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Vista Licensing 32bit and 64bit

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dominick32

Senior Solid State Aficionado
Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Location
New York
Guys. Some of you are probably aware that I am ditching my current rig and building up a new Vapochilled QX6700, P5B Deluxe, 4 Gigs of OCZ Titanium Ram rig. I purchased Vista Ultimate Edition 32 bit OEM from Newegg.com

My question to you: Lets say in 3 months I would like to get my hands on a copy of 64 Bit Ultimate OEM.

1. Will my license and CD key allow me to activate both the 32 bit or 64 bit Vista, and vice versa?

2. Will Microsoft send me a copy of the 64 bit Vista if I pay them shipping charges and prove to them that I own a copy of 32-bit ultimate?

or #3. Am I crap out of luck because the OEM edition cannot be upgraded, transferred, etc. etc.

Thanks in advance,
Dom
 
From what I understand, it's #3, from what I understand, with the key you can activate one or the other, even with the ones that come with both :shrug:
 
sno.lcn said:
From what I understand, it's #3, from what I understand, with the key you can activate one or the other, even with the ones that come with both :shrug:

Wow, so this means I need to buy another copy of 64 bit Vista in the future for $200?? Thats ludicris.
 
You could sell it or cancel the order before it comes and take my suggestion as well. I tried to do more digging into it this afternoon and it just seems to be SOL all around with OEM's. Only plus side is you could have it on 2 PC's for the same price as the full blown Ultimate edition.
 
If you are absolutely certain that you won't need 64-bit for the entire lifetime of the machine then the OEM's probably the best choice, otherwise deathman's suggestion of cancelling the order would probably be wise.
 
This is a really tough decision guys... LOL
64 bit or 32 bit????????????????????
Cancel or dont cancel the order? Damn you Microsoft.
 
Dom, my personal opinion is go with 64 bit. You will only kick yourself in the ***, and/or be out $200 down the road.

I plan on going Vista Ultimate 64bit when RC1 hits the streets. I wont even waste my time on 32bit, as everything is slowly migrating over to 64.
 
For retail versions of Vista you can use the same license/product key to install and activate both the 32bit and 64bit versions of Vista but only on one machine at a time and you can only install the 64bit or 32bit, not both, you can however install Vista 32bit and at a later date install Vista 64bit, if you then decide to go back to Vista 32bit or Vista 64bit, you can.

For OEM versions of Vista you can only use the license/product key for the version you have, eg:32bit product key for the 32bit version only, not the 64bit version, and the 64bit product key for the 64bit version only.
 
Damn guys. Looks like Newegg is going to be getting a return from me.
Let me just double check on some things. Do we have 64 bit signed drivers for this stuff:

1. EVGA 8800GTX
2. Creative XFI Xtreme Music
3. 965 Chipset Drivers
4. Marvell/Yukon Wan Winiport Drivers
5. Intel Matrix Storage Manager

Also, what kind of software compatibility issues am I looking at here?

Thanks.
Dom
 
Check this out guys. NEWEGGS return policy:
Retail software : Unopened within 30 days
OEM Software: NON REFUNDABLE!!!!

I am **** out of luck!
 
dominick32 said:
Damn guys. Looks like Newegg is going to be getting a return from me.
Let me just double check on some things. Do we have 64 bit signed drivers for this stuff:

1. EVGA 8800GTX
2. Creative XFI Xtreme Music
3. 965 Chipset Drivers
4. Marvell/Yukon Wan Winiport Drivers
5. Intel Matrix Storage Manager

Also, what kind of software compatibility issues am I looking at here?

Thanks.
Dom

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Yes (actually I never installed anything for this so it was automatically installed already)
4) Yes (but getting the latest is advised)
5) They did for 32-bit I haven't installed the software for 64-bit and I am running raid but I know they had 64-bit beta's

Remember you can kill required signatures.
 
dominick32 said:
Check this out guys. NEWEGGS return policy:
Retail software : Unopened within 30 days
OEM Software: NON REFUNDABLE!!!!

I am **** out of luck!

You may simply try and call them on the phone. You arent actually getting a refund, you are getting an exchange (32b for 64b) on an unopened item. Newegg are generally very good over the phone. Its worth a shot.
 
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