Spec me a New htpc gaming rig (2k budget)

[scaryjim]

... I'd also go for a retail copy rather than using OEM against it's licence agreement ...

I'm intrigued, what's changed in the OEM license agreement that means it can't be used by home builders? never used to be a problem with previous versions.

[kalniel]

I'm intrigued, what's changed in the OEM license agreement that means it can't be used by home builders? never used to be a problem with previous versions.

I can't see any change. OEM is still for use by system builders who will provide the support to the end-user themselves. Nothing stopping the end-user being the same person as the system builder.

edit: above is wrong - see later post

[scaryjim]

I can't see any change. OEM is still for use by system builders who will provide the support to the end-user themselves. Nothing stopping the end-user being the same person as the system builder.

Hmm, actually, hunting around I came up with this (somewhat old) article: http://www.cnet.com/forums/discussio...hanged-374252/

Don't know if it still applies, but if so it does rather squish the use of OEM software on home-build machines.

EDIT:

Heh, doing a bit more reading around suggests that the policy switched back to it being allowed for Win 8, then stopped again for Win 8.1. No-one actually seems to know the current position (and incidentally, you can't download the OEM license from MS unless you're registered with their system builder program). I'd personally be inclined to build it with OEM software and if MS asked me I'd tell them it was a customer return

[kalniel]

Couldn't see the links in that article any more, but found relevant one here:

https://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/lic...sonal-use.aspx

If you are building a system for your personal use or installing an additional operating system in a virtual machine, you will need to purchase a full version of Windows 10, available in FPP. Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 system builder software does not permit personal use, and is intended only for preinstallation on customer systems that will be sold to end users.*

Still lacking clarification about selling to yourself as an end user, but would seem to suggest retail is needed.

EDIT: I used to be a partner, but my membership has lapsed. Got bored going through the options to renew it.

[scaryjim]

Windows 8 Peronsla Use License for OEM software here: http://personaluselicense.windows.co...S/default.aspx

it looks like the legal way to do this (before 29th Julyish) is to buy Windows 8 OEM, obtain the personal use license at that website, then upgrade to Windows 10? Except, of course, that you can't buy a Windows 8 OEM license anymore.

*sigh* Why, Microsoft? This makes no sense....

EDIT: other thought about selling to end users - set up a partnership or limited company as they are a legal entity in their own right, buy through that legal entity, then sell the system to yourself as an individual? Bit of a faff, but do it right and you could actually start writing off computer purchases as business expenses and benefit from some of the tax benefits too....

[j.o.s.h.1408]

What u think of this build?

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/4V2RJV

minus the pc case i couldnt find the Streacom F12C case but paired the above build with a similar priced case

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Windows 8 Peronsla Use License for OEM software here: http://personaluselicense.windows.co...S/default.aspx

it looks like the legal way to do this (before 29th Julyish) is to buy Windows 8 OEM, obtain the personal use license at that website, then upgrade to Windows 10? Except, of course, that you can't buy a Windows 8 OEM license anymore.

*sigh* Why, Microsoft? This makes no sense....

EDIT: other thought about selling to end users - set up a partnership or limited company as they are a legal entity in their own right, buy through that legal entity, then sell the system to yourself as an individual? Bit of a faff, but do it right and you could actually start writing off computer purchases as business expenses and benefit from some of the tax benefits too....

i already put some of my pc stuff through my limited company

[EndlessWaves]

*sigh* Why, Microsoft? This makes no sense....

Yeah, I don't know why Microsoft still sell single OEM packs. Even just selling it as a double pack would knock on the head the vast majority of consumer purchases without significantly impacting the target market.

What u think of this build?

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/4V2RJV

minus the pc case i couldnt find the Streacom F12C case but paired the above build with a similar priced case

It's entirely pointless spending £100 on a closed loop cooler if you're not overclocking. A simple £25 air cooler will do just as good a job, and will probably be quieter too (no pump noise).

That Corsair Force LE drive is massively overpriced. It uses the same controller and memory as the Trion 150, which costs £160 instead of £240 for the same capacity. Neither of your listed uses are very demanding of the disk, so I'd probably go for whatever 1TB SSD is cheap at the time.

A 760W PSU is still a huge capacity. The system as specced will have a 250W power draw at full load, and while you want to have some margin you'll only need 500W spare if you want to add a further GTX 1080 or two down the road. If you want a luxury model then something like Seasonic's Fanless models at 400-500W capacity are worth a look.

[wazzickle]

Whether something is legal or illegal is irrelevant if those in authority have neither the will nor power to enforce it, as legality is supposed to follow morality, not the other way round.

1TB SSD seems a huge waste of money to me. Either an SSHD or a 256 GB samsung M.2 with regular HDD (usually WD Green), if not a 64GB SSD for only your OS.

[EndlessWaves]

1TB SSD seems a huge waste of money to me. Either an SSHD or a 256 GB samsung M.2 with regular HDD (usually WD Green), if not a 64GB SSD for only your OS.

I wouldn't go for a tiny little 64GB SSD that you'll be struggling to clear after a few years or a substantially slower SSHD. Both options were worth considering five years ago, but their time is most definitely past.

A SSD & HDD? A 256GB SSD costs £50 with a 1TB hard drive costing £40 so you're only saving £70 over the £160 a 1TB SSD costs. Given you're spending that much on items like a fancier power supply that'll make no difference to performance I don't think it makes sense in this context.

A small, expensive PCI-E SSD and HDD for the same total price? That gives you a quarter of your storage capacity at twice the speed and the rest of it at 1/100th of the speed. It'll be beneficial for some people, but given the future proofing requirement it doesn't fit here.

[wazzickle]

It's pretty easy to change the settings so that nothing saves to your OS drive and have everything on storage. The question is what's the priority? With a 64gb OS, you get the snappy response benefit, missing out only on game data and transfer rates, but you can spend > £100 on your GPU or cooling. A 1TB SSD is cool and all but it's for people with a bigger budget than this. For 4k gaming, £2k is not a particularly big budget so you do have to compromise on some things, and transfer rates cost more than they're worth in this build, imo. The combination of small OS SSD and large economical HDD provide the best ratio of performance to cost-efficiency in this set-up, with this budget.

[EndlessWaves]

It's pretty easy to change the settings so that nothing saves to your OS drive and have everything on storage.

You can move the majority of stuff off, but there are always programs that have to put stuff on the windows drive. And stuff like windows updates and sxs environments will slowly grow it's size even if you're not putting any of your documents there. I had a 50GB windows partition on my last PC and you just end up having to clear bits off it every so often. For the sake of 1% of the budget I wouldn't even consider going less than 240GB. Even if it means you end up spending £2020.

For 4k gaming, £2k is not a particularly big budget so you do have to compromise on some things, and transfer rates cost more than they're worth in this build, imo.

Only if he's interested in an SLI setup which he doesn't seem to be so far.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Na no sli setup

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Umm how legit is this?

https://softwaregeeks.co.uk/product/windows-10-pro/

[shaithis]

Umm how legit is this?

https://softwaregeeks.co.uk/product/windows-10-pro/

Hard to say......some of these places are legit (and these make it seem so buy saying its a Dell/HP/Lenovo OEM license).......some of these places dish out Technet/MSDN keys though (although that practice should be curtailing after the recent changes to number of Workstation licenses you get).

[EndlessWaves]

Umm how legit is this?

https://softwaregeeks.co.uk/product/windows-10-pro/

Just look at the price for the answer to that.