Not a convert of Win7 yet......I'm thinking....

[Bozobytes]

I have the following:
[FONT=&quot]MSI P-35 Platinum MoBo/3.3GB DDR memory/Intel Core2 Q6600 CPU/ Nvidia GeForce 8600GT with 512MB/500GB Internal WD HDD/500GB Ext, WD HDD/WinXP SP2-32 Bit/ DirectX v.9/NERO 9[/FONT]

Technology can be expensive. Always changing. I would like to upgrade to Windows 7, granted, I would rather have 8GB memory for my MEM hungry Photoshop CS4, but because of my 32Bit OS, I can not. is it worth it to upgrade to the 64Bit,then have to upgrade my 8600GT, then buy more Ram (I have 4 sticks @ 1GB each) will have to replace with 8GB.

Can anyone tell me if my optical CD/DVD drive swill be ok, or a non-issue?

Epson NX300 Scanner/Printer all-in-one? Intel Core2 Quad 6600?

MSI P-35 Platinum MoBo? Will all this be a nightmare....OR stick to 32 Bit Windows7? If I build my own, I was thinking of getting the OEM system build version of Pro 7.

Change is scary...and can be very expensive as well. Took me a liong tome to change from Windows 98 to XP, Love XP...will I love Windows 7?

I want to do video editing too. I bought the pinnacle Studio MovieBoard and studio12 software, but having issues with the capture..most tell me to upgrade to fix issues. I'm getting sound capture, but no video using composite connections to analog Camcorder.

Seems like a nice place to visit. Thanks!

 

[Veedaz]

Hi Bozobytes

Your MOBO will be fine, go 6 or 8gb ram, your GPU is getting on a bit go ATI, your Q-core will support 64-bit and yes you will like / love Windows 7 ... suggest go Win 7 Pro (just my opinion mate )

 

[Nibiru2012]

Change is scary...and can be very expensive as well. Took me a liong tome to change from Windows 98 to XP, Love XP...will I love Windows 7?

Yes, I agree! Change CAN be scary, but its a good thing also, especially in the respect of Windows 7.

It looks like you'll be able to run Windows 7 64 bit. Your memory shows "3.3GB", which really means you have 4 GB installed. Windows 7 64 bit will be able to fully utilize all your RAM.

Try it... you'll like it! :top:

You should have no problems with Windows 7 install. Be sure to get the latest drivers for your motherboard, video card, sound drivers, etc., for whichever version you decide to install.

 

[beamish]

Windows XP does not upgrade to Windows 7.
Microsoft calls this" a custom install", meaning a clean install.
You start,” the upgrade disc,” Windows 7 from within the Windows XP system, this allows Windows 7 to verify a legal OS.
It then gives options for a clean install. My full experience, one system.

This assumes your hardware is acceptable to run Windows 7.
The hardware you have listed is superior to what is on my XP unit.

On my Windows XP system I had no problem installing Windows 7.
Returned to Windows XP SP3 Home premium X86, for this system XP actually is
faster on boot, close down and bringing up programs.

Windows 7 is for more robust hardware then this systems capabilities.
I use Windows 7 Home Premium X64 on other systems.
From my limited knowledge of Windows OS, Windows 7 is excellent.

 

[Nibiru2012]

You start,” the upgrade disc,” Windows 7 from within the Windows XP system, this allows Windows 7 to verify a legal OS.

You really don't even have to do that. Just install from boot up. I have even wiped friends' hard drives clean prior to an upgrade install and had no issues at all.

 

[catilley1092]

Hi Bozobytes

Your MOBO will be fine, go 6 or 8gb ram, your GPU is getting on a bit go ATI, your Q-core will support 64-bit and yes you will like / love Windows 7 ... suggest go Win 7 Pro (just my opinion mate )

I agree with Veedaz here, Pro may suit you, just in case your programs don't work with Windows 7. If you have a processor capable of it, you can download Windows Virtual PC w/XP mode to run any older programs you may have that won't run on 64 bit Windows 7. You may have to enable hardware virtualization in the BIOS to run it, the instructions are there for most brands. And you will love Windows 7, it's speedy and dependable, and easy to learn. Coupled with 6 to 8GB RAM, you'll fly across the net.

