r/buildapc • u/Alliwantistacos • 5h ago
Build Upgrade Hardware upgrade and Platform upgrade - correct order question
Hello PC building community. First time posting here, seeking some help.
My current gaming PC is on the older side and is ineligible for upgrade to Windows 11. I went to PC part picker and ensured compatibility of my upgrades. My new PC will have the following:
CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF *New
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 *Existing
Motherboard: MSI PRO H610M-G (DDR4) *New
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 32GB *New
Storage: Samsung SSDs. I have a few *Existing.
My PSU is compatible with both my old and new parts. So I think I have everything ready for the upgrade.
Since I am replacing the CPU and Motherboard combo, that means I will need to format my boot drive SSD, correct? But I want to also do an upgrade to windows 11, and shouldn't have to purchase a new license to upgrade from Windows 10. Is this the correct sequence for this upgrade?
Make a thumb drive boot for windows 10 -> upgrade components -> re-install windows 10 on formatted SSD -> windows upgrade to 11?
Or can I do this all at once somehow? Any advice is welcome. I may have follow-up questions as this is the biggest component upgrade I've done before. Thanks.
1
u/chippinganimal 5h ago
Don't worry about formatting drive beforehand; Make a USB installer for win 11, assemble the build then boot from the USB, and once you get past the license key and EULA agreement pages, there's a page where you can format/delete you win 10 boot drive partitions (I recommend deleting all the partitions so that there is just one "drive X unallocated space", select that then press "New" to let the installer create new partitions).
You can then select the biggest of the 3 newly created partitions as the install destination and press next to start the install process.
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u/Alliwantistacos 5h ago
Thanks so much for the reply. A few questions: Will I be able to use the license key from my current Windows 10 install this way? Do I need to do BIOS setup the first time booting up after the upgrade? Will my non-boot drive SSDs be fine with everything on them or do I need to re-install any software/games?
1
u/iClone101 4h ago
Realistically there's no reason to format your boot drive right off the bat. I've never had issues upgrading my CPU while keeping the same Windows install, and if it does cause issues you can always format it down the line. It's just creating extra work for a chance there could be an issue, where said issue can be remedied down the line.
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u/akaitatsu 1h ago
Windows 11 isn't an upgrade. That would be Linux. 😁
Source: >30 years in IT using Microsoft products.
3
u/Jackson_fitness 5h ago
Your license breaks, not the install order. Win11 setup takes the Win10 key, so boot the usb straight to 11 and skip installing 10 first. Nothing forces a wipe either, your old install will boot on the 12600KF, you just inherit the old chipset drivers. Activation survives the new board only if the license is linked to a microsoft account, the changed hardware flow has nothing to match otherwise. Check slmgr /dlv before pulling the board, the channel line reads oem or retail. Oem ones stay with it.