Windows 7: Upgrading Hardware?

Guys i just ordered a CoreI7 + x58 + 12GB of Ram to replace my current my Core 2 Quad that i have currently. Is it still strongly suggested to do a wipe/reinstall when you get new hardware? I hope not. I have so much stuff installed it would take forever to put everything back on in the state it is now. Also i remember back in the XP days if you got a new motherboard you could just put in the XP cd and pretty much do a repair and when you were done everything would be up and running again. I tried this with Vista and they took a step backwards and it wouldn't work. Is windows7 better in this case? I'm sure WIndows Server 2008 R2 is the same as Windows7 because my current hardware will be going to my server in the basement which is R2. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
Ncage

It should be ok, but you might need to reactivate Windows.

~Lordbob

I suggest imaging the old installation, and plugging the drive directly into the new system. If you're lucky, it will detect all of the new hardware and install the appropriate drivers. (Windows 7 appears to be much more complete in its included drivers than Vista was.)

The clean install is still safest. I got to be fairly efficient at it while I was messing around during the Windows 7 beta period. (Leaked build of the week, that sort of thing.)

Unfortunately, i'm a developer and the HUGE amount i have to install takes so much time its a pain. I do have windows home server which is great so i won't loose anything but after i install the many many developer tools i need + Photo Tools , + just all the general stuff i need takes me to install. On top of this i need to do it to two machines. My currently hardware is pretty good. To be honest i'm only upgrading because my server is so doggy right now. Its running on the 1st gen Cure 2 Duo (e6400). Its got 8GB of memory but with two virtual machines most of the time (Hyper-V) its pretty dang slow. My current hardware will be almost twice as fast (3.8ghz OC Stable).

I don't think you will need to reinstall.

~Lordbob

Windows 7 is much more forgiving in terms of hardware changes, especially on Intel chipsets. You should be fine, but I would still make a system image and store it on a server or external drive.

Why not just remove the HDD and use it in a caddy as an external, that way you've still got all your files.