Question I'm considering an upgrade - - - - need input ?

[Anomaly_76]

From the photo you uploaded, I see that the card is ''opened'' and probably repaired, the hdmi and the first dp seem damaged, in the second dp it seems to have heated up, in the second photo (back panel) it seems to have been opened by the screws and the money you got it for is a lot

So in your opinion, this card is refurb, not new? Because this is the same ebay listing that was posted a few days ago. And it does indeed say NEW in the title. Not refurbished. I just found the same card on Amazon for less, because of course, right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/335423825105

 

[triplex1]

So in your opinion, this card is refurb, not new? Because this is the same ebay listing that was posted a few days ago. And it does indeed say NEW in the title. Not refurbished. I just found the same card on Amazon for less, because of course, right?

If it said new, I don't see it as new, if it said openbox I see it as opencard, the most logical thing is that the seller lied.
The link doesn't show anything.
If you get it for 24 months at 33.33 per month it is purely your decision whether to keep it or return it

 

[Anomaly_76]

If it said new, I don't see it as new, if it said openbox I see it as opencard, the most logical thing is that the seller lied.
The link doesn't show anything.
If you get it for 24 months at 33.33 per month it is purely your decision whether to keep it or return it

For sold items, you have to scroll down to see the information, at least I did. I think you're right on the money that this card is refurbished, which is a shame.

I can't say for sure that the seller knew this, but the prior feedback about a 'backplate-swapped' 6950XT sold as a 7900XT would suggest they did. Doing an eBay return now, since I can't seem to directly contact the seller. Lesson learned. I paid $842 for this one without a warranty, and I just don't get the warm and fuzzies about it, especially after your input, and agreement that there appears to be heat damage. Doing an eBay return now.

Silver lining -- Asrock's Amazon store lists the same card new, for $789.74 with tax. Came to $897.51 with a 4-year protection plan. Shame that wasn't showing up on my searches a few days ago. Or, maybe it JUST went on sale. Sucks that I won't get to enjoy it for another week or so, but under the circumstances... *shrugs*

Anyway, thanks for the input on this one, I think you just helped me dodge a bullet.

 

[Anomaly_76]

So, my much anticipated AsRock Phantom Gaming RX 7900 XT finally shipped on Monday and should be here Saturday. For now, back up and running with an Asus Phoenix GTX1650 OC I had laying around.

So my friend's kid gets his machine today, and he blows away Win10 Pro 64 (updates stopped), Ryzen Master, Precision X1, MSI Afterburner and a whole lot of testing and tuning (four days' worth) for Win 10 Home because he didn't like the user name I set up as admin (which could have been changed). 🙄

My friend asked me about a license key for 10 Home, which I don't have, so I told him to Google it and said his kid should have left the thing alone or asked some questions first. The kid will find out soon enough he doesn't know as much as he thinks.

 

[logainofhades]

He doesn't need a license if Windows was already activated on that machine. Just skip the license portion of install, then when done, it should activate no issues.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Man if you want to be sick.. too bad you don’t have a Microcenter nearby. The one near me has a powercolor hellhound 7900 xt for $619. I was able to grab the Powercolor hellhound 7900 XTX for 799. Ended up about 967 with tax and a 2 year walk in warranty. I was told pretty much all it doesn’t cover is you throwing it on the ground and stuff like that.

 

[Anomaly_76]

He doesn't need a license if Windows was already activated on that machine. Just skip the license portion of install, then when done, it should activate no issues.

That's the problem. The previously activated version was 64 Professional, and he installed Home, which is not the same and uses different license key algorithms. And if the original partition has been deleted and recreated, I'm not even sure reinstalling 64 Professional would necessarily work.

