Those are designed with database servers in mind, where access times are just as important as throughput. The delay of a RAID controller on a database, plus the SATA interface can be bypassed by using the DIMM SSD. That kind of performance won't benefit you on a gaming PC, though.
I'll leave the SSD solutions and suggestions to the numerous posts before me. As a former Microsoft employee though, I want to answer your Windows question.
If you bought your computer from a retailer and it was one which was provided within 6months before or following Windows 8's release. Then you're given a free upgrade to Windows 8. The license (product key) used by manufacturers on retail computers is referred to as an OEM license. This is a cheaper license because it has a single non-transferable activation. This helps keep the cost down for manufacturers selling their computers in store. The downside to these OEM keys are that they are completely useless if your motherboard, CPU, or hard drive are replaced. Since the product key is activated and saved on a database along with the MAC Address generated when you first run a computer with a hard drive, motherboard, and processor. The free Windows 8 upgrade that was provided to customers was also an OEM license which is registered to the OEM Windows 7 license and the original hardware MAC Address. Changing either invalidates the Windows 8 upgrade license. And since that free upgrade license which was provided was also an OEM. You cannot transfer that to a new computer.
Now, if you personally bought a Windows 7 license, and it was not an OEM license (which can be purchased from some retailers and online build sites). Then you can un-register the license from a given MAC Address for use on a new one up to three times. Though doing so makes it invalid on the previous MAC Address (old computer) when doing so to prevent using one key on multiple computers. If you did purchase a non-OEM Windows 7 license. Then you'll be able to install that on another computer. From the sounds of it though, you have an OEM Windows 7 license which came pre-installed by the manufacturer; as they never provide a disk to reinstall the software.
Even if your Windows 7 license is not an OEM license, you will not be able to utilize your free Windows 8 upgrade you currently have on a new computer (and thus a new hard drive).
This is one of the reasons why I build my own computer rather than buying a completed system from a manufacturer. Since I will buy a non-OEM Windows license. So if/when my hardware fails or I upgrade. I have no additional fees from the change in hardware.
Originally posted by Keldor837 I'll leave the SSD solutions and suggestions to the numerous posts before me. As a former Microsoft employee though, I want to answer your Windows question.
As a former Microsoft employee, can you explain why Windows licensing is so convoluted that it takes a flow chart and several venn diagram and a law degree to figure out licensing issues?
Originally posted by Keldor837 I'll leave the SSD solutions and suggestions to the numerous posts before me. As a former Microsoft employee though, I want to answer your Windows question.
As a former Microsoft employee, can you explain why Windows licensing is so convoluted that it takes a flow chart and several venn diagram and a law degree to figure out licensing issues?
If you can figure out an easier way to track, and limit the use of software such as Windows. So that one person can't simply borrow a disk from a friend, or download it from some share site. Then by all means, share the idea with everyone. Back before the internet was common-place, Windows didn't have product keys (licenses) and even if someone did share their Windows 98 install disk with someone else. More than 90% of the time people back then didn't know anything about computer hardware or how to get it. So everyone went through manufacturers and retailers to get their computers. These would all come with their own Windows pre-installed and paid for by the manufacturer anyway. With enthusiasts building their own now, and the knowledge on building hardware as well as software. It's more and more important to control and maintain a product such as software. For each license of Windows that is sold, the company is expected to provide support to that user for several months for complete and total technical support. After that, they are warranted limited technical support and assistance. Following that, the company still has to monitor, and update the software for compatibility and security purposes for several years. This takes millions of man hours and a lot of hardware/software maintenance for those individuals providing support to hundreds of millions of consumers across multiple operation systems. All while developing additional products or a newer version. None of that can be done without consistent revenue. If there were no limits on the number of computers you could activate Windows on. Then with the internet as it is. No one would ever buy Windows again, which means no more free updates for compatibility, security, and features (aka Linux). Due to no money coming in to finance development.
Linux is free because there's no company behind it, holding anyone's hand and providing the resources on the users behalf. Users contribute and voluntarily offer help and advice. MacOS has maximum support from Apple, with very frequent updates (sometimes a bad thing if you've ever used a Mac for a length of time), and Apple bends over backwards to assist people with the software. But you can't really do anything with it on your own, since it's on lockdown by Apple, and everything has to go through them. Windows on the other hand, acts as the fulcrum on a scale, going so far as to sell rights to completely re-code/tool it and sell the results for yourself (Detours http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/detours/). Linux on one side, Mac on the other, and Windows balancing in between. Windows is the closest thing you can get to having both worlds, but has the hassle of trying to make money and limit it's use while also making it openly available and trying to make a profit off it. The only feasible way of doing this currently is with registering MAC addresses with product keys.