 

[Bozobytes]

Thanks everyone for their "two cents" which to be, is more valuable than the face value.

Your MOBO will be fine, go 6 or 8gb ram, your GPU is getting on a bit go ATI, your Q-core will support 64-bit and yes you will like / love Windows 7 ... suggest go Win 7 Pro (just my opinion mate )


My 8600GT is 512MB, are you advising to jump to 1GB memory on the PCI-E GPU? what about the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 ? Coming out in mid-April

Someone mentioned update drivers, meaning I do this immediately after upgrading to 64 Windows?

There still many questions I have but I'll check in later. Thanks again!

 

[Nibiru2012]

My 8600GT is 512MB, are you advising to jump to 1GB memory on the PCI-E GPU? what about the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 ? Coming out in mid-April

Someone mentioned update drivers, meaning I do this immediately after upgrading to 64 Windows?

Your video card should be good for now. I would get an ATI Radeon card, better bang for the money spent and the reviews on the new nVidia cards aren't that great, yet. Plus they're very expensive. You can get a very good DirectX 11 Radeon card for around $100.

Yes, update your drivers. Prior to the install of Windows 7, go and download all the pertinent drivers for your motherboard from the MSI website, sound chipset, LAN card, video card, etc. and save them to a thumb flash drive, external hard drive or burn them to a CD-RW disc. That way you'll have them ready to go after install.

 

[Bozobytes]

So if I want to jump into the Windows 7 arena with 64 Bit, First I would have to trash the 4 single 1028GB sticks of PC6400 to get the 8GB Ram. (I hate new technology...very expensive upgrading) Or keep 2 sticks in two slots, and get 2- 2GB to get 6GB Ram. Anyway............

And I don't have to be concerned with my Epson NX300 or any optical CD/DVD drives working with Windows7 64Bit platform?

Update MSI MoBo prior to install of win7..... "sound chipset, LAN card, video card, etc. and save them to a thumb flash drive, external hard drive or burn them to a CD-RW disc." Go to the MSI website and manually download from the MSI site. Does Windows7 need any additional newer drivers for my existing hardware to work in 64 Bit environment?

I usually use the MSI Updater to update.

 

[catilley1092]

Windows Update will give you some of your needed drivers, but by no means all. Whichever way you prefer to update should be fine, as long as the site provides all of your updates. Some sites (such as Driver Max) will show you the one you have installed, then the latest version in their database. Even if you download your drivers to CD, USB stick, or whatever, prior to the install, which you should do, there will be some out of date drivers anyway. But that will be a great starting point, and a necessary one, to have as many as possible in advance. Then update from there. I feel that you'll pull it off with minimal problems. At least you have a game plan, which is more than 80% of those who move forward from an earlier OS doesn't. Many pop in the Windows 7 disc, boot from it, and thinks that the OS performs miracles, then wonders what went wrong. Should you need any further assistance or questions, before, during or after the install, feel free to post. Best of luck with your install.

 

[clifford_cooley]

So if I want to jump into the Windows 7 arena with 64 Bit, First I would have to trash the 4 single 1028GB sticks of PC6400 to get the 8GB Ram.

Check my Computer Information to the left. You will see that Windows 7 will install with 2GB. Actually less but I know for a fact that Windows will run smoothly with 2. If at a later date you decide you need more you can switch the RAM modules then.

4 single 1028GB sticks of PC6400

Not to be critical, we all know what you meant.
That would be 1024M or 1G

 

[catilley1092]

My HP 64 bit desktop, preinstalled with Windows 7 Home Premium, originally was shipped with 2GB RAM. It ran decently, the main reason for my upgrade to 4GB RAM was due to my interest in VM's and watching a lot of video clips. To run a VM, you have to "lend" some RAM to the VM, this is where 2GB on 64 bit comes up short. You can't lend 1GB to the VM and leave only 1GB RAM for a 64 bit computer to run on. You can do this with a 32 bit, though. 4GB is actually considered to be the "sweet spot" for most home users, a few may require 6GB, but very few needs 8GB. For the majority of home users, out of 8GB, 2 to 4GB of it would be a waste of cash that could be used to buy an external hard drive to backup with. But if you decide to "trash" those 4 RAM sticks, there's probably a few on here that would like to where you trashed them, because 4 sticks of 1028MB RAM will make most computers fly, as long as they are compatible.

