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Windows OEM vs retail

food158

I am buying windows 8.1 for my new pc I am building. The choices are oem version and a retail version. Which one should I pick?

 

Retail.

OEM gets no support from Microsoft.

The projects never end in my line of work.

CPU: Dual Xeon E5-2650v2 || GPU: Dual Quadro K5000 || Motherboard: Asus Z9PE-D8 || RAM: 64GB Corsair Vengeance || Monitors: Dual LG 34UM95, NEC MultiSync EA244UHD || Storage: Dual Samsung 850 Pro 256GB in Raid 0, 6x WD Re 4TB in Raid 1 || Sound: Xonar Essense STX (Mainly for Troubleshooting and listening test) || PSU: Corsair Ax1500i

CPU: Core i7 5820k @ 4.7GHz || GPU: Dual Titan X || Motherboard: Asus X99 Deluxe || RAM: 32GB Crucial Ballistix Sport || Monitors: MX299Q, 29UB65, LG 34UM95 || Storage: Dual Samsung 850 EVO 1 TB in Raid 0, Samsung 850 EVO 250GB, 2TB Toshiba scratch disk, 3TB Seagate Barracuda || PSU: EVGA 1000w PS Platinum

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Whichever is cheaper

Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow; Motherboard: MSI ZZ490 Gaming Edge; CPU: i7 10700K @ 5.1GHz; Cooler: Noctua NHD15S Chromax; RAM: Corsair LPX DDR4 32GB 3200MHz; Graphics Card: Asus RTX 3080 TUF; Power: EVGA SuperNova 750G2; Storage: 2 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB; Crucial M500 240GB & MX100 512GB; Keyboard: Logitech G710+; Mouse: Logitech G502; Headphones / Amp: HiFiMan Sundara Mayflower Objective 2; Monitor: Asus VG27AQ

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OEM is probably your best bet. You will lose support from Microsoft, but it's typically a fair bit cheaper and is identical other then that.

Normandy - Intel Core i5 3470, 8 GB Corsair Vengenace LP, EVGA GTX 960 SSC, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, WD Blue 1 TB, Seagate 320 GB (steam), Seagate 320 GB (experimental, second OS, etc), Windows 8.1 + Ubuntu 14.10

Garrus - HP Stream 11

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OEM (also known as System builder) -> Cannot be transferred system (lock to motherboard) and no Microsoft support

Retail -> You have support, you can resale it (if someone trust you and willing to buy), and you can transfer it system.

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