The disk is OEM but it will not activate on a non Dell/Alienware  motherboard. Legally you will need to obtain a new copy of windows to install on the new board

The windows that shipped with your computer is an OEM copy... although it shouldn't matter if your upgrading it to windows 7 as the OEM copy is just the same as retail.. just different license stuff and generally the OEM is cheaper.

Technically you can do it but yes there is the legal issue and its still a gray area when it comes to a motherboard replacement.

When you bought your computer you also bought the copy of Windows 7 with a product key.

Look on the back of your system. You will find a Windows 7 sticker with the product key on it. After you install Windows 7 on your new motherboard you will need to enter that key to activate it. If you do not you will only have 3 days before it shuts off.

Your key should work with no issues at all. In the rare case it doesn't activate call Microsoft and they will activate it for you with your key or give you a new one. They will only give you one new key. If that key doesn't work then thats it. 

Ah, the reason I want a new motherboard? I want to be able to easily overclock my cpu to 4ghz and have it be stable. Because dell doesn't have enough options in their bios.

Hi h2on0,

You got some factual information here, but it is all mixed up.  The copy that is shipped with your AW computer is an OEM copy,  Most manufacturers (including Dell and Alienware) use OEM copies, as it is cheaper for them as Microsoft does not charge as much, as the OEM (Dell or Alienware) is responsible for support.  OEM licenses are hardware linked.  That means once it has been activated, it is locked to that hardware.  Typically this is done using a "key" located in the BIOS.  So, if you change the motherboard to a non-Dell (Alienware) one, the copy of Windows will not activate.  You can try and call the activation line, and speak with an activation tech (callign the number presented by the Activation Wizard), but there is no guarantee they will activate.  By the End-User-License Agreement (EULA), that copy of Windows is licensed for the computer you purchased it with.  The biggest question here, is why do you need a new motherboard with a 6 month old computer?  Isn't it under waranty?  If the motherboard you are getting is from Alienware (Dell), then yes it will activate no problem, but not if it is retail.

Rich S.

 The motherboard bios has a slick. The slick tells the OEM copy that it is a OEM motherboard. That will activate windows. That is why if Dell replaces the MoBo you do not need to reinstall windows or activate it. It is not linked to the hardware. It does not know one Mobo from another it only looks for the slick. It could be a HP,Emachine, another Dell computer or anything so long as it has that slick.

A retail copy is linked to the hardware ONCE you use the activation key unlike the OEM version. At that point if you replace the Mobo you would then need to call microsoft and explain you had hardware fail and they will (most of the time) give you a new key. You can only do this once. There are other ways around this as well for the poeple that have had multiple motherboards replaced for whatever reason but I will not list them here.

If the new Mobo does not have the slick 2.0 which windows 7 is looking for then the activation code or product key listed on the sticker will activate the copy of windows. At that point ONLY will the product key be used and an association have been made between the product key and MoBo.

 As far as the overclocking goes you don't need a new Mobo the reach 4ghz or more. If you have say the i7 975 you would OC it by using the Turbo. Use the OC vaule #3 which will up the volts needed. Once you have done that set the turbo to say 31,30,30,30 and then change the power options to High performance and it will always run at 4.1ghz and will be stable. It will not clock down long as you have it set to high performance. This is the best way to do it because you always have the option of changing the power options back to balance with one click to have it clock back down if you don't need all that extra power.You can check this by using CPU-Z. IT will list it at a running speed of 4.125ghz. Windows wont list it at the 4.1 but CPU-Z will.

morblore,

These are the bios numbers for OC i7-975. Can you fill in the blanks for 4GHz?

