Where do you recommend purchasing Windows for a new rig?

wishman35 · Oct 5, 2012, 02:49 PM

I have student credentials so I can pull that off - but I assume I need the full version or am I able to purchase the upgrade (doubtful right?)

Can anyone direct me to the cheapest possible way to purchase right now and get it soon? Can you also let me know if the Professional is essential or can I go for the lesser model?

Thanks again for all of the advice!

Phusius · Oct 5, 2012, 02:51 PM

If you have a student discount you need to contact your local college campus library, they probably have a special website for you to purchase the discounted software.

I know my college used e-Academy, and it was only about $30 cheaper on average, but every college is different. Some give it away free.

Frick · Oct 5, 2012, 02:52 PM

Are you connected to Dreamspark?

wishman35 · Oct 5, 2012, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frick

Are you connected to Dreamspark?

No I am not... I dont live on campus or anything, I go back and forth between taking some classes. Its nothing full time.

I assume I need the full disk version, am I better off just buying on Newegg? and what version is best if I just use it for internet and gaming?

Phusius · Oct 5, 2012, 03:00 PM

Call your campuses local library then... they would know, and it may be offered for free... worth the call before you buy on Newegg.

wishman35 · Oct 5, 2012, 03:03 PM

How about this site? NCIX... Home Premium. Would this do? I guess I just need to know if Home Premium is going to be adequate vs Professional

http://us.ncix.com/products/?usaffil...t&promoid=1061

Widjaja · Oct 5, 2012, 03:06 PM

Home Premium, Pro and Ultimate are fine for gaming with Home Premium being the cheapest due to limitations implicated by Microsoft to justify the pricing for Pro and Ultimate.

If for some reason want to install more than 16GB of ram, you will want Pro or Ultimate.

I am using Home Premium and it is fine for gaming with my current set up.

newtekie1 · Oct 5, 2012, 03:25 PM

There are some sites that offer student discounts on Windows. However, they usually only offer the discounts on the Retail editions, so it still ends up cheaper to just buy the OEM version from newegg.

Yes Home Premium is good enough, but I would get at least Professional if you plan to stick with 7 for a while because Home Premium is limited to 16GB of memory and the price difference to go to Pro isn't that much.

tacosRcool · Oct 5, 2012, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phusius

If you have a student discount you need to contact your local college campus library, they probably have a special website for you to purchase the discounted software.

I know my college used e-Academy, and it was only about $30 cheaper on average, but every college is different. Some give it away free.

I got an upgrade to Windows 7 pro for $25 at my university

Beertintedgoggles · Oct 5, 2012, 04:08 PM

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...UB_4up_Windows

Pretty sure when you download it comes as an ISO. I bought the student version a while back this way, as long as you have a valid .edu email address you're fine. $65 for Windows 7 Professional (it's the upgrade version but as far as I know if you make the disc bootable you should be fine for an install from scratch.... I'd double check first though).

Quote:

Originally Posted by tacosRcool

I got an upgrade to Windows 7 pro for $25 at my university

Good deal!

WhiteLotus · Oct 5, 2012, 04:25 PM

Software4students

Oct 5, 2012, 02:49 PM	#1
wishman35 Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 19 (0.07/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Where do you recommend purchasing Windows for a new rig? I have student credentials so I can pull that off - but I assume I need the full version or am I able to purchase the upgrade (doubtful right?) Can anyone direct me to the cheapest possible way to purchase right now and get it soon? Can you also let me know if the Professional is essential or can I go for the lesser model? Thanks again for all of the advice!

Processor:	i5-2500k @ 4.5
Motherboard:	Asus Z68 Deluxe
Cooling:	Noctua NH-D14
Memory:	16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card:	Sapphire 7950 @ 1200/1475 @ 1175v
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell 23" 2ms
Case:	Carbide 500r
Sound Card:	Asus Xonar DG

Oct 5, 2012, 02:52 PM	#3
Frick Fishfaced Nincompoop Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Sweden Posts: 8,051 (3.02/day) Thanks: 1,100 Thanked 1,500 Times in 1,193 Posts System Specs	Are you connected to Dreamspark? __________________ "The 'gentle biker' look is overdone. I'm going for 'psycho hillbilly.' "

System Name:	Coming
Processor:	Celeron G550
Motherboard:	Asus P8H61-M
Cooling:	Stuff
Memory:	4GB
Video Card:	Wossname
Hard Disk:	160GB + 1TB
Optical Drive:	no
CRT/LCD Model:	1280 x 1024
Case:	Arctic Cooling Silentium T11
PSU:	FSP400-60APN
Software:	Windows 7 Pro
Benchmarks:	88mph!

Processor:	i5-2500k @ 4.5
Motherboard:	Asus Z68 Deluxe
Cooling:	Noctua NH-D14
Memory:	16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card:	Sapphire 7950 @ 1200/1475 @ 1175v
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell 23" 2ms
Case:	Carbide 500r
Sound Card:	Asus Xonar DG

Oct 5, 2012, 02:51 PM	#2
Phusius Banned Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 1,262 (2.79/day) Thanks: 621 Thanked 380 Times in 208 Posts System Specs	If you have a student discount you need to contact your local college campus library, they probably have a special website for you to purchase the discounted software. I know my college used e-Academy, and it was only about $30 cheaper on average, but every college is different. Some give it away free.

