I frequently see figures bandied about this board and various magazines that say that one can build a decent PC for gaming for about $1500. However, this figure never includes an OS. Since most games need to be on at least XP, if not Vista, isn’t that an extra bundle of money that the builder has to pay? Also, I just looked at MS’s website, and don’t even see how a person can buy one full copy of Vista; upgrades are all that are available. So, how do you do it? Use the startup disc from an old PC which isn’t being used any more?
If you buy computer parts at the same time (sometimes only a cable) you can get an OEM version of Windows in the $100 ballpark.
It is pretty basic and you hinted at the reason. Anyone that knows how to build a new PC will have some type of OS to upgrade from and lots of people just stay with XP. It is pretty hard to save money building a PC from scratch these days. The Dells of the world have way more buying power than you do for example. However, lots of us just build them because we want to and we can get everything exactly as we want it.
Exactly. You don’t build your own PC in order to save money. You do it so you can customize the computer however you like it.
As for getting an OS, maybe I’m just being dense, but you can walk into any computer store or Best Buy and pick up a full version of Windows.
The OP asked specifically about gaming computers. Those are still big money-savers: price out the components of one of those AlienWare, BlackBird, Falcon, or Pacific Northwest monsters sometime – it’s about a 50% savings to build it yourself, and the savings get better the “higher-end” you go. Even on the low end, you can occasionally beat the big manufacturers if you can reclaim a large number of components from your previous system (a motherboard + RAM + CPU upgrade alone, for example, might be much less than a full PC), but it’s going to be very, very hard to beat those $299 Dell boxes or the like for whole systems.
As for the (legal) OS: Boxed copies of most OSes can be transferred to new machines, OEM copies (either personal or pre-installed by a manufacturer) generally cannot. Also, every place I know of that sells motherboards also sells OEM Windows licenses, which are much cheaper than boxed copies (in part because of the transferring limitations and limits on activations). In the non-gaming world, there’s also Linux, many varieties of which are free.
As others have said, either buy it retail or OEM. Or go with a free OS.
In response to the OP, I also would argue you could get a really solid gaming PC for around $1,000. For around $2,000 you can get a “top of the line” gaming PC.
The differences will be small, though, at a certain point you pay a ridiculously high price for early adoption of PC components. For example I could put together a $1,000 (lots of X-factors, probably more like $1100-1200 because I don’t skimp on areas a lot of more price conscious people do) system that would play any PC game on the market at a performance level that would leave probably 95%+ of gamers happy. The people that wouldn’t be happy are the ones who would shell out another grand for a relatively minor upgrade (in the grand scheme of things) over the computer you can build for about half that.
It’s also worth noting, if you have an OEM version of Windows you can call in and tell them that your motherboard broke and they will sometimes allow you to reactivate it on a “replacement motherboard.” OEM versions are tied to the first motherboard they are used on, so this is one way to get around the limitations of OEM versions.
It’s also worth noting that an OEM OS has no tech support available from Microsoft (I believe you can pay for that tech support, maybe–not sure on that, though.) Whereas the full retail versions (and the upgrade versions) have it for free. Where you can really save money is to get an OEM Upgrade edition.
I’ve bought both OEM and retail versions of Microsoft OSes. Almost always OEM, but there have been a few instances where I’ve decided to shell out extra for a full retail system.
Something to keep in mind with OEM products in general is that they often have no warranties, that is why for certain products I never go OEM. I usually buy a retail HDD because they come pretty standard with 3 or 5 year warranties. On Newegg, they don’t even offer a 3 or 5 year replacement plan, and the price of their 2 year replacement plan erodes most of the savings you could get by going OEM.
Me three for these reasons. Besides, it’s fun!
I’m not the casual user, so my variables aren’t your variables. I see a modern $300 system and BOGGLE at the wasted abilities that the last 30 years of development has brought about.
one of the things I futz with is linux kernels. I remember when a small, relatively simple kernel took TWO DAYS to compile. Now, a $300 computer can compile a MUCH more complex kernel, and do it in under 2 minutes.
I have access to an MSDN subscription through my office. It’s a crazy amount of money, but one of the things it allows, is installation of up to 10 copies of any and all of MS’s OS’s in non production situations.
I’ve won a copy of Windows 2000 server. I was given a copy of Windows 2003 Server. I’ve bought a full, transferable copy of XP at $250-odd dollars. I’ve ripped XP and vista off a number of computers that I put Linux on. The wife is currently running a Pavilion that’s running ‘the OEM vista copy’ I ripped off the $300 computer I have in the basement running Gentoo.
My point? I’ll build for the idle distraction, and I’ve been ‘forced’* to buy enough OEM copies over the years, that I lose no sleep in running an MSDN copy of an OS.
I’m a console gamer and just flat can’t fathom paying $1500 for a hot gaming system (for a mac laptop? sure. Gamer box? nah.) $1500 buys an 360, a Wii, a PS3, and still has a TON of money left over for games. I’ve seen what a cheap cheap cheap embedded video adapter does with linux and can’t understand the need to drop the coin on a card that’ll run aero (although even cheap video cards can do DX10 now.)
I’d be more likely building a $200 fanless, silent, box to be a home firewall.
- = forced means the computer comes with a copy of windows, that I rip off the system. And that computer is flat CHEAP, and three times faster than the machine it replaces, it’s not that big a sacrifice.
I’m not saying it’s right, I’m not condoning it, and I’m not saying you should do it, but you asked how people who build their own computers get a copy of Windows, and one answer is that some people simply use pirated copies of Windows that don’t require activation and have cracks that allow them to fool Windows Genuine Advantage into letting them download updates to the OS.