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Should I risk buying Win 10 OEM Key ?

gh0st47
By gh0st47
in Windows
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I bet everyone now knows that you can actually get Windows 10 key for cheap, but normally they are only OEM version being sold....
Now I myself am using a Windows 7 OEM for the past 5 Years now I believe ? So far I guess no problem. 

Just your opinion, do you think it matters ? What keys are you using yourself OEM or Retail ? 
I do kinda regretted a bit for buying OEM key (  Especially since I paid FULL price for my Windows 7 key ) since OEM key will be locked onto your Mobo....
Which I wasn't able to change my Mobo unless I get another key....I wanted to change my Z77 board many times in the past but in the end I didn't due to having to buy a new key....

So now I be building a new PC, I was wondering should I get OEM or just pay full price for a Retail. 
But the OEM keys which I found is A LOT cheaper than the Retail.....the difference is like RM 50 - 150 for OEM which is about 10 - 20 USD  I guess ( 3rd party seller of course ) and Retail one is going for a whopping RM 530 which is nearly 130$ USD
Differences is huge ! 

I wonder should I just risk buying the cheap OEM key first and if things doesn't turn well maybe only then I should pay full price for the Retail ? What's everyone's opinion guys ? 

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I've always gone with OEM keys and have changed motherboards a couple times with no issue. I just use phone activation if it fails to activate normally and tell it that it's only been installed on 1 computer and boom.

 

Edit: With Windows 10 you can also tie the key to your Microsoft account if you sign in with that it should allow you to reactivate if you do swap hardware.

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It matters since OEM keys are tied to a specific machine and can't be reused, even if you upgrade the same machine.

Since they're cheap, you can just get another key, but I couldn't be bothered.

If you already have Win 7 installed and just want to upgrade the OS and not the PC itself, there's still a way of getting a free upgrade. Google's your friend in that matter.

Remember kids, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down. - Adam Savage

 

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1 minute ago, revsilverspine said:

It matters since OEM keys are tied to a specific machine and can't be reused, even if you upgrade the same machine.

Since they're cheap, you can just get another key, but I couldn't be bothered.

If you already have Win 7 installed and just want to upgrade the OS and not the PC itself, there's still a way of getting a free upgrade. Google's your friend in that matter.

I've always heard that but whenever I swap boards I just use phone activation to reactivate the key and it's always worked. I'm honest when I say it's only been installed on 1 machine and they just deactivate the other ID associated to the key so it can be used with the new board.

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1 minute ago, Lurick said:

I've always gone with OEM keys and have changed motherboards a couple times with no issue. I just use phone activation if it fails to activate normally and tell it that it's only been installed on 1 computer and boom.

 

Edit: With Windows 10 you can also tie the key to your Microsoft account if you sign in with that it should allow you to reactivate if you do swap hardware.

Yeah I've heard few people did that I haven't try it myself...but I wonder will it be possible for me. I mean it doesn't matter if I'm not from US right ? 
Sometimes these things work strangely lol..like Corsair for example. They have an Online store, but they only ship to US, Canada and some EU countries...they don't ship Worlwide even we are willing to pay !  Was kinda pissed off for that since back then there was a Case Spare Part I wanted to buy from them and couldn't get else where...

But as said since it's so damn cheap maybe I could just try risking it....

1 minute ago, revsilverspine said:

It matters since OEM keys are tied to a specific machine and can't be reused, even if you upgrade the same machine.

Since they're cheap, you can just get another key, but I couldn't be bothered.

If you already have Win 7 installed and just want to upgrade the OS and not the PC itself, there's still a way of getting a free upgrade. Google's your friend in that matter.

Nah, I be building a brand new PC. That's why I'm getting a new Windows 10 key.

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Just now, gh0st47 said:

Yeah I've heard few people did that I haven't try it myself...but I wonder will it be possible for me. I mean it doesn't matter if I'm not from US right ? 
Sometimes these things work strangely lol..like Corsair for example. They have an Online store, but they only ship to US, Canada and some EU countries...they don't ship Worlwide even we are willing to pay !  Was kinda pissed off for that since back then there was a Case Spare Part I wanted to buy from them and couldn't get else where...

But as said since it's so damn cheap maybe I could just try risking it....

Nah, I be building a brand new PC. That's why I'm getting a new Windows 10 key.

Yah, I don't think the phone activation will care where you're from, so long as you dial the right number for your country.

