Win XP -> 64bit Win 7 (how cheap?)

[randall999]

How cheap and what version of Win 7 would someone need to upgrade from plain old WinXP to 64bit Win 7 (to be able to access 8GB of RAM)? This is more a question to help my friend whom I want to give a used quad core CPU/mobo/4x2GB_ram to. (I have Win 7 64bit Ultimate). All the freaking versions/editions of Win7 are daunting, not to mention upgrade editions, geez. And know I once bought an OEM Vista 64bit off Amazon, worked fine, but of course it is toast once you change hardware as I learned, but that could be an option in this case. Any advice, thoughts?

Greatly appreciated, thank you in advance,
randall

 

[tremmor]

I have in the past installed oem hardware and the windows would not install. Changing a motherboard or an updated video card shut mine down. twice in the past i have called Microsoft and explained why. then canceled the key and authorized another one to use.

On the other other hand i would recommend a minimum of windows 7 pro.
I paid $200 then. im sure you can buy cheaper but not sure from who would be your best option. i would try the first statement to reactivate if its not being used.