Question Does anything get screwed up if I upgrade just the CPU?

[Caveman]

Thinking ahead to an upgrade to AM5 Ryzen 7000 series platform with all new components with a 7600X as the initial CPU as a stopgap until the 7800x3d or 7900x3d is available. This question is more general and not related to this situation per se as I'm assuming the answer is the same for any CPU upgrade but is it as easy as simply powering down the machine, making the CPU update, and then powering back on? I'm assuming in the "old days" of Win XP or Win 7, that it was as easy as described but I suspect with Win 10 it's now a pain in the rear because WIn 10 interacts more with the hardware and knows when there's been a change.

Can anyone comment on this process? Is it easy to swap a CPU or are there some gotchas? If so, what do I need to do to mitigate? THANKS in advance!

 

[Zoozuu]

its tied to your motherboard. cpu upgrade will not mess with it.

 

[Tech Junky]

its tied to your motherboard. cpu upgrade will not mess with it.

Actually more and more MS is tying it to the MS account you use to sign in kind of like SSO. This is why you see a flurry of gripes when they announced no more local accounts on basic / pro OS builds with W11. There's still ways around it though like not being connected to the internet when running the install. Then regedit a couple of keys to disable the cloud account option.

It's really not that big of an issue though for licensing. You just get a watermark if it doesn't match up and you send them an e-mail to move the license over to the new system or DL a hack to patch it and be done with it. At this point it's kind of silly how they do this key thing since probably 100% of the population in terms of number have purchased an OEM / stand alone license more than once in the past 20 years.

This licensing BS is why I opt to build my own PC and get barebones laptops w/o the MS tax included since I can install Windows myself w/o paying for it again and again and again. The PC has Linux on it though as a server it's much more reliable / stable than windows.

 

[JackMDS]

I am not a "Shaman" so Ido not know what MS is planning for the future. Right now the authentication if Win 10/11 is the Motherboard per-se.

I.e., whatever you change on the computer (CPU, Graphic, HD/SSD etc.) would not change the authentication as long that it is the exact same Mobo.

 

[fralexandr]

When it comes time to upgrade, you might want to check if you need to update the BIOS first?

 

[OlyAR15]

The OS doesn't care about the CPU. As long as the motherboard/bios supports the new cpu, it will just be a drop-in replacement.

 

[OlyAR15]

would not change the authentication as long that it is the exact same Mobo

Sometimes, not even that. I upgraded my HTPC from B460/i3-10100 to H610/i3-12100, cloned the drive, and Windows booted up just fine. Didn't even need to re-activate it.

 

[RLGL]

Save your money.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Once with Windows 7, I upgraded the processor with built in video, and it gave me issues. However, with 11 that should no longer be the case.