Hi everyone, I have a 'noob' question regarding a motherboard upgrade;

Currently, I have an ancient (2006) Socket 479 Core Duo MOTD / Intel 945GM / Intel ICH7 motherboard with:

- GTS450
- Asus DS
- Two AHCI SATA drives
- Vista 32bit RETAIL

What would happen if I plugged the VGA, sounds and drives into a new H61 Express + Core i3 motherboard?

Would Vista mange to boot and allow me to install any required MB drivers?

I am looking for the laziest way to upgrade without re-installing Vista and all applications.

The last time I did this, perhaps 10 years ago, I was using XP, which actually coped OK (I went from Intel to Intel).

Many thanks for any replies.

I've never worked with Vista but the biggest problem I got moving XP installs around used to be drivers for the system drive. In your case, that shouldn't be a problem.
Reinstalling in place also used to work decently (some settings were picked up from the existing install and so on). So that might be an option if Vista refuses the new mobo without reinstalling.

But first make sure you can't offload the existing computer on someone else (why waste a good mobo+CPU+RAM and the system building work?) and that you're going buy a mobo with compatible slots for your cards.

Thanks, I plan to sell the mobo+CPU+RAM on ebay once I get the upgrade working.

(I'm upgrading for more gaming performance).

Any other hints, or has anyone else tried this typs of thing?

I don't see that you should have any major problems, apart from maybe a few reboots to complete the updating of drivers, etc. As you have a retail version of Vista reactivation issues are unlikely, assuming that is that reactivation is required. Any of your other software that has required activation may trigger a reactivation request, but probably no more than asking you to confirm that the program is only being run on one machine. Sometimes software that requires activation may have a deregistration or deactivation option to facilitate a change of hardware - it might be worth checking to see if this applies to anything you currently have installed.

95%, yes. It should not go beyond a few reboots to get your system up and running. Worth a shot, imo.

Just a quick update, I installed a Asus P8H61-M motherboard, plugged everything back and Vista booted without problems. Installed the latest Intel INF drivers and after a reboot I was back to normal.

Thanks for your help.

I never tried the Vista. All my old computers are powered by XP.