A friend who works with Microsoft once told me that OEM allows up to 5 hardware changes (IIRC) before it locks up.
I see. Perhaps my previous experience re: swap motherboard->replacement motherboard->motherboard (specifically, from an Asus P7P55D-E Pro that developed intermittent issues, swapped out with a temporary replacement Gigabyte GA-H55MS2-H motherboard, and then when the P7P55D-E Pro came back from RMA, I reinstalled it on the system; Core i5-760 processor)
Actually, if I know the RMA'd motherboard would have arrived in less than a month (it took about 3 weeks actually), I probably would have set it to "30-days temporary license" instead of activating the Win7 license again over the Internet (so that when the original motherboard is back, the previously-activated license should recognize it's the same motherboard as before..
Re: the SSD<-->HDD, I'll probably try out once I've gotten an SSD. ;-)
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I wonder for those benchmark review sites (eg. testing different graphics cards or hard disks or whatever parts on the same "test-setup" system -- I wonder if they use the 30-day trial license (since the benchmark testing won't take that long anyway) or they use a FPP (retail full product) version that allows keeping on changing system configurations?
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OT:
juke, I notice your "G-Skill ECO 2x2GB + 2x4GB DDR3-12800 1.35v" Is there a G.Skill Eco 2x4Gb DDR3-1600 @ 1.35v or some other brand?