Computer upgrading concerns

[RicoADF]

You can reuse the OEM key again (I have done hundreds of times) It just means it needs to be sold with a hardware purchase.

You can get your key by using the "Magical Jelly Bean" key finder (at least thats what ive used). When you go to activate again you may go straight through, or you may have to phone up the automated Microsoft number, which will take 5 minutes of pressing numbers on your phone/computer, it asks how many computers you have windows installed on, which in your case will be one, and it will go through.

No need to buy windows for a second time .

Really? That's great news, saves me lots of worry. Many thanks.

Where can I find that number? I'd google it, but I'm not sure exactly what to search for. Or does it just give me the number when I boot the computer?

I can confirm that the OEM can indeed be installed on other machines. Heck I even used a laptop's key on a desktop (didn't expect that to work tbh since their normally brand locked but I must have gotten lucky). OEM's are the best to get as they aren't locked to a particular brand, and yes you can reuse it all you need to do is when you do the activation system it will ask is it installed on another machine which you say no (as it is correct), that will deactivate your old machine and open the key to be used on the 'new' one

 

[GoaThief]

I would not bother upgrading the PSU in your situation, if it requires an upgrade down the line then so be it but I expect everything will be fine. I would ditch the crossfire however, it's just not worth it in my eyes (likewise SLI) due to compatibility issues, micro stuttering and increased power consumption. They'll also be the new performance bottleneck in your soon built system by a large margin (ignoring SSD for now) and when the new consoles arrive expect minimum requirements to go shooting up on PCs.

 

[DataSnake]

I'm not an expert, but I'd say you're probably fine. On most gaming rigs, the GPU is the biggest power draw by a long shot, especially if you're running crossfire, and you're not planning to upgrade that. If you want a more informed opinion or specific recommendations for a new PSU, I recommend the tom's hardware forums; that's where I went for advice when building mine.

 

[Something Amyss]

Installation is a snap if you're careful. Ground yourself out, follow the written instructions, and don't force any part into place and you should be fine.

That actually sounds a lot like sex to me....

You can reuse the OEM key again (I have done hundreds of times) It just means it needs to be sold with a hardware purchase.

According to everything I've read, at least Win7 and up tie it to your MoBo. That's not true?

 

[Ravesy]

Installation is a snap if you're careful. Ground yourself out, follow the written instructions, and don't force any part into place and you should be fine.

That actually sounds a lot like sex to me....

You can reuse the OEM key again (I have done hundreds of times) It just means it needs to be sold with a hardware purchase.

According to everything I've read, at least Win7 and up tie it to your MoBo. That's not true?

It links that activation, there's nothing stopping you from reactivating it on your new system with a different motherboard (providing its the only one you are using the key on). I've used them beyond counting in work, but just to take my home PC as an example, Ive used the same OEM windows 7 64 bit serial since about 2010, during that time Ive probably gone through 6-7 motherboards.

.

Edit:

Going more into it tying to your motherboard, if you use the same serial key on a new computer, but keep your old one running, it will require you to activate the second one on the phone (usually), and then when ever the original PC checks the activation next it will come up saying you need to reactivate. However since in this case the serial will only be used on the 1 PC, as per the license, he doesn't have to worry about it.

 

[DrOswald]

You can reuse the OEM key again (I have done hundreds of times) It just means it needs to be sold with a hardware purchase.

You can get your key by using the "Magical Jelly Bean" key finder (at least thats what ive used). When you go to activate again you may go straight through, or you may have to phone up the automated Microsoft number, which will take 5 minutes of pressing numbers on your phone/computer, it asks how many computers you have windows installed on, which in your case will be one, and it will go through.

No need to buy windows for a second time .

Really? That's great news, saves me lots of worry. Many thanks.

Where can I find that number? I'd google it, but I'm not sure exactly what to search for. Or does it just give me the number when I boot the computer?

Be warned: Windows keys are tied to the version of the software they shipped with. What this should mean is a pro key needs to be used with a pro install, a home key with a home install, etc. But Microsoft is kind of dumb and they accidentally (or purposefully for some reason I cannot fathom) made it so it also checks the service pack. This means that if your key shipped without sp1 you must authenticate windows before installing sp1. If it shipped with SP1 then you must authenticate after sp1 is installed. That has thrown me through a loop more than once.

 

[Ravesy]

You can reuse the OEM key again (I have done hundreds of times) It just means it needs to be sold with a hardware purchase.