The downside to these OEM keys are that they are completely useless if your motherboard, CPU, or hard drive are replaced.
I replaced a hard drive with an SSD in my laptop and reused the OEM license and it worked. It did ask me to reenter the license key after a few days, but since then, it's worked just fine. Of course, the laptop was never so much as turned on with the hard drive in it; if the hard drive was dead on arrival, I wouldn't have known.
I also replaced an SSD with a different SSD in my desktop while reusing the license key, and that worked without incident.
The license key is tied to the motherboard, but upgrades of an SSD or CPU are customarily allowed.
I'm not saying the software should be free - MS provides the technology and support, and I am happy to pay for it (and suggest to other people thinking otherwise that they should as well).
But I can think of several licensing models that aren't nearly as convoluted or complicated.
And if the argument is that the licensing model has to be arcane and complicated because it discourages/prevents piracy, I would be the first to stand up and argue that it actually encourages more piracy, and does nothing in and of itself to prevent or discourage piracy.
Sure, you have to cater to everything from the Asian market where it's more common to buy a bootleg than actually even have access to a genuine article, to huge corporations with massive license-bases, and everything in between... and the answer doesn't need to be one-size-fits-all (speaking with regard to licensing, price, software, and support), but holy cow there isn't much software out there in the consumer space that has a more tangled up licensing arrangement than Windows.
Windows 8 did simplify it some, but not nearly enough in my opinion.
Originally posted by Quizzical I replaced a hard drive with an SSD in my laptop and reused the OEM license and it worked. It did ask me to reenter the license key after a few days, but since then, it's worked just fine. Of course, the laptop was never so much as turned on with the hard drive in it; if the hard drive was dead on arrival, I wouldn't have known.I also replaced an SSD with a different SSD in my desktop while reusing the license key, and that worked without incident.The license key is tied to the motherboard, but upgrades of an SSD or CPU are customarily allowed.
I was going to post "It's so complicated not even former employees from Microsoft can get it right", but I think you put it a bit more subtly.
Originally posted by Quizzical I replaced a hard drive with an SSD in my laptop and reused the OEM license and it worked. It did ask me to reenter the license key after a few days, but since then, it's worked just fine. Of course, the laptop was never so much as turned on with the hard drive in it; if the hard drive was dead on arrival, I wouldn't have known.
I also replaced an SSD with a different SSD in my desktop while reusing the license key, and that worked without incident.
The license key is tied to the motherboard, but upgrades of an SSD or CPU are customarily allowed.
I was going to post "It's so complicated not even former employees from Microsoft can get it right", but I think you put it a bit more subtly.
It depends on the way in which those upgrades are applied, the maker of said parts(and thus how they communicate with one another), and how Windows detects the new parts. If any one of those three things doesn't align to within a certain degree, then Windows may detect the change if it falls outside of the Windows Authentication ruleset.
Comments
Those are designed with database servers in mind, where access times are just as important as throughput. The delay of a RAID controller on a database, plus the SATA interface can be bypassed by using the DIMM SSD. That kind of performance won't benefit you on a gaming PC, though.
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-512GB-2-5-Inch-9-5mm-CT512M4SSD2/product-reviews/B004W2JL3Y/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0
Need to read the real world reviews of Crucials SSD.
I'll leave the SSD solutions and suggestions to the numerous posts before me. As a former Microsoft employee though, I want to answer your Windows question.
If you bought your computer from a retailer and it was one which was provided within 6months before or following Windows 8's release. Then you're given a free upgrade to Windows 8. The license (product key) used by manufacturers on retail computers is referred to as an OEM license. This is a cheaper license because it has a single non-transferable activation. This helps keep the cost down for manufacturers selling their computers in store. The downside to these OEM keys are that they are completely useless if your motherboard, CPU, or hard drive are replaced. Since the product key is activated and saved on a database along with the MAC Address generated when you first run a computer with a hard drive, motherboard, and processor. The free Windows 8 upgrade that was provided to customers was also an OEM license which is registered to the OEM Windows 7 license and the original hardware MAC Address. Changing either invalidates the Windows 8 upgrade license. And since that free upgrade license which was provided was also an OEM. You cannot transfer that to a new computer.
Now, if you personally bought a Windows 7 license, and it was not an OEM license (which can be purchased from some retailers and online build sites). Then you can un-register the license from a given MAC Address for use on a new one up to three times. Though doing so makes it invalid on the previous MAC Address (old computer) when doing so to prevent using one key on multiple computers. If you did purchase a non-OEM Windows 7 license. Then you'll be able to install that on another computer. From the sounds of it though, you have an OEM Windows 7 license which came pre-installed by the manufacturer; as they never provide a disk to reinstall the software.
