Currently I have an AM3+ mother board (asrock 970 extreme4) and an 8350 but I am wanting to switch to an Intel platform.
Would I have to wipe my drives and start fresh or can I leave everything as is and just install the new drivers?
Its always best to start fresh, but 99% of the time you can get away with a straight swap. Just back up any important stuff etc before you proceed. Worst case a startup repair is needed. & yeah install /remove drivers. Also run CCleaner for cleaning the registry etc. Hence its best to start with a clean slate.
You would have to remove drivers first. I would prefer a clean install with such a large upgrade, though.
~remove divers first~ Not really, I use a test drive (ssd + win7) on various systems (amd & intel) for diagnosis purposes. Windows loads first time, have never removed specific drivers before moving it to another rig. Windows does a pretty good job at sorting shit out. It was only one time that it didnt work and that was when working with a turd Biostar board.
Interesting. I've always had problems with large hardware changes on windows.
I have had problems before as well. The problem is that there are files that windows depends on to take advantage of each chip fully. I would recommend a re-install, but it doesn't hurt to try. Just make sure you backup all your important files to another drive and then just try it out. If it doesn't work, then everything is backed up anyway and you can reinstall windows... If it does, then great.
Just out of curiosity, why do you want to change right now. The 8350 is a great chip still. I would say wait another generation before upgrading to get the most for your money. It is a lot of money for not much performance increase. You are overclocking the 8350 right?
Because you are changing so much hardware it's best to just do a back up and re install.