BIN+1 3.60GHz 133, Enabled, Auto, 100, Enabled, 27,27,27,27,160,180
BIN+2 3.73GHz 133, Enabled, Auto, 100, Enabled, 28,28,28,28,180,200
BIN+3 3.86GHz 133, Enabled, Auto, 100, Enabled, 30,29,29,29,180,200
Bin+4 4.00GHz 31,30,30,30

morblore,   These are the bios numbers for OC i7-975. Can you fill in the blanks for 4GHz?   BIN+1 3.60GHz 133, Enabled, Auto, 100, Enabled, 27,27,27,27,160,180 BIN+2 3.73GHz 133, Enabled, Auto, 100, Enabled, 28,28,28,28,180,200 BIN+3 3.86GHz 133, Enabled, Auto, 100, Enabled, 30,29,29,29,180,200 Bin+4 4.00GHz 31,30,30,30

On my Area 51 with the i7 975 EX 30X gives me 4ghz and 31x gives me 4.1ghz. I think you have a typo The bios setting for the OC level 3 does go to the 30,29,29,29 value....Maybe they messed up in the BIOS? Was it ment to be a 3.8 and not a 4.0?

29 x 133 = 3857   30 x 133 = 3990    31 x 133 = 4123

4.00ghz:  Bin+4 4.00GHZ 133, Enabled, Auto, 100, Enabled, 30,29,29,29, 180, 200  (this is the stock lvl 3 OC setting in the bios)

3.86ghz would be:  Bin+3 3.86GHZ 133, Enabled, Auto, 100, Enabled, 29,29,29,29, 180, 200

 .... First set the BIN+3 value( OC number 3 in bios) and it will set the volts or you can do them yourself. The Bin+3 volts are just fine for the 4ghz and 4.1ghz. Then set your turbo values to 30,29,29,29( 4ghz level 3 OC stock setting). If you set the Power Plan(control panel-power options) to High Performance it will stay at the 4ghz. Use Balanced Power Plan if you want it to clock back when not being used. By setting High Performance you are telling the OS to keep the Turbo on and not clock back more then 1x.

If you go 31,30,30,30 that will give you 4.1ghz. I would not go over that and don't set the other 3 cores over the 30,30,30. CPU-Z will show it running from 4ghz-4.1ghz with these settings since 3 cores are set at 4ghz. Also the CPU never stays at the exact speed. It will always clock up and down by 1x. So at the 4ghz setting you will see it going from 3.87 to 4.008 every sec. I think its because the OS clocks the 3 cores down 1X from what the main core setting is no matter what you set in the bios. So a 30,29,29,29 is the same as a 30,30,30,30 setting untill you get a lite load on the system. At that point it will stay at the max value(4.0ghz for 30,30,30,30 and 3.8ghz-4.0ghz for 30,29,29,29).

I don't think many people know about the power option settings when running the Turbo Mode OC. Maybe if you added that to the OC list people would not be going crazy trying to OC their comps. So many people turn off the Turbo boost but I love it. It lets you set an easy OC and not have it running at that speed 100% of the time. It is great to see it clocked back to 1.6ghz when you're surfing the net:) but you still have the power there if you need it. If you are the person that wants it running at whatever speed all the time then just turn on the High performance power setting.

My advice is use the Turbo with the Balanced Power setting. Let it clock down. There is no reason to run it at 3.6,3.7,3.8 or whatever all the time. You can go for the 4.0 or 4.1 just don't make it run like that all the time.

h2on0: if you have the i7 975 then grats you are already running at 4.0ghz with a simple as it gets one click in the bios. If you have the i7 920 then go download the intel extreme tuning utility from the dell site under your system downloads. Install it and then run it. Use the manual tune. That will allow you to lower the multiplier which is locked in the BIOS. Lower that and up your BCLK yadda yadda yadda. No need to buy a new board If you need more info on the 920 go thru the forums here. GL with your OC'n

What are the Overvoltage Configuration settings?

Vcore offset: +160

Memory: Default

IOH Volt: 110

QPI/Uncore: Default

TDC: 180

TDP: 200

Thats the same Volt settings that are used for the OC level 3 clock. If they have that then they can just hit that. Only thing to change would be if they wanted just the main core at 4.0ghz(default) or all 4 which would be 30,30,30,30 for the turbo settings. These volts work great for ether one.