Moving up.

[stevo1210]

Should I move up to Windows 7 Professional 64 bit? I currently use Windows XP Professional SP3.
My department at university is part of the MSDN alliance so I get these genuine copies for free from my uni. The reason that I have 64 bit is because my 32 bit Windows 7 went onto my brothers PC...

But anyway the PC i want to install Windows 7 64 bit on is in my sig below.

Thanks.

[stevo1210]

Re: Moving up.

that ram is 3GB now btw... not 2GB...

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Moving up.

It's worth a shot, if you don't like it you can always go back.

Personally I've been running Windows 7 64 bit on my Core 2 Duo since September last year and I love it. No complaints at all.

[stevo1210]

Re: Moving up.

how much RAM do you have though? cause I heard even with my 3GB the performance is shit.... even though all I do with my PC is play music, facebook, windows live messenger, surf the web and type word documents.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Moving up.

I have 6GB on my machine and it's smooth as butter.

I put the 32-bit edition on a P4 machine with 1GB and it seemed to run OK. I didn't do any extensive use though, and I have no idea how the 64 bit version runs on anything other than my own machine.

[Wrog]

Re: Moving up.

I've been running Windows 7 Pro here with an E5200 (2.5GHz Wolfdale Dual Core) and 2GB of memory as my HTPC in the living room (Sharp 52" LCD), and it's been fantastic. With what you are planning to do, I don't see 2GB being a performance limiting factor. I am planning to put another 2GB in there once I get the Ceton CableCard tuner though!!

One minor note: The W7Pro key works for either the 32-bit or 64-bit edition, so don't let the key description stop you from installing the 32-bit edition if that's what you really want to do. The only time they are not interchangable is between versions (Home, Professional, Ultimate, etc.).

[Junk Parts]

Re: Moving up.

Thanks for reminding me Stevo! There is a legal copy of Dell 32 bit Windows 7 waiting for me at my brothers house. He got me the 64 bit version by mistake and it will not install on my 32 bit PC.

[370forlife]

Re: Moving up.

how much RAM do you have though? cause I heard even with my 3GB the performance is shit.... even though all I do with my PC is play music, facebook, windows live messenger, surf the web and type word documents.

My brother has win7 32bit on a real small IBM laptop with a 1.6 single core pentium M and 512mb ram. It runs like a dream.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Moving up.

Thanks for reminding me Stevo! There is a legal copy of Dell 32 bit Windows 7 waiting for me at my brothers house. He got me the 64 bit version by mistake and it will not install on my 32 bit PC.

64 bit won't run if the CPU isn't 64 bit enabled and/or if you don't have a 64 bit capable chipset.
.

[washu]

Re: Moving up.

I've got several Windows 7 machines from 1 GB up to 8 GB and they all run fine.

1 GB is OK with 32 bit if you have a real video card or keep your screen res down if it's integrated. 512 works for light use, 7 scales back surprisingly well.

64 bit does use a bit more RAM, but with 2 GB or more it's fine.

The only problem is if you have an old video card. 7 likes XP drivers even less than Vista does so if you don't have a DX9 card it's not usually worth it. Your Nvidia 8XXX is more than enough.

[NxB]

Re: Moving up.

Nothing much to 7 except the eye candy. It does run like an OS should at least.

[Sudum Gumudu]

Re: Moving up.

I'm running Win 7 x64 on an i7 920 with 6GB RAM and a Nvidia GTX285. Once I figured out how to get a decent refresh rate on a CRT screen, I'm extremely pleased with it.

[ratdude747]

Re: Moving up.

i'd never buy it for myself unless i was pre-installed on a computer.

[stevo1210]

Re: Moving up.

I personally like XP because it has broader software compatibility... but my department at uni insists we must use Windows 7 or Vista on our PCs in order to use their version of tunnelguard to access our online lecture notes. O.o

[Topcat]

Re: Moving up.

