soon) which will hopefully have fixed the glitches.

I suspect that there is more than the Motherboard and CPU that needs to be upgraded from my current spec to bring my machine into the modern era, so I may well start on that gradually over the next 10 months.

Thanks for any thoughts/advice.
 
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