Yeah that was motivation for ordering this system / parts now to avoid the cost of a full Windows 10 license.

Personally I think it is crazy that they are going to charge US$119 for a Windows 10...

OK, I'll see what happens. I should have the parts by late this week.

The idea of activating 10 Pro with an 8 Pro upgrade key seems too good to be true.

It is an actual Windows 8 Pro Upgrade...

I don't know what you mean. This will be for a new computer that won't have anything on it. Just a new SSD.

So that will work even though my Win 8 Pro key is an upgrade key, not a full license key?

I have a Windows 8 Pro key that came on a plastic card with the Windows 8 DVD. I am pretty sure this is an upgrade version, but I don't know for sure because I don't have the original packaging. All...

Great thank you

I downloaded a new image on 10th of January. I think it is build 10586. Will that one work? I also have the original RTM 10240.

Thanks for your reply.

I have a laptop that came with Windows 8.1. The hard drive failed and has been replaced with a new hard drive. If I want to install Windows 10 on this laptop, do I first need to install Windows 8.1....

Are you using a wifi connection? This could be caused by a bad wifi driver. So perhaps try installing the Windows 8.1 driver from the manufacturer's website.

I don't know what the specific error is, but I would just back up all your files. Do a new 8.1 install, make sure it is activated, and then just use the installation USB you created to do an upgrade...

Did you try the generic drivers from the nVidia website?
Drivers | GeForce

You can delete the generic microsoft display adapter and then run the nVidia installer

Have you tried manually downloading and installing the nVidia Windows 10 drivers?
64 bit
Drivers | GeForce

I upgraded a Dell 1545 with this same audio chipset. I got rid of the static noises by turning off audio enhancements in the playback properties menu.

Yet it is so confusing, because if you go to Intel's own page for HD 3000 (Sandybridge) that the chart says is not supported it shows there is a beta driver in Windows 10 for this GPU! If it isn't...

Acer made a tablet called the Iconia W3 810 that uses the same CPU. They have a download package that includes a slightly newer Windows 8.1 driver, but it is 32 bit only. The version is 1176. See...