I have a decade-old gaming machine for which I have upgraded the graphics card, added memory, and replaced a fan for over the years. It is still in good shape and can handle any modern game or piece of software I want to run on it. There is just one problem, it is running Windows 7 and the manufacturer of the Motherboard does not make drivers for Windows 10. So, after a failed upgrade attempt I accepted I was stuck with 7 (which I prefer anyway).
However, I am getting concerned about the lack of security patches as 7 is no longer supported and there is software I want to install that will not run on 7. So, what to do? It seems the best thing to do would be to upgrade the motherboard while keeping everything else the same, and get maybe another 5 years out of the thing. I have never done that though, so I need advice on selecting the right mobo and on doing the install. I contacted the manufacturer of the machine (Cyberpower) as well as some mobo vendors (like Newegg) and they were not at all helpful.
What I know:
I need to match the CPU socket (LGA 1155), I should probably match the form factor (ATX), and the memory standard (DDR3 1600). What else is critical?
How much of a pain is the change? Will I be able to replace the board and just reboot? Will it be a long tedious process involving messing with the BIOS? Will the windows license carry over or am I going to have to try to find the old install disk? Would it just make more sense to upgrade the processor at the same time? Should I just make the whole machine a backup PC and get a new one?
Thanks. I am hoping most of the work is in selecting the right board and the actual install is easy, but I am far from certain this is the case.
FYI, here are the stats for the machine from my original purchase and upgrades:
CAS: NZXT Black Tempest 210 Mid-Tower Gaming Case
CD: LG UH12LS28K 12X Blu-Ray Player & DVDRW Combo Drive
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K 3.30 GHz 6M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified)
FAN: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
HDD: * 120 GB OCZ Agility 3 SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 525MB/s Read & 500MB/s Write
HDD2: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
IUSB: Internal USB 3.0 4-Port Hub
MEMORY: 16GB (4GBx4) Kingston HyperX FURY 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM - Blue (HX316C10F/4)
MONITOR: 27" Widescreen 1920x1080 Sceptre X270W-1080P LCD Display w/ Built-in Speaker, DVI, & HDMI-Input
MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX] Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard LucidLogix Virtu and Intel Smart Response Technology & 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, 2x SATA-III RAID,2 3 PCIe Gen2, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 3CI (All Venom OC Certified)
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
OVERCLOCK: Extreme OC (Extreme Overclock 20% or more)
POWERSUPPLY: 700 Watts - XtremeGear SLI/CrossFireX Ready Power Supply
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
VIDEO: XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition 1386MHz OC+, 8GB GDDR5, VR Ready, Dual BIOS, 3xDP HDMI DVI, AMD Graphics Card (RX-580P8DFD6)
WNC: PCI Wireless 802.11n 150Mbps Network Interface Card