You can get your key by using the "Magical Jelly Bean" key finder (at least thats what ive used). When you go to activate again you may go straight through, or you may have to phone up the automated Microsoft number, which will take 5 minutes of pressing numbers on your phone/computer, it asks how many computers you have windows installed on, which in your case will be one, and it will go through.

No need to buy windows for a second time .

Really? That's great news, saves me lots of worry. Many thanks.

Where can I find that number? I'd google it, but I'm not sure exactly what to search for. Or does it just give me the number when I boot the computer?

Be warned: Windows keys are tied to the version of the software they shipped with. What this should mean is a pro key needs to be used with a pro install, a home key with a home install, etc. But Microsoft is kind of dumb and they accidentally (or purposefully for some reason I cannot fathom) made it so it also checks the service pack. This means that if your key shipped without sp1 you must authenticate windows before installing sp1. If it shipped with SP1 then you must authenticate after sp1 is installed. That has thrown me through a loop more than once.

Thats a good post, never understood why they did that. Although I wasn't complaining when i was at uni as i got free access to Microsoft software and it meant i got 4 copies of windows 7 for free (32bit, 32 bit SP1, 64 bit and 64 bit SP1)

 

[DrOswald]

You can reuse the OEM key again (I have done hundreds of times) It just means it needs to be sold with a hardware purchase.

You can get your key by using the "Magical Jelly Bean" key finder (at least thats what ive used). When you go to activate again you may go straight through, or you may have to phone up the automated Microsoft number, which will take 5 minutes of pressing numbers on your phone/computer, it asks how many computers you have windows installed on, which in your case will be one, and it will go through.

No need to buy windows for a second time .

Really? That's great news, saves me lots of worry. Many thanks.

Where can I find that number? I'd google it, but I'm not sure exactly what to search for. Or does it just give me the number when I boot the computer?

Be warned: Windows keys are tied to the version of the software they shipped with. What this should mean is a pro key needs to be used with a pro install, a home key with a home install, etc. But Microsoft is kind of dumb and they accidentally (or purposefully for some reason I cannot fathom) made it so it also checks the service pack. This means that if your key shipped without sp1 you must authenticate windows before installing sp1. If it shipped with SP1 then you must authenticate after sp1 is installed. That has thrown me through a loop more than once.

Thats a good post, never understood why they did that. Although I wasn't complaining when i was at uni as i got free access to Microsoft software and it meant i got 4 copies of windows 7 for free (32bit, 32 bit SP1, 64 bit and 64 bit SP1)

Well, what is most likely is that they identified some sort of security risk (like some way to easily pirate windows) and sp1 updated the concerned files to close the gap. This likely had the unintended result of changing the authentication files meaning the key would not work with the new service pack. And then they were too lazy to make it right.

 

[Alexander Kirby]

Others may have already told you this but generally newer components are more energy efficient, unless they're in a much higher tier then your old parts. Especially things like motherboards and RAM, they get more and more efficient every year and the energy usage of the high and low-end ones don't vary as much as in something like a graphics card.

To be honest, if your old PSU is a decent quality one I would just install the new components and see how it goes; the worst that could happen is that it just won't switch on. However, if you've got a cheap one (we're talking around £15 and below), when pushed too far they have a habit of going bang. If you know that the one you currently have is a cheap one than I'd probably go for for a new one anyway. As I said though it should be fine.

I have the very PSU that you put a link to and I'm very happy with it, should you wish to go for it.

 

[Compatriot Block]

You can reuse the OEM key again (I have done hundreds of times) It just means it needs to be sold with a hardware purchase.

You can get your key by using the "Magical Jelly Bean" key finder (at least thats what ive used). When you go to activate again you may go straight through, or you may have to phone up the automated Microsoft number, which will take 5 minutes of pressing numbers on your phone/computer, it asks how many computers you have windows installed on, which in your case will be one, and it will go through.

No need to buy windows for a second time .

Really? That's great news, saves me lots of worry. Many thanks.

Where can I find that number? I'd google it, but I'm not sure exactly what to search for. Or does it just give me the number when I boot the computer?

Be warned: Windows keys are tied to the version of the software they shipped with. What this should mean is a pro key needs to be used with a pro install, a home key with a home install, etc. But Microsoft is kind of dumb and they accidentally (or purposefully for some reason I cannot fathom) made it so it also checks the service pack. This means that if your key shipped without sp1 you must authenticate windows before installing sp1. If it shipped with SP1 then you must authenticate after sp1 is installed. That has thrown me through a loop more than once.