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But do you guys have any idea how are they selling the keys so cheap ? I mean they are LEGIT. Least what I heard or when bought from a reliable source, like Kinguin. 
It's about 26$ USD, back then Paul ( YouTuber ) bought for 20$ USD....but he did mentioned they are all 3rd party sellers...
Really curious. Or are Microsoft really that money monger of a bastard lol...I'm not surprise though, I mean there's a price difference between OEM and Retail keys....let's not forget the amount of different versions for Windows 7....

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Just now, Lurick said:

I've always heard that but whenever I swap boards I just use phone activation to reactivate the key and it's always worked. I'm honest when I say it's only been installed on 1 machine and they just deactivate the other ID associated to the key so it can be used with the new board.

I tried that and it only worked ONCE.

Second time I had to contact support (phone option was unavailable for some reason) and they were about as useful as a potato in a sandstorm.

Remember kids, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down. - Adam Savage

 

PHOΞNIX Ryzen 5 1600 @ 3.75GHz | Corsair LPX 16Gb DDR4 @ 2933 | MSI B350 Tomahawk | Sapphire RX 480 Nitro+ 8Gb | Intel 535 120Gb | Western Digital WD5000AAKS x2 | Cooler Master HAF XB Evo | Corsair H80 + Corsair SP120 | Cooler Master 120mm AF | Corsair SP120 | Icy Box IB-172SK-B | OCZ CX500W | Acer GF246 24" + AOC <some model> 21.5" | Steelseries Apex 350 | Steelseries Diablo 3 | Steelseries Syberia RAW Prism | Corsair HS-1 | Akai AM-A1

D.VA coming soon™ xoxo

Sapphire Acer Aspire 1410 Celeron 743 | 3Gb DDR2-667 | 120Gb HDD | Windows 10 Home x32

Vault Tec Celeron 420 | 2Gb DDR2-667 | Storage pending | Open Media Vault

gh0st Asus K50IJ T3100 | 2Gb DDR2-667 | 40Gb HDD | Ubuntu 17.04

Diskord Apple MacBook A1181 Mid-2007 Core2Duo T7400 @2.16GHz | 4Gb DDR2-667 | 120Gb HDD | Windows 10 Pro x32

Firebird//Phoeniix FX-4320 | Gigabyte 990X-Gaming SLI | Asus GTS 450 | 16Gb DDR3-1600 | 2x Intel 535 250Gb | 4x 10Tb Western Digital Red | 600W Segotep custom refurb unit | Windows 10 Pro x64 // offisite backup and dad's PC

 

Saint Olms Apple iPhone 6 16Gb Gold

Archon Microsoft Lumia 640 LTE

Gulliver Nokia Lumia 1320

Werkfern Nokia Lumia 520

Hydromancer Acer Liquid Z220

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4 minutes ago, gh0st47 said:

But do you guys have any idea how are they selling the keys so cheap ? I mean they are LEGIT. Least what I heard or when bought from a reliable source, like Kinguin. 
It's about 26$ USD, back then Paul ( YouTuber ) bought for 20$ USD....but he did mentioned they are all 3rd party sellers...
Really curious. Or are Microsoft really that money monger of a bastard lol...I'm not surprise though, I mean there's a price difference between OEM and Retail keys....let's not forget the amount of different versions for Windows 7....

It's a grey area. Most of the keys are legit and some others are stolen, fake, or volume license keys.

 

 

Just now, revsilverspine said:

I tried that and it only worked ONCE.

Second time I had to contact support (phone option was unavailable for some reason) and they were about as useful as a potato in a sandstorm.

Yah, there is a way to force phone activation to pop up, I forget the command but a quick google search should turn it up.

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Bought an OEM key when I made the jump to Ryzen because I'm not looking to upgrade the platform for the next couple of years. AFAIK you can still upgrade the GPU, which, apart from other minor stuff, is all I'm really planning to do.

For any other situation though, or if you're someone who updates more frequently I'd just pay some more up front and be done with it.

Ryzen is pretty cool I guess

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Hmm wait I just found this online, now I wonder does OEM even restrict you from major hardware change ??
Now I'm even more confused lol...or does this still only apply to Retail keys ??
Anyways I been searching around, there's a local here selling Retail keys for super cheap price just about 10$ USD or so...
I think I'm just gonna try my luck and give it a shot. It should be legit, because I found him in a Facebook group for my local PC Gaming Community. He sold a couple keys already. 
If they are fake, he would had been reported and banned from the group. 
 
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-re-activate-windows-10-after-hardware-change

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