Update to Windows 10 before replacing motherboard?

[TAdge]

My 1st post. Hope this is the right place. I have an off the shelf Gateway DX4870 pc, bought 6 yrs ago. Windows 7 64 bit, SP1. I have the product key, but no Win7 DVD. i3 2120 CPU, Sandy Bridge chipset. Bought a new graphics card, and the motherboard will not accept it. BIOS has no provision to change from the onboard graphics to the new card. Had a qualified computer tech come to my house. He said the pcie slot and/or the MB is defective. have a new Intel MB on order, model BOXDB65ALB3. Closest I could find with the same approximate size, same socket, and appropriate chipset. Have done a lot of searching on Google, and found a lot of conflicting opinions about installing the new MB, and being able to boot up. Hate to leave Win7, but should I buy and install Win10 on the HD before I swap the MB?

[AlHill]

Your motherboard is more than seven years old and is not supported on Windows 10.

http://ark.intel.com/products/50104/Intel-Desktop-Board-DB65AL Intel® Desktop Board DB65AL Product Specifications

Your processor is also not supported on Windows 10:

http://ark.intel.com/products/53426/Intel-Core-i3-2120-Processor-3M-Cache-3_30-GHz Intel® Core™ i3-2120 Processor (3M Cache, 3.30 GHz) Product Specifications

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/processors/000006105.html Intel® Processor Support for Microsoft Windows® 10

If you really want to stay with this hardware, which I do not recommend, you may still be able to get a copy of Windows 7 that you can download from Microsoft using your windows 7 product key.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7 Download Windows 7 Disc Images (ISO Files)

It is unlikely that you could simply move your existing hard drive to your new motherboard and expect a successful Windows 7 boot, so I would recommend that you reinstall Windows 7.

Doc

[TAdge]

Al, thank you for sharing your knowledge, and for your good advice. I found online a vendor who has a complete OEM Win7 64bit sp1 on DVD. I think I am going to go with that.