Parts salvaging?

[bitterazn]

Sorry if this is a basic question, a friend recommended this forum but I can't find a search function ...

Anyway, I'm trying to buy a cheapie quad monitor system. Plenty of pre-fabbed deals out there but nothing with dual x16 slots. I tinkered with the idea of getting a x1 card or using an extension adapter with a low-profile x16 but it seemed unideal.

So now I'm tinkering with the idea of building my own system, which I've never done before. But given that most of my wants are pretty standard, it seems like the best value would be to buy a discounted OEM model and just swap out the motherboard + add a GPU. Is it that simple or will I run into a host of compatibility issues?

(Related, but not a motherboard question: will I have issues running an OEM O/S after I've swapped out a motherboard? My understanding is that the software is "locked" from getting transferred to a new computer but I'm not sure how it works ...)

 

[festerovic]

You should just build your own system. It really isn't too hard, and if you were going to recycle parts from a oem, then you would be doing it yourself anyways, without having to overpay the oem!

Regarding the parts - you shouldn't have much problem with most of the parts. But a oem pc will most likely not have a buff enough PSU for your needs if you plan on SLI/Crossfire.

You are correct regarding the OS being locked to the motherboard on oem machines. It will not activate on your new system without calling M$.

 

[JDFan]

You are correct regarding the OS being locked to the motherboard on oem machines. It will not activate on your new system without calling M$.

Actually - you can normally just do the phone activation - which is just a computerized voice that you tell the #'s on the activation page to and it gives you a response set of #'s to enter to activate it ( I just completely updated my system and used an old OEM Disk from an e-machine to install the OS from and then used the old serial from it as well (the only part I kept was the Case, DVD player and HDD - which I reformatted to install in the new system and it activated fine - the process took only a few minutes - so at least some of the OEM disks can be reused on new systems (the Disk I used was an e-machine operating system Disc that says to be distributed only with a new E-machiines PC but worked fine with all new system parts (Figured I had bought the e-machine refurbished about 3 years ago and do not use it anymore so why pay for a new OS.) - Worse case the install gives you 30 days to activate it and if for some reason yours will not activate you can always buy a new product activation license within that time and just change the seriel without having to reinstall anyway so does not hurt anything to try it first !!

 

[bitterazn]

thanks for all the help guys!