Upgrading CPU, will Windows survive?


  1. Posts : 126
    W10 Pro
       #1

    Upgrading CPU, will Windows survive?


    I know from old that the HAL of Windows XP would never survive a CPU upgrade that involved a Core change, so all upgrades I have done so far have included time allocated to reinstall Windows, be that XP or 7 or even 8. But right now I have a very good configuration and was looking in to not having to reinstall Windows7P.

    Current CPU is AMD Phenom II X6 1075T and the upgrade is AMD FX 8350.

    I am not changing any other hardware.

    Your best bet?
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  2. Posts : 126
    W10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #2

    I forgot i have asked about this before, hence the answers given then, even if it were 3-4 years ago, are probably still valid. Sorry about that.
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  3. Posts : 6,741
    W7 Pro x64 SP1 | W10 Pro IP x64 | W8.1 Pro x64 VM | Linux Mint VM
       #3

    I just upgraded from an i5-4670k to an i7-4790k without issues if that helps.
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  4. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #4

    I upgraded a CPU in an older Vista box a while ago and there were no problems.
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  5. Posts : 2,497
    Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
       #5

    Often a CPU upgrade in XP would not require a reinstall of the OS. But problems could occur if upgrading from a single to multi core CPU. In XP and prior either a uniprocessor or multiprocessor kernel was used depending on the number of cores. This optimized performance somewhat. In Windows 7 a multiprocessor kernel is always used even on single core systems. By then the performance difference was minimal and single core systems were less common. This avoid some of the issues when upgrading.

    In Windows 7 a reinstall of the OS is usually not necessary unless the motherboard is upgraded. Even then it can often be avoided.
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  6. Posts : 26,864
    Windows 11 Pro
       #6

    Windows 7 would most likely survive the transfer, especially if not changing Motherboards. It will in many cases even survive changing the motherboard, but then you will end up with 2 sets of Motherboard drivers. In my opinion only, that is just asking for trouble, but usually works. A good way to avoid that and not have to reinstall is sysprep (Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer) I have used it several times and never had a problem at all.
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  7. Posts : 126
    W10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #7

    And it worked.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Upgrading CPU, will  Windows survive?-screenshot.368.jpg  
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  8. Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #8

    There should be no reason to reinstall the OS when exchanging a CPU :)
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