The least expensive licenses that are intended for installation on a new PC are System Builder (generic OEM) ones. You're supposed to sell the PC rather than keep it for personal use, but as far as I know, there is no enforcement of that.
Newegg.com - Software, Operating Systems, OEM
Home Premium, $100. Pro, $140. Ultimate, $189.
For most users, Ultimate is damned silly.
Yeah I know what you mean the reason I want ultimate is i'm trying to make this computer
Build a Gaming PC for $3000 - May 2012 - YouTube
and for a system of it's caliber I think it sounds odd to have windows 7 home premium on it. Even though ultimate isn't much better than home premium.
^ Ultimate is not better or more impressive. It has bit locker (can do with True Crypt on anything) and it has language packs. If you need US English and US English only and don't care for Bit Locker, you don't need Ultimate. Those features won't make $3,000 worth of hardware any more capable.
Very true, now i'll probably get windows 7 home premium. Thanks for your help.
-Rick
The versions vary in features, not performance.
One thing to watch out for: Home Premium supports a maximum of 16GB of RAM. Pro and Ultimate, 192GB.
(Pro and Ultimate also support two physical CPU sockets, but few gamers build those. That's be cool, though: two eight core Xeons with hyperthreading, showing 32 logical CPUs in Windows.)
I thought that as long as the system is 64-bit it would depend on the motherboard for the maximum ram. Thanks for letting me know. Also, is the motherboard and OS the only determination of the maximum ram?
The need for more than 16GB of RAM for a normal computer user is almost non-existent. I still only run with a max of 8GB of RAM on my workstations as I haven't demonstrated the need for 16GB.
But it's obviously something to be aware of in case your needs are different.
I'd say buy what you need now and upgrade later (easy via AnyTime upgrade) if needs dictate a need for much more RAM.
True, the reason I want the ram is I just want it to be at it's maximum ram possible the first time I boot it up. Even if I don't need it immediately I just want it to have the maximum ram for later when I may need it.
Well, I want to put the most I can in it. I just don't know how to tell the maximum ram I can put in it.
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