Question for you computer gurus ...

[thewiz]

I have a new 500g HDD to put in my main box and I've been wondering about upgrading to Win7 at the same time. Basically wondering whether it would be worth it since I like some of the features of Win7. I'm replacing the drive in there now because is is about 5 yrs old and beginning to show signs of imminent failure with occasional screen freeze ups.

My hardware is a DFI motherboard 800Mhz FSB, 4gigs of dual channel PC3200 Ram, P4 2.6 ghz hyper-thread processor currently running XP Home. New boot drive is a WD parallel IDE and storage drive is SATA .. both half a TB. This board does not support booting from a serial drive.

Is my current hardware good enough to run the new OS effectively or does it need to be replaced too.? ... it has been good in the past but is about 7 yrs now.

[CatatonicBug]

IMO, I would not run Win7 on a P4 processor. That's antiquated technology now. You'll need a quad-core or better to really enjoy the new OS. I am running it on a Dual-quad core, 64-bit, 2.5Ghz machine with 4gb or RAM, and it runs great. Win7 is very processor-intensive, so you need a lot of power from the processor to keep up with it.

[thewiz]

excellent ...

Thx, Bug ... you definitely saved me some aggravation, I'm sure. XP has always run fine for me on this box and I think I'll keep it that way.

[thewiz]

Bug ... what good choices for a new board, ram and processor would you suggest?

[CatatonicBug]

We use Asus boards, but we also don't run Win7 on any of the operations machines in our office. Just us IT folks get the new toys. If I was spending the money, I'd go with an Intel Core i7 series processor (i5 would work too, for less $). Then, get a board that will hold it, and 4-6gb of RAM to fit the board.

Of course, there are also AMD options, with Quad-core processors for a bit less $.

[79XS11F]

My recently purchased machine is running a AMD Phenom IIX4 810 processor at 2.6 GH with 6 GB of ram. The machine runs very well is is plenty fast enough for everything I do. I also have high speed cable Internet which is a must if any machine is going to make full use of its Internet based features. I did not build this machine. It is off the shelf and was not very costly.
Rob

[jkoeringMN]

Personally i'm running Win7 Home on a Core i5 (2.53g/3.00 turbo), AW m15x. 4gb Ram, ATI HD5850 1gb gpu. Windows 7 works flawlessly with my setup. I echo the previous poster...Dont bother running it on a P4. Dual or Quad Core + to truly enjoy it. And at minimum 4gb of RAM.

[thewiz]

Thx Rob and Bug .... I have a 20mbs cable connection so that is no problem ... one day soon I'll probably step up although I don't really need all of the new power ... stuff becomes obsolete ... it's the natural order of things ... and then you get lift in the dark if you don't step with it .

[cywelchjr]

I have run win7 on a P4 2.8Ghz with hyperthreading and it ran decently. As a matter of fact, it ran better than Vista with one exception, that being it would not use the mobile P4's speed control so it always ran at max speed. One of the good things about win7 is that it's requirements are far lower than vista, and actually runs about as well as xp on a given machine as long as you have the right supported hardware. I believe there is an assessment tool that you can run that will tell you how prepared your computer is for win7, but you have enough processor AND enough ram, so it's just the storage and motherboard drivers that might be an issue, that and the video card, but as long as its a supported model with drivers from the manufacturer your computer would probably run win7 just fine.

That said, I long ago (about 5 years ago or so) moved away from desktop computers except for at work, and have never looked back. For myself I have exactly ONE computer (if you don't count my smartphone), and it goes just about everywhere with me, including up into the hills camping (works nice as a movie player too). And I (unlike many) actually liked Vista, once I got the right drivers installed, but I like win7 a LOT more. One thing to remember, coming from xp, win7 just like Vista will be a huge shift, but I found once I got used to it that xp feels clunky to me now. I'd say go for it! My 5 year old Dell laptop ran it pretty well with only 2 gig of ram and it's slow front side bus, so you should be fine. One thing I have found, is that FSB (Front Side Bus) actualy can make a slower processor machine run faster than a faster machine with slow FSB. We recently replace a server here at work with a machine that had a processor that was about 40% slower on clock speed, but 300% faster on the FSB and it runs rings around the old one.

Just one more note, win7 run well with 2gig of ram, and really well with 3, and while 4 does even better, 3 is actually the sweet spot for it, and I disagree with those that say don't run it on a P4, it runs fine, at least as well as XP, so while it would be better on the others, its still better than XP on a machine as long as the drivers are there for all the MB devices and espcially the video.

[thewiz]

Now .. that's cool, Cy ... interesting ... I have an 800 mhz FSB ... agp video card ... running a g-force 500mb card ... I realize the vid card is weak ... but I could still upgrade it while there are some AGP vid cards left ... was pretty hard to even find a parallel drive too ... lol.

What is the FSB spec on your machine?

[Geezer]

Win 7 came on my new laptop and frankly I hate it. If I could roll it back to XP, I'd be much happier...

Geezer

[79XS11F]

I'm very disappointed to see outlook express dropped. I really do not like the new windows mail that replaces outlook express. The rest of it is OK and much better the VISTA to say the least
Rob

[Geezer]

Try Mozilla Thunderbird eMail client and you'll never miss outhouse express again...

Geezer

[IndianaKong]

I refurbish a lot of computers from the University here and I have put windows 7 on quite a few machines with P4's with good results. Some with much lower specs than yours. I had one that ran p4 2.8ghz, 1gb ram, onboard video 64mb? mabey. it operated as a storage box mostly, but i would use it to play movies and surf the internet somtimes because it was hooked up to my big screen.

Windows 7 is pretty versital and in my opinion runs as well as XP in most cases as long as you meet the system requirments. ram and all that.

[Geezer]

I'm not complaining about how it runs, I hate the interface...

Geezer