A few questions:

1) If I were to buy a new motherboard with the same chipset, would I need to format my HDD anyway?

2) When my PC is on high performance mode in power settings, I begin to hear a slight 'whine'. This sound doesn't occur when on other power settings, only this one. Could it be to do with the capacitors or CPU/fan?

Thanks.

1) http://www.overclockers.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-379942.html

When replacing a motherboard it is more a good practice to reinstall. Reformatting as a part of the process makes for a smoother installation. Quite often, if the new mobo uses the same chipset(ie Via), you can forego a reinstall, though.

If this does not work, try a repair install or a full reformat as necessary and pointed out in the link.

2) http://forums.techpowerup.com/archive/index.php/t-98227.html

^Goes over capacitor issues and sound.

Thanks for the reply, turned out it was nothing too serious and most of the same boards had the same issue, it was solved by a simple tweak in the BIOS settings (disable C1E). Thanks again