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Looking at buying Vista...

C

chazdraves

Golden Member
Greetings, all!

The title about says it all. I've stuck to XP for this long, but DX10 is looking tempting, and I may finally take the plunge. That said, my rig is used almost exclusively for gaming, so that's my priority in the software purchase. Also, I'm not unfamiliar with hardware upgrades, so I need to be sure that I can re-activate my copy multiple times. I see that Newegg's got the OEM version for $99...

Would someone please make me a recommendation?

Many thanks in advance!
- Chaz
 
By the book, OEM is only good for installation on a single computer, which Microsoft defines as the motherboard. If you get a new computer, you'll need a new copy of Vista. Retail has no such limitation, and can be moved to as many different computers as you'd like. Both can be reinstalled on the same computer (or a new computer if it's retail) as many times as you need.

Some people have success with coercing Microsoft to reactivate a copy of Vista OEM that has been moved to another computer, but that is not at all guaranteed and MS is within their rights to not do it.
 
When you activate Windows, it phones home to Microsoft in order to retrieve an authentication key. The computer sends a hash of the hardware, from which Microsoft can tell what has been replaced. The mobo changing is a dead giveaway that it's a new computer.
 
I was afraid you would say something like that.

Understanding that I have no ill intent here: If I upgrade my mobo and CPU down the road, but all the other hardware comes up the same, they honestly won't let me activate the copy of Windows I purchased for use with my one-and-only computer?

I'm just picking your mind here, so I hope that doesn't come off as aggressive.

Thanks!
- Chaz
 
I'd get OEM. It's cheaper and many people, including me, have had no problem activating on new hardware. In one instance, my mobo died and after activation on the new machine failed, I called the 1-800 number and the rep simply asked me if I was running the install on more than one machine. When I said no, they gave me a new activation code and I was off and running.

In another instance, when I installed a Vista OEM license on a brand new machine, it didn't even fail automatic activation because the time between the first activation and second was many months. MS clears out activation data after a few months so if you don't plan on installing it over and over and think it might be more than 6 months between activations, you might not even encounter the limit at all.

Now, the license terms dictate that the license stays with the hardware it was first installed with. I would suggest honoring the terms of the license, since the cost of OEM licenses are much lower than retail. I like to think of retail as more expensive for the flexibility it provides. But other people might not feel as morally conflicted by installing an OEM license on a new machine when hardware failure isn't the reason.

Either way you slice it, you WILL be able to move the OEM license from one machine to another. It's just a question of circumstances and ethics. From my experience (and many others) MS is VERY liberal with activations and the odds of them denying you an activation is very rare unless you flat out tell them you're planning to run it on more than one machine at the same time or something like that.
 
Well, I only plan on using it with my one rig, but the hardware in that rig is known to change every 9 months or so. However, if what you're saying about them wiping the info after 6 months or so, that'd be just fine. That sounds like the way to go. That said, is there any disadvantage to getting Home Basic? Will it still run DX10? I ask because I prefer a very minimal OS and don't use all of the stupid extra features or graphical wizzbang, but it has to be just as competent as anything else for gaming. The first thing I'd do is disable Aero and make it look like good 'ole Win98 for the sake of performance...?

Any thought?

Thanks!
- Chaz

P.S. Oh! And what of 32-bit vs. 64-bit? I heard there were issues with 64-bit, and I don't like issues...
 
Originally posted by: chazdraves
Well, I only plan on using it with my one rig, but the hardware in that rig is known to change every 9 months or so. However, if what you're saying about them wiping the info after 6 months or so, that'd be just fine. That sounds like the way to go. That said, is there any disadvantage to getting Home Basic? Will it still run DX10? I ask because I prefer a very minimal OS and don't use all of the stupid extra features or graphical wizzbang, but it has to be just as competent as anything else for gaming. The first thing I'd do is disable Aero and make it look like good 'ole Win98 for the sake of performance...?

Any thought?

Thanks!
- Chaz

P.S. Oh! And what of 32-bit vs. 64-bit? I heard there were issues with 64-bit, and I don't like issues...
Click to expand...

Assuming your hardware is up to par no need to disable anything. After superfetch and stuff settles in, Aero doesnt really affect performance at all.

As far as 32 vs 64 its up to you. Im not sure what "issues" youve heard about 64 bit...theres ALOT of FUD out there but for the most part its great. The determining factor would be memory. IMO 4 gigs or more go with 64 bit. Under 4 gigs no reason to really.
 
