Will it run Windows 7 Ultimate smoothly?

[8004302]

I want to install Windows 7 Ultimate 64-BIT on a pc with the specs below... Will it run well? It used to run XP SP3. Would I notice a performance loss? What would be a recommendation for an upgrade? (I'm thinking 2Gb RAM)Thanks.

-Intel P4 2.8GHZ (533MHz FSB)
-768MB DDR 400 SD-RAM
-80GB Seagate IDE HDD (SYSTEM)
-640GB WD Black Edition HDD(DATA)
-nVidia FX5100 64-MB AGP Graphics

 

[xrodney]

Yes you will notice slower performance, W7 need more resources then XP and slower PC, more difference you can see.

What for are you using it ?

 

[Gandalf]

This should tell you if the computer can handle Win7...
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15

I wouldn't go with less than 4GB of RAM (2x2GB).
2GB would have to use the HDD space to supplement for memory space and that will slow down your performance.
You might want to consider going with a 32bit system unless you have a program that really performs better on a 64bit system.

 

[buzznut]

Yes, I would start with the ram. And you will notice a difference for sure. I also think that your graphics card is a little underpowered, I think the recommendation is 128mb vram..

Ultimately I would not recommend throwing too much money at such an old machine. AGP cards are surprisingly expensive for the power you will get.
For instance, you could get an HD 4670 pci-e for about 60, I think its closer to 100US for the agp version. DDR 400 ram is not exactly cheap either.

If you were planning an upgrade soon (I would), you should wait to load 7 after getting some newer hardware. However, that is not to say that your machine won;t run 7. As rodney said, it would prolly depend on your usage. It will not run win7 great though, especially the ultimate version.

Your WD black drive will feel right at home though! It probably feels alone and very superior to its current surroundings.

 

[buzznut]

@ gandalf--You recommend 4 gigs of ram, then a 32 bit OS???
huh?

 

[Gandalf]

@ buzznut - since a 32bit system can address about 3.5GB of RAM, 4GB would max out the RAM for a 32bit system. And, if he decides to run with a 64bit system, 4GB is a minimum I would install.

It all depends on what he wants to do with the computer. I notice you're running with 4GB.

 

[buzznut]

Me? yes, I am running win7 x64. with 4 gigs.

However I just installed 7 home premium on my daughters PC with 1 gig of ram and it runs just dandy, quick and responsive. she has modest specs- AMD 5000+ X2, ddr2 800 1gb, 7600gt, asrock 6150se motherboard.

I don't believe someone needs 4 gigs of ram to run win7, yes even ultimate. And in this case, most motherboards back then didn't have that capacity. Its quite possible the most the OP could add to his machine is 2 gigs. And i certainly wouldn't recommend he try to jam 4 gigs in at those prices for a 32 bit system.

And I thought it was closer to 3.25 Gb addressable in 32 bit..

 

[xrodney]

Me? yes, I am running win7 x64. with 4 gigs.

However I just installed 7 home premium on my daughters PC with 1 gig of ram and it runs just dandy, quick and responsive. she has modest specs- AMD 5000+ X2, ddr2 800 1gb, 7600gt, asrock 6150se motherboard.

I don't believe someone needs 4 gigs of ram to run win7, yes even ultimate. And in this case, most motherboards back then didn't have that capacity. Its quite possible the most the OP could add to his machine is 2 gigs. And i certainly wouldn't recommend he try to jam 4 gigs in at those prices for a 32 bit system.

And I thought it was closer to 3.25 Gb addressable in 32 bit..

For just browsing, watching movies 1Gig is ok, but as soon as you start gaming or using more demanding applications even 2G are not enough.

Thats also why i asked what this PC OP using for.

I am personally using 8GB ram and often like 60% of it is used, but yeah i am using demanding apps (often even several at a time ) and dont use swap at all as it degrade performance and i like to have PC as fast and responsible as possible (app starting in 2 seconds instead of 20 is what matter for me).

 

[buzznut]

ooooookay. again, how go you know the op can put 4 gigs in that old machine? And have you priced 4 gigs of ddr400 memory?

Yes, 8 gigs is nice in your fancy new rig but the original poster was asking about upgrades to his CURRENT rig.

My wife has 2 gigs in her 7 ultimate rig and she does just fine, she has another pc for work so she uses her gaming pc for everything else-gaming, movies, music, netflix, you name it. And that machine has no problems running anything. I know because I built it and I am the administrator and I do the benchmarks-and it used to be my machine. So don't tell me ya need four gigs of ram to run win7 ultimate because I KNOW better.

Do you truly believe people need 4 gigs of ram to use win7? Because they don't. Someone may have convinced you that you need 8 gigs of ram, and that's fine. But four gigs of ram is a silly recommendation for the OP. Especially considering you have no idea if he can even use that much ram.

