I know there's some PC builders on this board, no doubt more experienced than I. Anyone know if you can (conceivably) replace your motherboard with one of a different chipset and manufacturer and still keep the same Windows install? I'll also be replacing the video card with one from a different chip maker. Probably best to rebuild, but I'm lazy in that sort of way that ends up making me do more work.

It should be fine. Just have the install disc handy for when it detects the new hardware and asks to install the drivers.

The only answer is you will find out when you try. it is 50/50. just have to be prepared for the worse.
Jake

Ken

Here is a link to a post on the ARS Technica Forum for this sort of thing. I've not tried it, but it's at least a good place to start.

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/77909774/m/1400925745

That's fantastic. Thanks! Now to find out just how much ATi stuff hates nVidia stuff...

It would be a good idea to uninstall any drivers you can find in Add/Remove Programs and reinstall them after the upgrade, specifically video drivers. On the other hand, you will want to install any mass storage device (SATA or ATA) drivers for the NEW motherboard BEFORE the upgrade. This will prevent a nasty BSOD if Windows can't find the correct driver. This is your biggest obstacle. Windows SHOULD detect the primary SATA or ATA controller natively but there are no guarantees. If the bootstrap program decides your HDD or HDD controller is not available or has changed in a way it can't understand you will get the BSOD. So make sure the SATA driver especially is installed before the upgrade. Video drivers are the second critical part. Windows can get very funky with corrupt or incorrect video drivers. Also, if you are using embedded audio go ahead and uninstall the drivers and install new ones for the new chip.

At least I don't have to worry about the audio part... I may have gotten myself into very deep water with the mobo I bought. Good price, but the reviews are saying that the BIOS settings are complicated for experienced OCers... yeep... (it's a DFI CFX3200).

Oopsie, wrong forum community...

I have found that after any monkeying around(replacing video cards or MoBo's I have to reauthenticate my windows and for me, as I have done more than the 3(I believe) they allow, I now have to make a call to MS and have it done manually opposed to online.

Why, Ken, Why?

You should be just fine.

Just uninstall the old Motherboard drivers beforehand, then put the new motherboard in. You won't have problems with SATA/IDE stuff because when you first install windows, you don't have those installed anyways. It's windows' job to initially detect that stuff.

Not quite true. There are some SATA controllers Windows won't detect natively. On my current machine, for example, I had to load the driver during setup (the old "Press F6 to load mass storage device drivers" routine). Believe me, this could cause big problems.