Well, I'm sub-4GB at the moment with no need (at this time) to go higher... I had heard there were a lot of driver troubles with 64-bit and many games didn't work, but that could have been bogus or that could already have been fixed...

- Chaz
 
Originally posted by: chazdraves
I was afraid you would say something like that.

Understanding that I have no ill intent here: If I upgrade my mobo and CPU down the road, but all the other hardware comes up the same, they honestly won't let me activate the copy of Windows I purchased for use with my one-and-only computer?

I'm just picking your mind here, so I hope that doesn't come off as aggressive.

Thanks!
- Chaz
Click to expand...
Your motherboard is your computer as far as they're concerned, and it's a pretty fair metric all things considered. If you're going to be changing computers that often, then you definitely need to be buying the retail version. Otherwise if you go OEM, the best you can do is sell the replaced mobo at a greater price, since it comes with a copy of Windows.
 
Well, not that often, but about every 9 months or so I'll put in some new piece of hardware. At the moment my mobo is capable of 1333 FSB and DDR2, so I don't see a need any time soon to upgrade that (not until something really pushes it, or DDR3 becomes affordable), but I know some day I will upgrade and I want to be sure I can still use my copy. I'll be honest, the rest of this thread has me fairly confident that the OEM version will work fine for me. Like I say, I'm only using it on one rig, and that's how it will stay. So long as I abide by that, I'm sure they'll humor me if I have to call them once a year or so...

- Chaz
 
No, I'll definitely take it under advisement. It is a bit of a risk as you say, but I see that others here have had good luck. Besides, worse case scenario, maybe it forces me to be more content with my hardware. 🙂

- Chaz
 
get Vista x64... im sure youll throw some more GB in the board after you get vista. sweet spot is 4Gigs and ram is just so cheap itll be hard not to have atleast 4.
 
Yeah, you're right actually. I just put the order through and couldn't control myself but to order the 4GB OCZ Reaper kit... So, I guess I'll have 6GB. Hopefully DDR2 800 will be alright for a while longer...

And, yes, I ordered 64-bit. Sounds like those rumors about broken drivers and poor support were nothing but rumors.

- Chaz
 
Well, the transition to 64 bit was a bit rough in the early days, especially older peripherals. But the difference is basically nonexistant now and you should have no problems with drivers.

I'd suggest going with Vista Home Premium over basic. THe difference in price is minimal and Aero is worth having, IMHO. There is no noticable performance loss with using Aero. In fact, offloading desktop rendering to the GPU saves you CPU power. 🙂
 
OEM or Retail? 64-Bit or 32-Bit?
Click to expand...

32 bit or 64 bit is quite simple really down to drivers for your hardware so not hard to check,just remember very old 16 bit programs won't run in Vista x64 but that is really not an issue nowadays for most people.


OEM or Retail,Microsoft are going back to a 3-4 year update on new OS so the way I look at it is 2 OEMs are more or less equal to one retail upgrade (price wise),so if you won't be changing your motherboard more then once or twice then 2 OEMs should see you through until the next OS is released.

I normally go OEM,mainly because I upgrade different computers(both hardware and OS software at same time),Ie... my main current Vista PC will not get upgraded next,my old XP will probably be upgraded next year to Vista or W7 OEM version which'll last a few more years before I'll be thinking of a new OS or even motherboard upgrade.

Price of OEM OS are so cheap that even when buying two OEM copies ,motherboard upgrades are not covered by OEM version but users have got away with it depending on the person at the other end of the phone(so at your own risk as they say).











 
Heh, yeah that sounds about right...

Well, you know, I've gotten so used to a certain upgrade period over the years, but that seems like it's slowing down - is that just me? For example: DDR3 has been out for how long now? But everyone is still recommending good 'ole DDR2 800MHz for a new rig. And my CPU: I've had this little E4400 since the C2D came out, but it overclocks to 3.18GHz, so why replace it? It seems like we've hit a very pleasant plateau of late and hardware is lasting longer than it used to. Maybe it's just the games I'm playing (e.g. NOT Crysis), but it seems to hold true. Heck, look at Fallout 3 based on Oblivion's engine or Left 4 Dead using the Source engine which is how many years old at this point? I think it's a good thing. There's an air of contentment with graphics and more focus on polish and animation.

Anyhow, I'm ranting. I ordered Vista Home Premium 64-bit, so we'll just have to see how it works out.

Thanks to everyone for their help and opinions!
- Chaz
 
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