Windows Vista OEM: what hardware can I upgrade?

[Strelok]

Hello all,

I bought Vista Ultimate x64 OEM for my PC and now I'm wondering what hardwre I can upgrade wihout having to buy a new copy of Vista. I want to upgrade in the future: CPU, (add a second or entirely new) GPU, add memory, add more harddrives.

[fizban2]

traditionally i would say the license would be tied to the motherboard itself, being the "guts" of the computer. the only thing is i don't what will happen changing out the CPU, if it will cause vista to need to be re-activated or not.

[djnes]

There's no set list of what will or won't trip the activation. Even if you do something major, such as the motherboard, most people have been able to call in to re-activate regardless of what they change. The unwritten rule seems to say, for the most part, as long as you aren't trying to activate it on a second computer, meaning two computers at once, you'll be fine.

[Daedlus]

I upgraded my video card drivers and it made me reactivate... which of course I couldnt do over the internet or the automated phone option... I actually had to get an agent to help me... he said this is normal, because its a major upgrade... yeah whatever.

[raskren]

So far I've gotten away with a CPU upgrade, hard drive replacement (same make/model), and a video card upgrade. I had to reactivate after reinstalling on the new hard drive (obviously) but not for the other hardware changes.

[Strelok]

Thanks guys; looks like I'm pretty much safe here.

Re-activating after GPU driver updates seems a bit odd.. I haven't had such problems yet and I update regularly.

[tommaso]

well, I had to reactivate because of this... oddly enough!

I noticed that with Vista 64 my iTunes couldn't detect cd burner anymore and does not allow me tu burn my cd. This looks like a very common problem "http://www.emergingearth.com/itunes-7-cant-burn-cds" as you can see... Luckily someone found the solution in here "http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070714011213AAmyyEd" , this was the problem

"The issue appears to be with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista (and XP apparently), and the fact that a version of the third-party driver that iTunes uses to burn CDs and DVDs will not interact correctly with 64-bit OSes. This is characterized by an Error code 2380 when you run CD/DVD diagnostics in iTunes.

The third party driver is known as gearsec.exe, and the solution is to download the correct 64-bit version, direct from GearSoft:

http://www.gearsoftware.com/support/driv..."

Guess what happened? Yes, Vista detects the cd burner "under a new light" and recognize a "major changment" in your hardware setup... Reactivation needed!