I need to buy another copy of Windows don't I?

Richeh

Richeh

Richeh

Soldato
Joined
24 Jul 2003
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:(

Am currently building a new PC (Have case, PSU and RAM so far) and in all my budgeting I didn't think I needed to include Windows as knew I had 2 spare keys.

Unfortunately....my only Windows 7 key (Which was an upgrade DVD for my Asus laptop, from Vista 64Bit) is currently installed on my laptop and I have 2 spare VISTA keys. I must have had a mental block as just had it in my head that Windows 7 will be fine with them. Of course it's not :p

As I have doubled the budget for my PC I am reluctant and bloody annoyed that I will have to pay another £80 for another Win 7 key.

Can anyone shed some light on my best options here?

Currently only have laptop with Win 7 64Bit once new PC built, the new PC will be used for XBMC, Gaming (BF3), uTorrent plugged into my TV via HDMI and the laptop will simply be used for browsing if I have a film on the TV.

Option A: Buy another Windows 7
Option B: Use Windows 8 on PC as free but am very concerned about compatibility here.
Option C: (And very hard for me to do as will need the laptop up and running) Use the Windows 7 key from my laptop on the PC and install Vista on the laptop.

What's the best way of doing this? Is very annoying having 2 useless Vista keys!
 
Give option B a go. What are you running that you think will have compatibility issues? You'll need to give it some time as 8 takes a fair bit of getting used to due to the changes, but you're delaying buying a new license til either Win 8 is released or you decide to stick on Win 7.
 
Basically final build should be:

i5 2500k
Z77 Mobo
AMD 7850

Will be running XBMC, Firefox, uTorrent, Battlefield 3 plus other games (Skyrim, SSF4) will probably use a few GPU overclocking tools as well.

Will also be getting a decent wireless mouse and IR Receiver for my Harmony remote.

It's not just compatibility but also performance, if drivers aren't optimized as well etc

I think I may just slap on Windows 7 without a key and make my mind up during the trial period.
 
Doubt you'll have any problems with that, or see any drop in performance. If the drivers work on Windows 7 they will generally work on Windows 8. There's some anomalies like with Asus Xonar's where they do an OS version check which then prevents you loading the control panel.

For the games side I had to manually install GFWL.

I've had a few BSOD's but that's down to some 3d rendering software and resuming from standby mid-render.
 
Windows 8 seems pretty good. I haven't noticed any drop in performance and everything runs on my machine. You have several months on 8 before havibg to buy it and it might even have a cheap opening offer....
 
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