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#1
Will Motherboard swap require a reinstall?
My current motherboard is a socket 775 G41 chipset with 2 x DIMM slots for DDR2 RAM. I currently have 2 x 2GB Kingston RAM in them, but need to increase RAM to 8GB.
However 2 x 4GB DDR2 is so ridiculously expensive it is not economically viable to do this. Around £175 for branded RAM or £100 for unbranded stuff that might be dodgy.
So I am thinking of getting a motherboard that runs DDR3 RAM, then I can put in 8GB of cheaper DDR3 RAM and even with a new Mobo I am still better off, even using branded RAM.
16GB would be nice but I don't think socket 775 mobos exist that support that much.
I am keeping the same CPU (Core 2 Quad Q8300) and everything else. Running Windows 7 64 bit.
My question is will I need to reinstall Windows?
I would really rather not have to... in fact I probably wouldn't bother if that was the case. Given that it would be the same chipset, same processor I am hoping to get away with it. I know I will likely have to re-register Windows, but that's fine.
I don't really want to suck it an see as by then I will have bought everything and have the PC in bits etc! I am interested in hearing from people who have done something similar and what the results were.