Oct 5, 2012, 03:00 PM	#5
Phusius Banned Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 1,262 (2.79/day) Thanks: 621 Thanked 380 Times in 208 Posts System Specs	Call your campuses local library then... they would know, and it may be offered for free... worth the call before you buy on Newegg.

Oct 5, 2012, 03:03 PM	#6
wishman35 Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 19 (0.07/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	How about this site? NCIX... Home Premium. Would this do? I guess I just need to know if Home Premium is going to be adequate vs Professional http://us.ncix.com/products/?usaffil...t&promoid=1061

Oct 5, 2012, 03:06 PM	#7
Widjaja Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Wangas, New Zealand Posts: 4,058 (1.85/day) Thanks: 244 Thanked 632 Times in 547 Posts System Specs	Home Premium, Pro and Ultimate are fine for gaming with Home Premium being the cheapest due to limitations implicated by Microsoft to justify the pricing for Pro and Ultimate. If for some reason want to install more than 16GB of ram, you will want Pro or Ultimate. I am using Home Premium and it is fine for gaming with my current set up.

System Name:	Darth Obsidious
Processor:	Intel i5 2500K
Motherboard:	ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3
Cooling:	Cooler Master Hyper 212+ in Push Pull
Memory:	2X4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600
Video Card:	ASUS HD7870 Direct CU II
Hard Disk:	128GB Samsung 830 SSD, 1TB WD Black, 2TB WD Green
Optical Drive:	ASUS BC-12B1ST 12X Blu-ray Combo
CRT/LCD Model:	LG IPS234V-PN
Case:	Corsair Obsidian 650D
Sound Card:	Infrasonic Quartet
PSU:	Corsair HX650w
Software:	Windows 7 64bit and Windows XP Home
Benchmarks:	2cm mark on bench with a razor blade.

Oct 5, 2012, 03:25 PM	#8
newtekie1 Semi-Retired Folder Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Indiana Posts: 17,903 (6.47/day) Thanks: 785 Thanked 5,185 Times in 3,754 Posts System Specs	There are some sites that offer student discounts on Windows. However, they usually only offer the discounts on the Retail editions, so it still ends up cheaper to just buy the OEM version from newegg. Yes Home Premium is good enough, but I would get at least Professional if you plan to stick with 7 for a while because Home Premium is limited to 16GB of memory and the price difference to go to Pro isn't that much.

Processor:	Intel Core i7 875K@4.0GHz(200x20)
Motherboard:	eVGA P55 FTW 200
Cooling:	Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme w/ Corsair SP120 High Performance Edition
Memory:	8GB Corsair DDR3-1600 7-7-7-20
Video Card:	ASUS GTX 670 4GB DirectCU II @ 1015/3600
Hard Disk:	1TB Seagate 7200.12(OS), 3x 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 in RAID 5
Optical Drive:	Lite-On Blu-Ray Combo Drive IHES108
CRT/LCD Model:	HP 25" 2509m 1080p LCD
Case:	Lian-Li Lancool Metal Boned K7 w/ Windowed Side Panel
Sound Card:	Onboard is good enough for me
PSU:	Corsair HX850
Software:	Windows 7 x64 Professional

System Name:	Computer of Computerness
Processor:	i7-2700K @ 4.22 Ghz
Motherboard:	Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3
Cooling:	Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Memory:	Samsung 8 GB DDR3 OC @1866 Mhz
Video Card:	Gigabyte GTX 670 OC
Hard Disk:	240 GB Kingston V+200 SSD, 1 TB Hitachi 7200 rpm HDD, 1 TB Samsung 7200 rpm HDD
Optical Drive:	Pioneer BDR-205
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung ToC SyncMaster P2250
Case:	NZXT Phantom 410, Red
Sound Card:	Asus Xonar DG 5.1
PSU:	Corsair TX750 V2
Software:	Windows 8 Pro
Benchmarks:	3DMark 11: X3325 P9191 3DMark Vantage: P29926

Processor:	2500K @ 4.5GHz 1.28V
Motherboard:	ASUS P8P67 Deluxe
Cooling:	Corsair A70
Memory:	8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance 1600 9-9-9-24 1T
Video Card:	eVGA GTX 470 & GTX275 Co-op PhysX (has a GTS250 onboard)
Hard Disk:	Crucial m4 128GB + Seagate RAID 1 (1TB x 2)
Optical Drive:	Cheap and black DVD RW
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell 19" 1280x1024 nothing special
Case:	Antec 300
Sound Card:	Onboard
PSU:	PC Power & Cooling 750W
Software:	Windows 7 64bit Pro

Oct 5, 2012, 04:25 PM	#11
WhiteLotus Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Plymouth, UK Posts: 4,813 (2.24/day) Thanks: 532 Thanked 859 Times in 684 Posts System Specs	Software4students __________________ “Sorry but I cannot respond now, I am running a full virus scan on the internet.” -brandonwh64

System Name:	Vintage
Processor:	i3 530 at Stock
Motherboard:	Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H
Cooling:	Scythe Zipang II
Memory:	2x4GB Crucial DDR3
Video Card:	6850 something
Hard Disk:	WD 6401AALS 640GB// WD 10EACS 1TB// M4 124GB SSD
Optical Drive:	some LG thing
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung SM223BW 21.6"
Case:	Generic
PSU:	Corsair HX 520W
Software:	Windows 7

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