How to go from Z87 to Z97 without re-installing windows?

I'm considering heavily switching and am wondering how I could do this without having to reinstall windows 7. I'll be using the same cpu. Would anyone be so kind as to give specific instructions on what to do?

edit: I've found some threads searching google and something some people say is there will be a performance hit. Can anyone elaborate on that?

Its not always a painless process. If you can afford to reinstall windows then you should do it.

That being said, you might actually just be able to install the new board and boot up to windows. This is assuming you aren't running a raid or anything that needs proprietary drivers.

I went from a p67 to a z77 to another z77 to a z87 to another z87 and finally to my current z87 all without reinstalling windows. Biggest issue I ran into was having to disable XHCI to get into windows and then reinstall the newest USB drivers then go back into bios to turn it back on.

Not everyone will have that painless of an experience with it though.

Just swap the mobo, boot up, update drivers, enjoy. Maybe check out the Windows 10 upgrade, it's supposed to be even faster than 7.

If you want to test performance (and I would very much appreciate someone doing this test), make a second clean windows install and benchmark clean vs. legacy install, then decide if the performance difference is worth reconfiguring after a clean install.

I run a 240gb ssd and a 3tb hdd for storage. I guess what I can do is copy all games and important files to my 3tb and just do the fresh install. The last time I did this I screwed something up along the way and deleted my GTA V save which also forced me to lose the bonus pre-order money. Rockstar basically said I was SOL.

Sysprep is your friend