OEM or RETAIL????

Question

ok im researching on purchasing a motherboard. this would be my first build. I've been searching for a while now...i really wanna know whats the difference between OEM and RETAIL??? can you go into details please.

Answer 1

The difference is a shiney box and tech support for alot of mopney OR a crummy box, no tech support and save alot if you know what youre doing. Have a knowledgable friend help you and you'll be OK. A good MB is every bit as important as a good processor. Dont skimp.

Answer 2

Go OEM. It isn't difficult, and there are advantages. First of all, you can generally qualify for a very discounted operating system software, as well as other boards. These prices are usually half the retail price.

Secondly, for the same amount of cash outlay, you can build a super system, and by choosing the motherboard wisely, have exactly the amount of ports, adapters, etc that you want.

Remember, though, when you start assembling, do not force anything. Follow instructions to the letter. I always loose fit all the parts before I tighten the screws.

May I suggest that you use AMD 2 core cpu. Less headaches, and super computer power. OK, that's my plug for AMD.

Get a disk restore utility like Norton Ghost, or my favorite Acronis True Image. As soon as you have a trouble free setup, make a backup. That way, as you expand with other software and hardware, you can restore it to original condition and start over if need be.

Good luck.

By the way, I have built 7 myself, and they all work great.

Answer 3

If your going to buy a mother board then you will need to buy everything else that goes with it,, it is not a case of buying a motherboard and fitting your old hardware on to it,,,

Now if I was you. I would buy a bear bone system = Case,
motherboard,
processor,
memory, and if need be a graphics card,

It will be tested and set up for you, all you need to do then is install the Hard Drive, and cd/dvd rom, keyboard and mouse, then you will need to reinstall windows, so make sure you have a copy handy
your old windows will crash when you boot it up,

reason for that is :--
no drivers for the mother board, usb, sound card, graphics card, ethernet, and other stuff

so you will need to get back ups of the stuff you want to save,,

if you go this way... go to a small local computer shop. you will get a better service..

By the way get yourself a MSI Motherboard they have the top industry awards..... just to give you an idea about bear bone systems look at this web site

Answer 4

if your gettin a mobo get a retail one becuase you need the manuals that tell you what jumpers to set and what cables have to be plugged into what ports. if it was somthing like a dvd drive then get oem but for a mobo get retail even though it costs more

Answer 5

OEM are normally just the board, where by retail is the full kit with manuals, cables, drivers etc.

Answer 6

living house windows OEM application is provided to multiple computing gadget merchants for them to pre-deploy on desktops, to be granted a OEM licence the merchants could meet particular standards inclusive of computerized techniques of installation of the product; customization of the putting as much as perceive the OEM; first point technical help of the product; application of a certificates of Authenticity (COA) to the hardware. in case you have a re-installation disk out of your organization you would be waiting to re-deploy (inclusive of clean deploy) with no need to flow right into a product key. in case you do attempt and deploy the applying on yet another equipment you will probable be triumphant if the equipment is of a similar spec to the unique, or is synthetic with the help of the comparable organization (e.g. Dell) OEM application purely has constrained help from Microsoft (in spite of the certainty that complete online help and get entry to to Microsoft replace. With OEM application you haven't any longer any re-sale rights. With retail variations of Microsoft application you’ll discover it’s comparable to OEM, in spite of the undeniable fact which you have complete technical help offline and the applying as quickly as offered is YOURS inclusive of re-sale rights, in spite of the certainty that it could purely be put in on the quantity of desktops your unique licence lined (regularly a million, 10, a hundred, 1000 or 10,000)

Answer 7

Retail has a fancy box, and usually a longer warranty.

Answer 8

I recommend newegg they have great OEM mobos I bought mine from them and mine came with its manual

Answer 9

I recomend that you buy from newegg.com, I love their customer service(they actually reply to your e-mails)