Not my circus, not my monkeys. I don't mind helping people who are willing to listen, but by doing this without even saying anything, he's shown me he thinks he knows everything. So let him figure it out himself. Sometimes hard-heads have to learn the hard way that they don't know as much as they think they know.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/95922-generic-product-keys-install-windows-10-editions.html

Have him try changing the key to the generic windows 10 pro retail key. Make sure he disconnects from the internet first though. That should change it back to pro. If pro was activated it may activate again. At work we sometimes have folks that want a pc that has home edition and use this method to bump it to pro and then activate with our volume license.

 

[logainofhades]

That's the problem. The previously activated version was 64 Professional, and he installed Home, which is not the same and uses different license key algorithms. And if the original partition has been deleted and recreated, I'm not even sure reinstalling 64 Professional would necessarily work.

Not my circus, not my monkeys. I don't mind helping people who are willing to listen, but by doing this without even saying anything, he's shown me he thinks he knows everything. So let him figure it out himself. Sometimes hard-heads have to learn the hard way that they don't know as much as they think they know.

Fresh install of pro should work

 

[Anomaly_76]

Fresh install of pro should work

Even if the original partition was deleted?

 

[ohio_buckeye]

As far as I understand Microsoft essentially keeps a hash, like a record of a system that had it installed and activated. Theoretically what should happen is when he updates it to pro and connects to the internet, Microsoft should recognize it as a system that was previously activated with a legit license and reactivate it.

If you look at my post above, if he copies and pastes the generic windows 10 pro retail key into windows using the change key screen(disconnect from the internet before the next step), but plug that key in that screen and tell it to change the key, the computer should go through a cycle like it’s doing a windows update and add the pro features etc to the pc. Then when he connects to the internet it may activate. Or he can always reformat.

 

[Anomaly_76]

As far as I understand Microsoft essentially keeps a hash, like a record of a system that had it installed and activated. Theoretically what should happen is when he updates it to pro and connects to the internet, Microsoft should recognize it as a system that was previously activated with a legit license and reactivate it.

If you look at my post above, if he copies and pastes the generic windows 10 pro retail key into windows using the change key screen(disconnect from the internet before the next step), but plug that key in that screen and tell it to change the key, the computer should go through a cycle like it’s doing a windows update and add the pro features etc to the pc. Then when he connects to the internet it may activate. Or he can always reformat.

What do you mean by 'generic' key?

 

[ohio_buckeye]

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/95922-generic-product-keys-install-windows-10-editions.html

I think these are generic keys that you can use just to load or upgrade the OS but they don’t activate it. At work for example if a system is purchased that has windows 11 home edition on it, I’ll disconnect it from the web and plug in the generic windows 11 pro retail key to get the version to upgrade to pro, then connect to the network and change the key to our volume license key to activate. Many times on prebuilt PCs they will only install the original version that came on it.

My understanding is that when you install, whatever key you plug in or that it sees from the bios is what determines what version you get such as home, pro etc

 

[SkyNetRising]

What do you mean by 'generic' key?

Generic keys allow installing specific windows versions or changing windows edition.
Those do not allow activating windows though.

Google:
generic windows 10 product keys

 

[Anomaly_76]

Generic keys allow installing specific windows versions or changing windows edition.
Those do not allow activating windows though.

Google:
generic windows 10 product keys

Like I said, not my circus, not my monkeys. I had set this machine up specifically to protect this hard-head from Microsoft's ever-present attempts to force or trick him into upgrading to Win11. I woke up once to find my machine remotely restarted to an "upgrade to Windows 11" screen.

If my friend hadn't insisted on Windows, I would have put Mint Cinnamon on the damn thing. But anyway...
My RX 7900 XT arrived yesterday. Hopefully get it up and running today.

Side note: I believe it might be best to do fresh installs for multiple boots, therefore, I will be doing a fresh install with Win10 on one M.2 just in case, then removing it and doing a fresh install with Mint Cinnamon on another M.2.

Ideally, I want Mint Cinnamon to only see the 6TB, and Windows to only see the 8TB. Obviously, formatting my 6TB to ext4 will solve the latter, but is there a format that Mint Cinnamon won't see, but Win10 can?