I've been tempted to try 7 on my system, but I'm reading horror stories of it not liking my 3ware controller (which is retarded, its a mainstream high-end controller). I'm running 8 cores and 24gb of RAM, so I'm good there. I think the biggest fear is reloading it with the RTM copy I have, and it deactivate on me, compounded by the "7 phone home" crap in the name of "antipiracy".... I wouldn't pay a cent for win7.......on top of that, if I didn't like it, then I'd have the joy of rolling the system back to X64.... I'd rather chew on shards of broken glass than reload my daily use system.

[Junk Parts]

Re: Moving up.

Don't do it then Topcat. When I get the 32 bit version of 7 I plan on messing with it on some good backup hard drives first. I'm going to install it on my sixty Gig Lappy hard drive first. This will give me a chance to figure out how to work with 7. I still like my old Xp. Its like a pair of well broken in work gloves however it is still two Os versions behind the rest of the world. Xp has still never failed to do what I want it to do.

[Scenic]

Re: Moving up.

i upgraded from XP Pro SP3 to Win7 Ultimate x64.
Mainly because i replaced my 2x1GB RAM kit with 2x2GB sticks and could only use 3,25GB of it.. rest was just wasted.

tried Win7 (skipped the vista crap completely) and apart from having little problems finding stuff in the controlpanel (most of it is not where it used to be in XP/2k), it works great.

i then thought why not put my old 2x1GB sticks in it again..? had them lying around anyways.. so now i've got 6GB RAM in my box

disabled UAC (that stuff asking for admin rights and crap) completely, and using a working anti-WPA cr*ck.. (can't stand windows phoning home just because i put new hardware in my box or test stuff)..

no probs whatsoever...

i even got my good ol' MSN Messenger 7.5 from 2004 (?) running again (hate the bloated Windows live messenger)..

trick is to set the program compatibility mode for it to Win2k, as MSN 7.5 is the last version that runs on Win2k, so they can't just deactivate that old version just yet..

haven't had a program that didn't run except Nero 6 (which was already incompatible with vista)..
but as i didn't need all the crap that comes with newer nero versions, i'm just using CDBurnerXP for now. does all i need and has no unneeded crap that comes with it.

other small changed settings..:
- small (XP like) taskbar
- classic taskbar behaviour (no grouping and crap)
- no taskbar miniature previews when you hold the mouse over the item (annoying)
- and prolly lots of other minor changes that i cant remember to get the XP-feeling back a bit..


edit: *click*

[brethin]

Re: Moving up.

Unless you have 4G or more of ram you are wasting your time going to 64bit, but yes I would upgrade to Win 7 32 bit with that setup (3gb ram) if you plan to go 4gb or more then yes 64 bit would be the way to go.

[Topcat]

Re: Moving up.

Don't do it then Topcat. When I get the 32 bit version of 7 I plan on messing with it on some good backup hard drives first. I'm going to install it on my sixty Gig Lappy hard drive first. This will give me a chance to figure out how to work with 7. I still like my old Xp. Its like a pair of well broken in work gloves however it is still two Os versions behind the rest of the world. Xp has still never failed to do what I want it to do.

I've got the RTM copy on on a few lab rats, but I just haven't messed with it enough to decide whether I like it well enough to switch over. If you've got 64 bit and 32 bit copies pre-activated Dell w7 ultimate editions, I wouldn't mind those... I have a precision 470 dual xeon @ 3.4ghz with 8gb of ram that would love that. I tried my RTM on it, wouldn't activate for some reason (but would on an SX280)...

[kc8adu]

Re: Moving up.

i also noticed it did not activate on a few dells.
probably something to do with slp.
have another version coming you can try.and an array of wat removers,ect.
oh and decline kb970133.

I've got the RTM copy on on a few lab rats, but I just haven't messed with it enough to decide whether I like it well enough to switch over. If you've got 64 bit and 32 bit copies pre-activated Dell w7 ultimate editions, I wouldn't mind those... I have a precision 470 dual xeon @ 3.4ghz with 8gb of ram that would love that. I tried my RTM on it, wouldn't activate for some reason (but would on an SX280)...