Qualifying hardware for WinXP Pro OEM edition

[Man-wai Chang]

I wanna buy a new motherboard, a dual-core CPU, 2G of DDR2-800 RAM and a
display card. Are these qualified for me to buy an WinXP Pro OEM?

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[Shenan Stanley]

I wanna buy a new motherboard, a dual-core CPU, 2G of DDR2-800 RAM
and a display card. Are these qualified for me to buy an WinXP Pro
OEM?

Sure.
So's a CD audio cable. ;-)

Matter of fact - I am unsure the hardware requirement even exists any
longer.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I wanna buy a new motherboard, a dual-core CPU, 2G of DDR2-800 RAM and a
display card. Are these qualified for me to buy an WinXP Pro OEM?

Yes, though it can depend on the vendor's policy - they may insist on a full
system, or bundle with as little as a cable.

Are you not gettting a case or drives?

I partly ask because some people use old cases, and miss out on one of the
best features available on new cases: quiet. I have on my desk a system
built with an Antec Sonata II case, and it's surprisingly quiet. I mostly
only notice it if a CD starts spinning.

And your new motherboard probably supports SATA drives. These are faster
than IDE, and aren't really expensive; looking at a local retailer's site,
160 gig SATA 3 drives are $69. 360 gig models are $110. Now is the time...

HTH
-pk

 

[Man-wai Chang]

Are you not gettting a case or drives?

Yes. I have mod my case to use bright blue LED as power light. Also, the
top cover is not transparent.

And your new motherboard probably supports SATA drives. These are faster
than IDE, and aren't really expensive; looking at a local retailer's site,
160 gig SATA 3 drives are $69. 360 gig models are $110. Now is the time...

I have upgraded to RAID using 3Ware 8600 card with my P3, and the RAID
is still working fine.

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/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you!
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[Man-wai Chang]

top cover is not transparent.

"now" not "not"



--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY. http://www.linux-sxs.org
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you!
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[Alias]

Sure.
So's a CD audio cable. ;-)

Matter of fact - I am unsure the hardware requirement even exists any
longer.

Wrong. MS now requires that you buy a motherboard, hard drive, RAM and
CPU to buy a generic OEM version of XP. The same is true for Vista.

Alias

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I wanna buy a new motherboard, a dual-core CPU, 2G of DDR2-800 RAM and a
display card. Are these qualified for me to buy an WinXP Pro OEM?

Sure. As far as I know, there is no longer any requirement to buy any
hardware at all.

But I urge you to rethink your plan to buy an OEM copy. AN OEM version
comes with several restrictions, the most severe of which is that its
license ties it permanently to the first computer its installed on; it
can never be legally moved to another computer, not even if the first
one dies.

Instead I recommend a Retail Upgrade copy, which in most cases can be
bought for very close to the same price. And contrary to what many
people think,an Upgrade copy *can* be used to do a clean installation,
as long as you have a copy of a previous qualifying version of Windows
to insert as proof of ownership when prompted to do so. Worst case, if
you don't have such a CD, you can buy a used copy of Windows 98 very
cheaply someplace like eBay.

One more point. Are you a home user? Why do you want XP Professional,
rather than Home. Are you aware that XP Home and Professional are
identical except that Professional includes a few features (mostly
related to security and networking) missing from Home? Most home users
don't need and would never use these extra features and will see no
benefits by upgrading.

For details go to

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp>

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

Also note another point, not included in any of the above:
Professional allows ten concurrent network connections, and Home only
five.

 

[Rock]

I wanna buy a new motherboard, a dual-core CPU, 2G of DDR2-800 RAM and a
display card. Are these qualified for me to buy an WinXP Pro OEM?

Why are you asking this here? Shouldn't this best be directed to the
software vendor? Find out what you can buy.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Wrong. MS now requires that you buy a motherboard, hard drive, RAM and CPU
to buy a generic OEM version of XP. The same is true for Vista.

Alias

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA15070

Dave

 

[Alias]

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA15070

Dave

I guess it's just in Europe that this is a requirement.

Alias

 

[Man-wai Chang]

Instead I recommend a Retail Upgrade copy, which in most cases can be

bought for very close to the same price. And contrary to what many
people think,an Upgrade copy *can* be used to do a clean installation,

Then I must already have a Micro$oft OS, say Windows 2000?

related to security and networking) missing from Home? Most home users
don't need and would never use these extra features and will see no
benefits by upgrading.

Dual-core support?

--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY. http://www.linux-sxs.org
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you!
/( _ )\ (Xubuntu 7.04) Linux 2.6.21.3
^ ^ 19:03:01 up 8 days 2:36 0 users load average: 1.12 1.05 1.01
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[Patrick Keenan]

Then I must already have a Micro$oft OS, say Windows 2000?


Dual-core support?

XP Home supports multi-core processors. What you're possibly confusing is
that XP Home supports only one physical processor, but that processor can
have multiple cores.

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/highlights/multicore.mspx

HTH

-pk

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Then I must already have a Micro$oft OS, say Windows 2000?

No, as I said, what you need is a previous qualifying version of
Windows-- 95 (for a clean installation of XP only), 98, Me, or 2000
(for XP Professional only), If you don't already have one, you can buy
a used copy very cheaply someplace like eBay.

Dual-core support?

Nope, not correct. Both Professional *and* Home support dual cores.
What Home doesn't support is two physical processors.

 

[Man-wai Chang]

XP Home supports multi-core processors. What you're possibly confusing is

that XP Home supports only one physical processor, but that processor can
have multiple cores.
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/highlights/multicore.mspx

Thanks

--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY. http://www.linux-sxs.org
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you!
/( _ )\ (Xubuntu 7.04) Linux 2.6.21.3
^ ^ 19:31:01 up 9 days 3:04 0 users load average: 0.96 0.99 0.99
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[Man-wai Chang]

No, as I said, what you need is a previous qualifying version of

Windows-- 95 (for a clean installation of XP only), 98, Me, or 2000
(for XP Professional only), If you don't already have one, you can buy
a used copy very cheaply someplace like eBay.

Back then I didn't have an original.... I did have OEM Windows 3.1, DOS
6, and a retail version DOS 5. Anyway, I did buy a retail version of XP
with SP2.

Nope, not correct. Both Professional *and* Home support dual cores.
What Home doesn't support is two physical processors.

Thanks

--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY. http://www.linux-sxs.org
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you!
/( _ )\ (Xubuntu 7.04) Linux 2.6.21.3
^ ^ 19:31:01 up 9 days 3:04 0 users load average: 0.96 0.99 0.99
news://news.3home.net news://news.hkpcug.org news://news.newsgroup.com.hk

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Back then I didn't have an original.... I did have OEM Windows 3.1, DOS
6, and a retail version DOS 5. Anyway, I did buy a retail version of XP
with SP2.


Thanks

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[Frank\(FL\)]

I guess it's just in Europe that this is a requirement.

Alias

Newegg:
OS = any hardware
MS office products = CPU etc, etc.