I'm 99% sure that it came with SP1 considering I got the computer from my friend in January 2012, which is well after SP1 came out.

Two questions: How do I make sure SP1 is installed before I authenticate? And what happens if I am wrong?

I'm getting tons of information from this thread. Thanks everybody.

Oh, and I plan on upgrading my GPUs next. I'd rather work with just a single card, so I feel like a new PSU is a good long-term investment. Only problem is my current CPU is terrible.

 

[DrOswald]

You can reuse the OEM key again (I have done hundreds of times) It just means it needs to be sold with a hardware purchase.

You can get your key by using the "Magical Jelly Bean" key finder (at least thats what ive used). When you go to activate again you may go straight through, or you may have to phone up the automated Microsoft number, which will take 5 minutes of pressing numbers on your phone/computer, it asks how many computers you have windows installed on, which in your case will be one, and it will go through.

No need to buy windows for a second time .

Really? That's great news, saves me lots of worry. Many thanks.

Where can I find that number? I'd google it, but I'm not sure exactly what to search for. Or does it just give me the number when I boot the computer?

Be warned: Windows keys are tied to the version of the software they shipped with. What this should mean is a pro key needs to be used with a pro install, a home key with a home install, etc. But Microsoft is kind of dumb and they accidentally (or purposefully for some reason I cannot fathom) made it so it also checks the service pack. This means that if your key shipped without sp1 you must authenticate windows before installing sp1. If it shipped with SP1 then you must authenticate after sp1 is installed. That has thrown me through a loop more than once.

I'm 99% sure that it came with SP1 considering I got the computer from my friend in January 2012, which is well after SP1 came out.

Two questions: How do I make sure SP1 is installed before I authenticate? And what happens if I am wrong?

I will answer your second question first because it actually renders the first question unnecessary.

Nothing bad happens if you do it wrong, it just doesn't authenticate and it will bother you occasionally with popups. It gives you 30 days to get a key that does work and then it just starts annoying you much more frequently. This means that if you have an SP1 key then installing windows without SP1 will mean you cannot authenticate until SP1 is installed. Any attempt to authenticate will fail (this will not cause problems authenticating later once you install SP1.)

The real problem is if you install windows with an SP1 disk and your key is not an SP1 key. In this case you will not be able to authenticate without installing windows from scratch sans SP1. Which is super annoying.

 

[Compatriot Block]

You can reuse the OEM key again (I have done hundreds of times) It just means it needs to be sold with a hardware purchase.

You can get your key by using the "Magical Jelly Bean" key finder (at least thats what ive used). When you go to activate again you may go straight through, or you may have to phone up the automated Microsoft number, which will take 5 minutes of pressing numbers on your phone/computer, it asks how many computers you have windows installed on, which in your case will be one, and it will go through.

No need to buy windows for a second time .

Really? That's great news, saves me lots of worry. Many thanks.

Where can I find that number? I'd google it, but I'm not sure exactly what to search for. Or does it just give me the number when I boot the computer?

Be warned: Windows keys are tied to the version of the software they shipped with. What this should mean is a pro key needs to be used with a pro install, a home key with a home install, etc. But Microsoft is kind of dumb and they accidentally (or purposefully for some reason I cannot fathom) made it so it also checks the service pack. This means that if your key shipped without sp1 you must authenticate windows before installing sp1. If it shipped with SP1 then you must authenticate after sp1 is installed. That has thrown me through a loop more than once.

I'm 99% sure that it came with SP1 considering I got the computer from my friend in January 2012, which is well after SP1 came out.

Two questions: How do I make sure SP1 is installed before I authenticate? And what happens if I am wrong?

I will answer your second question first because it actually renders the first question unnecessary.

Nothing bad happens if you do it wrong, it just doesn't authenticate and it will bother you occasionally with popups. It gives you 30 days to get a key that does work and then it just starts annoying you much more frequently. This means that if you have an SP1 key then installing windows without SP1 will mean you cannot authenticate until SP1 is installed. Any attempt to authenticate will fail (this will not cause problems authenticating later once you install SP1.)

The real problem is if you install windows with an SP1 disk and your key is not an SP1 key. In this case you will not be able to authenticate without installing windows from scratch sans SP1. Which is super annoying.

Gotcha. So just install windows and give it a shot before updating.

Now I just need to find out how to install windows once I turn the computer on again.