Change W10 motherboard to accept Windows 11

Generally replacing a motherboard in favor of a new one requires a compatible/new CPU and compatible RAM, probably DDR 4 or DDR 5. My guess is a 9 year old board takes DDR 3 which is becoming harder to find, DDR and DDR 2 is pretty much nonexistant now. The module types can't be interchanged.

Changing the motherboard can be involved in getting Windows activated/reactivated.

Physically the sizes should be checked. The plate on the back of the case where the USB, Ethernet, Sound, etc., will come with the new motherboard, the hole in the case is pretty much the same between brands of cases.

I always had success with TigerDirect but they have gone away. A brand I like is Gigabyte, decent prices and solid performers but maybe not for hard-core gamers. It's been awhile since I built my own as pricing is an issue, I got a new Dell Vostro Notebook the same month Win11 was released and a new Dell Vostro Desktop in April the next year, total cost about $1500, both are Intel i5 with 8GB RAM. The Desktop is using onboard video but no VGA port, am using its DisplayPort with a VGA adapter, no issues. Cost of an Add-in PCIe X16 video card is a prime consideration.

I upgraded my 11 year old PC a few months ago. I bought a new motherboard, CPU, memory and a NVME SSD. I was able to reuse the PSU, GPU, Noctua cooler and case but added more case fans. I originally had a retail licence for Windows 8 which activated Windows 10 and now Windows 11. I clean installed Win 11 using the option "don't have a product key". Ensure you are using a MS account. Windows will not be activated. Then run the activation trouble shooter and click "I changed hardware on this device recently." Select the device being used then activate.

1. BEWARE!

If your Win 10 license is based on upgrading from Win 7 or 8, changing your MOBO will mean you have to buy a new Win 10/11 license. This is because of a very recent change by MS. (See article in News section & comments following).

Neither the activation troubleshooter nor calling the regional activation centre will help.

2. There are methods of installing Win 11 even on an incompatible PC. Please feel free to search tenforums.

As ever, before any major upgrade or change, ensure you have a full secure backup.

The regular use of 3rd party disk imaging is strongly recommended, with image file sets being stored securely offline.

dalchina said:

1. BEWARE!

If your Win 10 license is based on upgrading from Win 7 or 8, changing your MOBO will mean you have to buy a new Win 10/11 license. This is because of a very recent change by MS. (See article in News section & comments following).

Neither the activation troubleshooter nor calling the regional activation centre will help.

2. There are methods of installing Win 11 even on an incompatible PC. Please feel free to search tenforums.

As ever, before any major upgrade or change, ensure you have a full secure backup.

The regular use of 3rd party disk imaging is strongly recommended, with image file sets being stored securely offline.

When did that happen? I had no problems in April - see post 3.

Again... see the article in the News section. See comments following. This has been tested e.g. by Bree after my comment and found so, also by someone who just did this in a thread.

April's ancient history...

lbeck said:

I have a 9-year-old Windows 10 desktop computer that I've managed to keep in pretty good shape. I recently replaced my laptop with one that runs W11. Now I want to install W11 on my desktop and the Microsoft "PC Health Check" utility says that my computer isin't compatible with W11.

It seems that I should be able to upgrade my W10 computer without buying a whole new tower. I've replaced everything on the inside except the motherboard, but I believe that I'm capable of that also.

Is there a good way to e.g., replace the MoBo to render my W10 desktop W11-worthy? If so, what should I consider? Is size (dimensions) pretty much standard? Do mobos come with CPU, memory, and other essential components preinstalled? Will plugin connectors for power supply, hard/optical drives be standard? Or is it recommended that cost and functionality considerations dictate that I simply bite the bullet and replace the entire computer.

Finally, if I'm going to purchase a new mobo, what are the recommended sites?

Build the computer to your needs. You didn't tell what you use the computer for.

You will probably have to replace almost everything so I recommend you to keep the existing Acer as a backup and buy everything new.
MB - There is basically 4 MB sizes: ATX, Micro ATX, Extended ATX and ITX. I recommend you buy a ATX.
CPU - It can be Intel or AMD. Depends on what you're going to use the computer.
Memory - Buy a DDR5 memory. Today standard is 8+8G or 16+16G (it must mach the CPU + MB)
Main drive - Buy a 1T NVMe
GPU - depends if you're a gamer or not
PSU - Power supply depends on what CPU and GPU you choose
Case - Buy a ATX case without a PSU. Normally they can fit the other MB sizes.
You may need to buy a Win 10 or Win 11 license. Buying a "discount" Windows 10/11 Pro product key experience | Windows 11 Forum

I recommend you use PC & laptop. PC parts, & more! | Newegg.com to choose the components. Then you can also compare the prices on Amazon.com

lbeck said:

Out of courtesy I'll answer a couple of questions that I should have done in my first post:

• Use - I do a lot of photo and especially video editing, Video is resource intensive.
• Main drive and external storage. I already have a reasonably sized SSD that I keep just for my boot drive. And I have lots of storage drives that I've either scavanged or upgraded. That's a reason that I don't need storage drives.

So my current challenge is finding a tower that has small or no storage but that does have an optical drive. I do have an external blu-ray writer that I can use in addition to an internal one . I'd also like one with a better than average internal graphics (or card) and expandable RAM slots. My current computer is short on RAM and is one reason that it won't upgrade to W11. I'm finding that higher-end towers also have large SSD/HDDs and no optical drive.

New computers does came with a M.2 NVMe SSD that can be much, much faster than the SATA SSD you have now. Leave the SATA SSD on the Acer. All the other data drives you can move to the new computer.
New computers does NOT came with a ODD (they are dead tech). You can move the one on the Acer to the new one, IF the new case has a ODD bay.
I can't believe that 32G of memory isn't enough for a Photoshop.

This is my suggestion to look for:
- A intel i5 (13th gen) or a AMD Rysen 5 (7th gen). I've seen somewhere that AMD is better on multi tasking as Photoshop. Get advice on Photoshop forums.
- A MB with 4 memory slots. Buy 16+16G of memory. If you fell that it isn't enough for Photoshop, buy two more sticks 16+16G (same brand and speeds).
- I can't advise for a graphics card but nowadays the CPU + GPU (internal graphics) are very good unless you're a gammer.

Megahertz said:

New computers does came with a M.2 NVMe SSD that can be much, much faster than the SATA SSD you have now. Leave the SATA SSD on the Acer. All the other data drives you can move to the new computer.
New computers does NOT came with a ODD (they are dead tech). You can move the one on the Acer to the new one, IF the new case has a ODD bay.
I can't believe that 32G of memory isn't enough for a Photoshop.

This is my suggestion to look for:
- A intel i5 (13th gen) or a AMD Rysen 5 (7th gen). I've seen somewhere that AMD is better on multi tasking as Photoshop. Get advice on Photoshop forums.
- A MB with 4 memory slots. Buy 16+16G of memory. If you fell that it isn't enough for Photoshop, buy two more sticks 16+16G (same brand and speeds).
- I can't advise for a graphics card but nowadays the CPU + GPU (internal graphics) are very good unless you're a gammer.

Thanks for that advice. If I were an expert I wouldn't post my questions. Some of my "wants" are subjective. The ODD is needed 'cause many recipiants of my video don't have sufficient knowledge, software, hardware or computer speed to run video from USB.

I'm not a gamer but I don't like to edit video with slow rendering or preview. I'm surprised that internal graphics is speedy these days. I had to replace my graphics card due to performance issues.

You're right about RAM. I rechecked the reasons that my computer isn't W11 worthy and found that only 4GB is needed.


Anyway - thanks for your comments and recommendations.