Even if your Windows 7 license is not an OEM license, you will not be able to utilize your free Windows 8 upgrade you currently have on a new computer (and thus a new hard drive).
This is one of the reasons why I build my own computer rather than buying a completed system from a manufacturer. Since I will buy a non-OEM Windows license. So if/when my hardware fails or I upgrade. I have no additional fees from the change in hardware.
I've installed a lot, they work pretty well. I'd agree with the 4 and a quarter star overall on most crucial products
As a former Microsoft employee, can you explain why Windows licensing is so convoluted that it takes a flow chart and several venn diagram and a law degree to figure out licensing issues?
If you can figure out an easier way to track, and limit the use of software such as Windows. So that one person can't simply borrow a disk from a friend, or download it from some share site. Then by all means, share the idea with everyone. Back before the internet was common-place, Windows didn't have product keys (licenses) and even if someone did share their Windows 98 install disk with someone else. More than 90% of the time people back then didn't know anything about computer hardware or how to get it. So everyone went through manufacturers and retailers to get their computers. These would all come with their own Windows pre-installed and paid for by the manufacturer anyway. With enthusiasts building their own now, and the knowledge on building hardware as well as software. It's more and more important to control and maintain a product such as software. For each license of Windows that is sold, the company is expected to provide support to that user for several months for complete and total technical support. After that, they are warranted limited technical support and assistance. Following that, the company still has to monitor, and update the software for compatibility and security purposes for several years. This takes millions of man hours and a lot of hardware/software maintenance for those individuals providing support to hundreds of millions of consumers across multiple operation systems. All while developing additional products or a newer version. None of that can be done without consistent revenue. If there were no limits on the number of computers you could activate Windows on. Then with the internet as it is. No one would ever buy Windows again, which means no more free updates for compatibility, security, and features (aka Linux). Due to no money coming in to finance development.
Linux is free because there's no company behind it, holding anyone's hand and providing the resources on the users behalf. Users contribute and voluntarily offer help and advice. MacOS has maximum support from Apple, with very frequent updates (sometimes a bad thing if you've ever used a Mac for a length of time), and Apple bends over backwards to assist people with the software. But you can't really do anything with it on your own, since it's on lockdown by Apple, and everything has to go through them. Windows on the other hand, acts as the fulcrum on a scale, going so far as to sell rights to completely re-code/tool it and sell the results for yourself (Detours http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/detours/). Linux on one side, Mac on the other, and Windows balancing in between. Windows is the closest thing you can get to having both worlds, but has the hassle of trying to make money and limit it's use while also making it openly available and trying to make a profit off it. The only feasible way of doing this currently is with registering MAC addresses with product keys.
I replaced a hard drive with an SSD in my laptop and reused the OEM license and it worked. It did ask me to reenter the license key after a few days, but since then, it's worked just fine. Of course, the laptop was never so much as turned on with the hard drive in it; if the hard drive was dead on arrival, I wouldn't have known.
I also replaced an SSD with a different SSD in my desktop while reusing the license key, and that worked without incident.
The license key is tied to the motherboard, but upgrades of an SSD or CPU are customarily allowed.
I'm not saying the software should be free - MS provides the technology and support, and I am happy to pay for it (and suggest to other people thinking otherwise that they should as well).
But I can think of several licensing models that aren't nearly as convoluted or complicated.
And if the argument is that the licensing model has to be arcane and complicated because it discourages/prevents piracy, I would be the first to stand up and argue that it actually encourages more piracy, and does nothing in and of itself to prevent or discourage piracy.
Sure, you have to cater to everything from the Asian market where it's more common to buy a bootleg than actually even have access to a genuine article, to huge corporations with massive license-bases, and everything in between... and the answer doesn't need to be one-size-fits-all (speaking with regard to licensing, price, software, and support), but holy cow there isn't much software out there in the consumer space that has a more tangled up licensing arrangement than Windows.
Windows 8 did simplify it some, but not nearly enough in my opinion.
I was going to post "It's so complicated not even former employees from Microsoft can get it right", but I think you put it a bit more subtly.
It depends on the way in which those upgrades are applied, the maker of said parts(and thus how they communicate with one another), and how Windows detects the new parts. If any one of those three things doesn't align to within a certain degree, then Windows may detect the change if it falls outside of the Windows Authentication ruleset.
Just put in an MX 100 and had an issue with my mail and windows updates not working. I cloned old HD so was not a fresh install.
Anyhow i found this http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-7-troubleshooter-error-0x8e5e0247/3d46f7a4-4433-41c8-aba6-e42a3532614e?page=2
which led to this Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver : http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02219204&cc=nl&lc=en&dlc=en&product
Fixed all my issues after installing that new driver. Just a FYI if anyone runs into the same type problem after an upgrade and clone on old system.