 

[edhat]

I am running win 7 home 32 bit on an Asus N10J netbook with 2 Gig
DDR2 ram and a Intel Atom 270 CPU.Had vista prior to upgrade.
Win 7 runs great with no problems.So win 7 works fine with 2Gig ram
Hope this clears the air a bit. EDhat

 

[buzznut]

Ok, so the OP somehow manages to have one of those rare ddr agp boards that has four slots (most of them didn't) and those slots were capable of utilizing 1 gig sticks. (some of them were limited to 512Mb per slot)

You recommend 4 gigs ddr400 ram
$200

He loads win7 only to find out his graphics card is woefully outdated
AGP HD4670
$100

Still has a single core pcu so win7 still doesn't run zippy. not a great experience, but no other option.

My idea-save $200

buy:
AMD motherboard $50
TWO gigs ram $50
PCI-e HD 4670 $60
Athlon X2 $50

OP is completely ready to install win7 and have a great experience.

So which one is the better recommendation, gentlemen?

 

[xrodney]

Ok to make this clear i didnt suggest to op get 4 gigs i was just replying to your comment "I don't believe someone needs 4 gigs of ram to run win7".
Its all about what you want to do and how you expect system your system to work.
Yes you can make w7 work with 1gig, even run application that require 10GB ram on it, but it will use swap on your disk slowing everything down.

W7 (23bit) use more memory then XP and w7 64bit use more memory then 32bit and it can use 1GB ram just for system easily and will put rest of it to swap.
Reason why 64bit os use more memory is mainly because it have to be able run also 32bit applications and thus need part of system to use 32bit libraries etc.

Another good thing on improved W7 memory management is that it keep once loaded files in "cache memory" that is not used by system or application at that time so next time you start same application again it doesnt need to load all stuff from disks, but it can without any impact on performance clean up part of cache if more memory is needed for running OS or application.

 

[8004302]

Yes you will notice slower performance, W7 need more resources then XP and slower PC, more difference you can see.

What for are you using it ?

Just checking emails and word processing. Nothing major, most intensive thing I would be doing is capturing from a VCR. Don't even need to edit.

 

[will_chellam]

I would switch the hard disks around as well, the WD black 640gb is probably going to be much, much faster than the 80gb disk you have for your system drive....

you can partition the wd disk if you want, but i would use the 80gb disk for backups and long-term storage...

 

[8004302]

Ok, so the OP somehow manages to have one of those rare ddr agp boards that has four slots (most of them didn't) and those slots were capable of utilizing 1 gig sticks. (some of them were limited to 512Mb per slot)

You recommend 4 gigs ddr400 ram
$200

He loads win7 only to find out his graphics card is woefully outdated
AGP HD4670
$100

Still has a single core pcu so win7 still doesn't run zippy. not a great experience, but no other option.

My idea-save $200

buy:
AMD motherboard $50
TWO gigs ram $50
PCI-e HD 4670 $60
Athlon X2 $50

OP is completely ready to install win7 and have a great experience.

So which one is the better recommendation, gentlemen?

Sorry, I don't do AMD. If I was to spend money I would rather build a cheap i5 (or i3) system. I wouldn't want to spend money if it is going to be out dated. For a matter of fact I would not use ati graphics cards either unless I'm on a really tight budget, the least I would get would be a 4850. They currently are pretty cheap for what they are.

However thanks for the suggestion but I'm trying not to spend too much that's why I'm only concidering ram. I ran the Win 7 advisor and the ony issue it had was the current RAM size. Apart from that it passed with flying colours.

 

[buzznut]

Great sounds like you are good to go, 2 gigs of ram should be suitable for your needs.

 

[8004302]

Great sounds like you are good to go, 2 gigs of ram should be suitable for your needs.

Yes, 2x 1GB DDR 400 RAM is going to cost me $60 NZD. Not bad concidering the rarity of the RAM. (I'm not even sure if 'rarity' is a word but you know what I mean.)

 

[Gandalf]

If you can, suggest you get 1x2GB strip. Then, if you decide to increase your RAM at a later date, you can just get another 1x2GB strip. That would be a money saving step in the long run.

 

[8004302]

It's a good idea but for two reasons I am getting 2x 1Gb.

Firstly I like to run in dual channel and the max RAM that the motherboard can handle (It's really old) is 3Gb However I would not 'utilise' 3Gb, rather 2.5 or 2.8Gb so 2Gb is the highest capacity of RAM I would like to use in order not to 'loose' some RAM. I may however concider running one of the current RAM sticks (512Mb) in conjunction with 2x 1Gb sticks.

 

[buzznut]

Yes, 2x 1GB DDR 400 RAM is going to cost me $60 NZD. Not bad concidering the rarity of the RAM. (I'm not even sure if 'rarity' is a word but you know what I mean.)

Wow that's great. Wish the older ram was cheaper here in the states. I work on a lot of my friends' old machines and they always get angry when I tell em how much the ram is. doh.

And yeah, rarity is a good description. We enjoyed a glut of DDR2 ram for about a year and now the prices have gone up, that annoying supply and demand thing.

 

[JessicaD]

80043202,


To determine if your current computer configuration will be compatible with Windows 7 please go to the following link: http://tinyurl.com/no4xb7

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team