 

[Bozobytes]

Thank you Cattilley for all that info.... (especially the mix up on the 1024RAM)
I was wondering though, Gamers usually love the extreme GPU'S with faster CPU'S and lots of memory. I'm not a gamer,do not have any games,but mostly what I want to do is work with Photoshop,and capture Video and then edit,and burn to SVCD & DVD Alot of my issues at present have been trying to use a USB SiiG Composite capture device with it's software to use with my XP PRO,that didn't work, so most recently I purchased the Pinnacle Studio MovieBoard PCI with it's software, I captured the audio,but the video never came into the preview screen. A few people told me to either upgrade to SP3 for XP (32Bit) or jump up to Windows 7,and that may work, or trash the idea altogether about capturing and editing, and have someone else record all of my VHS-C camcorder Analog taper to DVD,then get a authoring program to do the editing, then burn myself. Now where's the fun in that? (REAL TIME) consuming as that will be.

The full potential of my using my 2.4 Q6600 CPU and using Photoshop and working with video along with Win7 makes sense to get as much Ram I can muster,but if I can get away with my 512 nVidia Geforce 8600GT and as little as 4GB with the Win7 64Bit, then that might have t do for now.

I see that you also have 512MB (not 1GB) on your Radeon HD 4350, and share the same PC6400 MEM as I do,so I'm guessing mine would be adequate for now.
Thanks for all of your input and help.

 

[Nibiru2012]

The full potential of my using my 2.4 Q6600 CPU and using Photoshop and working with video along with Win7 makes sense to get as much Ram I can muster,but if I can get away with my 512 nVidia Geforce 8600GT and as little as 4GB with the Win7 32Bit, then that might have t do for now.

If you install Windows 7 32-bit you'll only be able to utilize only 3.2GB of your 4GB of RAM. Installing Windows 7 64-bit will be able to fully utilize all of your 4GB to the maximum.

You should be okay with your nVidia GeForce 8600GT card for the time being. Regarding the RAM on video cards, usually only gamers will go for the cards with most RAM on-board. 512MB is adequate for the uses you intend for your system.

Keep us posted on your results!

 

[Bozobytes]

Ok, thanks for catching the Win7>32 that was supposed to be Win7> 64, with up to 8GB of Ram.With Photoshop,and the possible Video Editing, the more RAM the merrier, I think.

 

[Nibiru2012]

the more RAM the merrier, I think.

Once you get past 6GB you're reaching the point of diminishing returns.

Tom's Hardware did an excellent article about how much RAM a user really needs. I believe the results will surprise you!

Click on the link below to read the full article.

Do You Really Need More Than 6 GB Of RAM?

Their conclusion:

Conclusion

2:00 AM - April 7, 2009 by Thomas Soderstrom


Not much has changed since 4 GB of RAM became the “sweet spot” for performance and price in the enthusiast market. While 32-bit operating systems previously limited those 4 GB configurations to around 3 GB of useful memory space, today's test shows that 3 GB is still usually enough.


We remember days when having multiple Internet Explorer windows open could cause a system to become sluggish. But even that scenario has become unrealistic, as all the configurations we tested in this review supported over 100 open windows simultaneously.


If 3 GB worked so well, why do we continue to recommend 4 GB to 6 GB triple-channel kits for performance systems? Perhaps we’re just a little too forward-looking, but we can certainly imagine scenarios a typical “power user” could encounter where 3 GB might not be enough, even if today’s tests didn’t reveal any of them. For those folks, stepping up to a 64-bit operating system at the same time is undoubtedly the best course of action.


We can only recommend larger capacities of 8 GB to 12 GB for professional applications where its usefulness has already been documented and for servers. None of our tests required high-memory capacities and wasted RAM is a burden both financially and ecologically.