OEM VISTA vs Regular Vista What's the Difference?

king-pin · 12-12-2007, 08:12 PM

I bought an oem vista disc at microcenter for $79.99. the retail version is 239.99. what's the difference between the two? the oem seems to be used...

[-0MEGA-] · 12-12-2007, 08:32 PM

It's not used, you just get the CD and case. I also believe it can only be re-activated one before calling up Microsoft.

Garethman!!` · 12-12-2007, 08:42 PM

Newegg sell the Vista Basic upgrade for $69.99. OEM means you can only ever use it on 1 motherboard, if you change the motherboard, you need a new operating system...

[-0MEGA-] · 12-12-2007, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garethman!!`

Newegg sell the Vista Basic upgrade for $69.99. OEM means you can only ever use it on 1 motherboard, if you change the motherboard, you need a new operating system...

I believe you can still call up Microsoft, tell them you bought new hardware and had to reinstall Windows, and they should re-activate it for you.

epidemik · 12-12-2007, 09:13 PM

Depending on the type of OEM (or something like that), you can only install it with 1 motherboard rather than being able to install it multiple times.

And as with all OEM stuff, theres a good chance you wont get a pretty box with it.

king-pin · 12-13-2007, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by epidemik

Depending on the type of OEM (or something like that), you can only install it with 1 motherboard rather than being able to install it multiple times.

And as with all OEM stuff, theres a good chance you wont get a pretty box with it.

if i installed it once and i needed to reformart. would i be able to install again?

jimkonow · 12-13-2007, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [-0MEGA-]

I believe you can still call up Microsoft, tell them you bought new hardware and had to reinstall Windows, and they should re-activate it for you.

i do this quite often

StrangleHold · 12-13-2007, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garethman!!`

Newegg sell the Vista Basic upgrade for $69.99. OEM means you can only ever use it on 1 motherboard, if you change the motherboard, you need a new operating system...

The OEM/System Builders is tied more to the motherboard, but you can just tell them the board craped out and they will re-activate it 95% of the time.

12-12-2007, 08:12 PM	#1 (permalink)
king-pin Bronze Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 54	OEM VISTA vs Regular Vista What's the Difference? I bought an oem vista disc at microcenter for $79.99. the retail version is 239.99. what's the difference between the two? the oem seems to be used... __________________ AMD Phenom Agena 9500 Quadcore/MSI 790FX AM2+ PLATINUM MOBO/250GB 7200 WD SATA HD/Inwin Ferrari Case/Creative Audigy SE Sound Card/Crucial Ballistix 2gb @ 677mhz

12-12-2007, 08:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Concord, NH Age: 19 Posts: 26,409	It's not used, you just get the CD and case. I also believe it can only be re-activated one before calling up Microsoft. __________________ Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.83GHz Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L ATI HD 3870 GDDR4 @ (840/2332) 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2-850 500GB SATAII HD w/16MB SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 11593

12-12-2007, 08:42 PM	#3 (permalink)
Garethman!!` Platinum Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: UK and USA Age: 17 Posts: 909	Newegg sell the Vista Basic upgrade for $69.99. OEM means you can only ever use it on 1 motherboard, if you change the motherboard, you need a new operating system... __________________ CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 / AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-53 1.70GHz RAM : 8GB DDR2 PC6400 / 2GB DDR2-667 PC5300 A-DATA HDD : 750GB SATA Seagate Barracuda/ Western Digital Scorpio 250GB 7200RPM GPU : Radeon HD2900XT 512MB / Radeon Xpress 1150 128MB OS : Windows Vista Ultimate x64 / Windows Vista Home Premium

12-12-2007, 09:13 PM	#5 (permalink)
epidemik Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Ashland Oregon Age: 16 Posts: 2,246	Depending on the type of OEM (or something like that), you can only install it with 1 motherboard rather than being able to install it multiple times. And as with all OEM stuff, theres a good chance you wont get a pretty box with it. __________________ Current PC (New one coming late July) Athlon 2000 nVidia 6200 1 GB RAM 19 + 40 GB HD CD Reader last.fm : Steam Profile CF xFire Group: Click Here Then PM Me If You Apply

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