Windows 7 - Motherboard & CPU upgrade without re-install

I would like to upgrade my very old Conroe 1333-D667 motherboard currently fitted with a Pentium 4 3gig processor & Win 7 Ultimate. Could I have some suggestions as to what would be a reasonable new mobo upgrade with maybe something like an Intel (what type) dual core processor or suggested alternatives - I need the whole system to be a bit quicker. Most importantly though without having to re-install Win 7 in the process. I would probably have to stay with 32bit as this is what everything is now. The new board must have at least 1 IDE for my Plextor PX-870A DVD and at least 4 sata connections. There is so much stuff out there which makes the choice confusing. No megabucks please Not looking forward to a re-install....
Suggestions please

Rogerfour, I hope you will not be dissapointed but something (my past experience with lots of pc's) tells me that due to severe configuration changes, your going to have to re-install windows 7. All the motherboard drivers, sata and ide drivers will be completely different. During the olden days with XP, it would work many times as the system would re-boot and load more drivers but windows 7 is normally not that forgiving about all the driver changes.
Also, I am sure that you will have to have windows 7 activated again.

but it could get exciting. and a learning experience.

There are commercial programs that cost money that might be able to do what you want but i don't recommend any.

Sorry

Rich

Absolutely right - if you change the mobo you have to reinstall. There is no way around it. But ugrading such a museum model is probably not worth it.

Yould could try changing motherboard without a clean install, although it's not guaranteed to work.

The middle ground would be to try using Sysprep to make your windows installation generic. The intended purpose of Sysprep wis to make a master Windows image that can be installed on different types of hardware. (The hardware drivers are installed later.)

A clean install always gives the best assurance of having a trouble-free copy of Windows.

What's your budget? You might save money by retiring the Plextor DVD drive and buying an inexpensive SATA drive. There are perfectly serviceable ones that sell for less than $25. (My own prejudice: avoid LiteOn.)

I'd suggest an inexpensive Socket 1155 motherboard, a Core I3 CPU, and 4 GB of DDR3-166 RAM. I haven't used any of these personally, but they may be OK:

Newegg.com - ASRock Z68M/USB3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz 2 x 256KB L2 Cache 3MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I32100

Newegg.com - Patriot 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model PSD34G1333K

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model SH-222AL/BSBE LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

Total: <$300. If that's too expensive for you, go AMD.

I've changed the motherboard on this very system without doing a reinstall/repair....just a couple of reboots....but you WILL have to reactivate Windows again....a possible problem if your Windows is a OEM copy

Ouch - thank you all for that valuable input..... sort of hard having to re-install so much software collected over the years but I guess it is what it is..... no easy way out. The chicken out option is to stay with what I have and both me and my overclocked museum computer will fade away together (I am a nerdy 70 yr old having come from second generation mainframe stuff a long time ago) I will come back here if I decide to get brave and try something silly. I am actually looking forward to windows 8

As one poster suggested, it's worth a try to just fire up Windows after your upgrade and see what happens. A backup of your important data first would be wise.

A few weeks ago I changed from an AMD-based (785/710) chipset board with DDR2 and a Phenom II processor, to a Z68 board with DDR3 and an i5-2500K. Windows handled it fine. A reboot, that's fine and all that was necessary. That said, be prepared to go to your MB manufacturer's site and get the recommended chipset, LAN and audio drivers for your new board, and install them afterwards.

Surprisingly (since this computer is a triple-boot machine), Linux handled the change even better/quieter, without a sweat.

Worst case, if you encounter major problems, you can reinstall windows.

I had an OEM copy of Windows 7, and had previously changed the video card, AMD processor and hard drive. Yet Windows 7 revalidated fine after changing to the Z68 equipment. Obviously, YMMV.

Would be interesting to know which ones those were. I have done a few myself (IBM /650, 7070, 7090, 1400's, etc.)

Rogerfour,

Go for the gold. That is, no reinstall.

Don't be surprised when the only thing that often happens is that you will have to revalidate

Rogerfour, you have received advice from Yes a complete install all the way to just plug it in and see what happens.

As long as you have all your data backed up and you have an image of your C drive.

It looks like it is go time. Give it a shot, nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Good luck.
Rich