I recently acquired a new MoBo, CPU, and RAM kit to upgrade my platform for the first time in just about a decade. What I failed to consider until now is the near requirement of a clean Windows install after the upgrade.
I want to retain as much of my personal files, installed software, Windows and Explorer settings, etc. as humanly possible after the reinstall, WITHOUT retaining any files/drivers that could possibly cause performance loss and/or conflicts. I also use Classic Shell, if that matters.
On Windows 10 Home x64, and my current C: drive is a 1TB SSD, and I plan on backing it up to a 4TB HDD I bought for data hording. GPU and other PCIe cards will remain the same, along with a stack of storage HDDs with various media files and installed software/games.
If you’re upgrading your boot drive too (didn’t say if you’re using nvme or just SSD), cloning it is fine. If you’re not upgrading the boot drive, I’d just put it in the new system, let Windows figure it out, and have your safe mode process ready in case you need to uninstall video drivers or other things causing problems.
There’s a good chance something will go wrong, but troubleshooting that is almost certainly less work than reconfiguring tens or hundreds of program settings.
Of course, I’d create a clone / image and save it on your new HDD just in case.