Quote Originally Posted by nrs250 View Post
A lot of people on boards seem to swap out boards like they were changing socks. I have a question.. When I get my board stable...I have tons of settings, program installs (maybe 15 must have programs for me)..bookmarks (I know these are easy to save) etc. Does everyone do a fresh OS install...What is your method for swapping out a board... Does anyone do a swap with the old install intact...i.e. a Windows Repair install. I would be fascinated because many times for me it is not the cost but the headache of losing a night's sleep having to rebuild the new board to the way I used to have it and the way I liked it.
You can sometimes get away with a repair install when changing mobos. Depends on chipset usually, but it's kinda a crap shoot. I always format and reinstall.

I look at it two ways:

1. Your changing motherboard every 6 months or more: Just do a format and reinstall since you could probably use on anyway.

2. Your changing your motherboard less than every 6 months: You've got the cash to setup a second low cost system and set it up the way you want and then set up your extreme rig and change mobos like mad.