What steps should I take when swapping out my CPU, motherboard, and RAM?
What steps should I take when swapping out my CPU, motherboard, and RAM?
You're upgrading your PC from an old ASUS DDR3 board with an i5 6600 to a newer MSI A620m-e with DDR5 and a 7500f. You're concerned about reinstalling Windows, the activation key indicating a digital license tied to your account, data loss, and whether everything remains intact. Your drives—128GB SATA SSD, 256GB NVMe games drive, and 1TB general HDD—are the same as before.
Intel and AMD need a fresh setup at the moment. Make sure to save your files on another storage before proceeding. If you skip this step, everything could be lost permanently. Perform a clean installation using just a single connected drive.
Need to reinstall the operating system completely? This guide walks you through a full clean install of Windows 10. If you're seeking a Windows 11 clean install tutorial, this link provides the information: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here). Alternatively, if you prefer the Windows 10 clean install instructions, this tutorial is designed to assist you through each step. For more details on reactivating Windows after hardware modifications, refer to Microsoft Support. Additional resources are available at support.microsoft.com.
For this situation I would require an installation drive or would it be enough to perform a reset of my PC?
You must utilize a USB flash drive with a minimum of 8 gb storage for the installation. This is not a simple reset; perform a complete reinstall by removing all current partitions on the drive to which Windows will be applied. Ensure you back up any personal information before proceeding, as it will be lost.
Have you checked the instructions?
You must have an empty 8GB memory card.