I have been wanting to upgrade my Motherboard, CPU and ram for a while now but I had been dreading re installing Windows and all of my applications. After searching around, I came across a built in system preparation method which seemed interesting. It prepares Windows in a way so that the next time it boots, it re installs any new hardware just like when Windows first installs. This allows for Windows to accommodate itself nicely on the new hardware. 
All you have to do is:
- Open Command Prompt as administrator
- Run: “%windir%\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe”
- Set the action to OOBE, Generalize, and Shutdown
- Wait for Shutdown
- Install New Hardware
- Boot up and install specific drivers
