Widescreen Gaming Forum

OK, fair enough. :)

No import duty in the EU, you only pay VAT once (moms, VAT whatever it is in other countries) also

_________________
P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E

Home Premium would cost half as much if I simply got it OEM.

I would reconsider that. I am on XP Home OEM and the not being able to upgrade major system components without MS calling it non transferable to another "system" is a pain in the arse.

And there we go, Intel 80GB SSD dropped another €10 to €189 today. It was still at €230 at the start of September. Seems to be dropping regularly:
http://www.alternate.nl/html/product/Solid_State_Disk_2,5_inch_SATA/Intel(R)/SSDSA2MH080G2C1/-1080051/?tn=HARDWARE&l1=Harddisks+%2F+SSD&l2=SSD&l3=SATA
(copy/paste that link, it has brackets which the forum thinks ends links), click on 'Prijsverloop' to see a graph for the price changes last month. Going like mad I say.
Will definately be interesting to keep an eye on this.


edit:

I would reconsider that. I am on XP Home OEM and the not being able to upgrade major system components without MS calling it non transferable to another "system" is a pain in the arse.

As far as I know, it's tied to the motherboard, unless it's replaced because it broke. New MoBo I'd only get with a new system anyway most likely.
Unless they changed their point of view on this of course. Do recent Windows versions still have the activation thing then? Thought they'd done away with that in Vista already?

As far as I know, it's tied to the motherboard, unless it's replaced because it broke. New MoBo I'd only get with a new system anyway most likely.
Unless they changed their point of view on this of course. Do recent Windows versions still have the activation thing then? Thought they'd done away with that in Vista already?

Yeah it's mainly the MB, though I'm not sure they'd allow a CPU swap either the way they're getting. Count on making the call to get a new OS key with ANY of their OEM OSes when formatting. I've had to do it several times and once had one of their supervisors say I need to contact the PC manufacturer all because she assumed my OEM version was a branded vs generic one (Dell, HP, etc).

Also, last I checked, and this was in asking a MS CS rep on the phone, they don't consider MB RMAs a valid excuse. I told her I though t it was a ridiculous policy and she didn't sympathize at all.

What's weird is you can sometimes get an average CS person to willingly give you a new OS key, even though their sup had just told me I can't, and he even gave out two or 3 XP Pro OS keys, yet their sups act like you're the enemy instead of a customer. So bottom line, don't count on too much from MS unless you kiss their behinds and buy a retail version.

Honestly though, I fail to see why with some parts it's as if you have a money is no object mindset, even insisting on a mid size SSD, yet on other things you're scrimping on price.

My feeling about SSDs is they're still too finicky and pricey to warrant getting anything bigger than just a drive big enough for the OS itself to keep it running fast and simplify formats. Unless you have lots to spend on the 128GB size, which use faster Nand. IMO it's not very beneficial to have something slightly bigger than OS size unless you want to be constantly installing and uninstalling a few games on it just so they can load levels faster.

I have never had a problem with calling MS up when I've had a catastrophic failure of Windows with OEM licenses. A bored sounding person asks, "Why are you reinstalling?" Reply with: "Virus/Mobo died/installed-new-network-card/hard-drive-and-Windows-wanted-reactivating" and the bored voice reels off a long activation key which is duly typed in and works fine.

Brings back memories of my activations...
WinXP - full MoBo replacement, because I broke the previous one while cleaning. I started Windows (no reinstall, no problems), and all was well. The expected activation didn't come. Mind you, it was nearly the same board, just another brand (Asus instead of MSI).
When I changed some harddisk configuration in the BIOS, Windows required me to reactivate :roll: Not sure if this was right after, or another PC altogether...

Honestly though, I fail to see why with some parts it's as if you have a money is no object mindset, even insisting on a mid size SSD, yet on other things you're scrimping on price.

Money is an issue when I don't actually get anything from paying more, i.e. Win7 Ultimate vs. Home Premium. Of course Ultimate does have more, but will I actually be using any of those features, other than bragging rights? Still not convinced about that bit. Hence the choice for a 'lower' version. I don't expect any serious system changes for quite some time, so OEM shouldn't be an issue.
SSDs are expensive, but from what I've read so far, well worth it. Therefore I'm willing to pay the price. Want really expensive? Try one of these ;). Now that's true madness I say.



On another note, this Noctua cooler. It looks rather big. Will there be any issues with physically fitting the thing in an Element S case?
My current case I have some big Zalman, and it's a tight fit due to the side panel coolers. (As in: they actually touch eachother, I have to press a bit to close the case.)

Just straight up OEM reinstalls I have never had an issue, with, I have reinstalled XP 3-4 times on my old Dell and now a new CD on my Macbook Pro and not an issue once. I forget what I bound the key to since I think it chose two parts gave me serials, I think choices were CPU and HDD so obviously I chose the former since it isn't upgradable.

OEM installs are tied to the case of the PC.

thats where the sticker that comes with is it meant to be stuck.

if you take their rules literally

_________________
P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E

Stickers?

:roll: