Is it recommend to reinstall windows if you install a new CPU?

[jfall]

Just wondering, most people recommend re-installing windows when you install a new motherboard.. but what about just the CPU.. my guess would be no.. but I just want to make sure there will be no problems

 

[Thor86]

If some application uses the the different stepping from a different cpu, then maybe a reinstall is in order after a cpu switch with different stepping, but for everyday normal use, I don't think you need to.

 

[propellerhead]

For a motherboard, yes. You can almost guarantee IRQs and I/O addresses of the physical devices will change. Windows does a hardware check on boot up. That's how it detects any new Plug and Play devices.

For a CPU, no.

 

[AluminumStudios]

I never heard of such a need ... even if you change steppings ...

As far as I know software detects MMX, SSE, etc., on startup and either uses it or not ... changing CPU's shouldn't require any software change at all. If new features are there they'll be used. I never heard of any software hard coding or installing itself in accordance with a specific CPU.

The ONLY concievable problem I could imagine is if you have an Athlon XP and use software like Tmpeg and have "SSE" checked, then downgrade to a Thunderbird without SSE and try to run Tmpeg without unchecking "use SSE." Then it might try to run an illegal instruction ... But stuff like that is few, far between, and at the application and not OS level.

 

[SocrPlyr]

not windows, but if you are moving to a new cpu that has some extra feature (like sse or what not) then you certain programs might need to be reinstalled in order to take advantage of them, but they should run fine w/o/ reinstall tho...

Josh

 

[jfall]

i'm moving from a Tbird 800 to an XP 1700+

 

[Rahminator]

Definitely NOT.

 

[LouPoir]

Dont need to re-install WIndows just for s CPU change.

Lou

 

[Deskstar]

I have never reinstalled Windows just for a CPU upgrade. Even if the new CPU has extensions that the old one did not have, Windows should detect these on its first boot up after the new CPU is installed. Now if you also changed the motherboard with the CPU, that is a different story.

 

[wyvrn]

If the cpu requires a new motherboard, it is best to reinstall Windows. But there is also good shortcut for removing old mobo drivers from device manager so you don't have to reinstall. Do a search and I'm sure you'll find it posted here at least 5 times.

 

[CraigRT]

I definitely had to format from going from my old 166 to a 200MMX to get all the new CPU's enhancements
if you are going from a T-Bird or regular K7 to a Thorobred, I would think a format would be good.

but just upping the CPU speed from An XP1500+ to an XP2000+ for example, you do NOT need to format.