Trust me, I'm well into the world of computers. Personally, in this case where hardware is the tangable product, I don't think keys should be needed.

See how far Nvidia gets if they charge for replacing or even upgrading the associated software needed for the hardware to work. Typically when a company makes hardware, it doesn't charge if you need to replace the software needed to run it. The viewpoint you seem to have is the value is in the software and not the hardware. The hardware is always of some value if the company that sells it provides an easy way for software to be downloaded for it. does it matter? Not usually as the company provides legacy support and even an easily accessable link to currnet or latest software needed to make the hardware work. You buy a video card that comes with the software needed.

not a physical piece of hardware that cost more than a little bit of someone's time. But I'm looking for an email with numbers and letters to make software work.