- Apr 7, 2012
- 2,462
- 5
- 21,965
Mates,
In trying to revive my 2004 Dell Dimension 8400 [P4 630 3.0GHz, 3GB RAM, WD 500GB, Quadro FX570]. The P4 630 was -I think- the first 64-bit version. I ran the Win 7 compatibility test and it liked all the components.
This was originally using XP, but I decided for it's second life to use Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.
After a careful install of the OS, I added AutoCad 2007, Corel Technical X5, WP X4, Sketchup and a few others. The C: partition is 100GB and contains about 35GB.
The 8400 ran very well and actually improved it's Passmark score slightly over the previous XP-64.
The problem is, this setup requires running system restore almost every day. Plus, it seems to delete all but the last three restore points. Today, I ran restore twice and both times Win said the restore was unsuccessful.
I was resigned to reinstalling everything. However, when restarting after the second attempt, it ran fine. I don't understand this aspect.
The one questionable component is the sound card, which is an e-mu 0404PCI. This has XP ans Vista drivers, but the drivers for Win7 are from Creative (owns e-mu) but listed as "beta".
Any thoughts on this situation? If
I can't find out the reason for these freezes at startup (unable to start), I might be doomed to restore 3 or 4 times a week!
I just can't trust this computer a the moment, waiting for the next disaster. Am I pushing this elderly computer by using Win 7 64 Ultimate? I can revert it to XP if its 'worth it.
Very disappointed after all this work.
TA!
Cheers,
BambiBoom
In trying to revive my 2004 Dell Dimension 8400 [P4 630 3.0GHz, 3GB RAM, WD 500GB, Quadro FX570]. The P4 630 was -I think- the first 64-bit version. I ran the Win 7 compatibility test and it liked all the components.
This was originally using XP, but I decided for it's second life to use Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.
After a careful install of the OS, I added AutoCad 2007, Corel Technical X5, WP X4, Sketchup and a few others. The C: partition is 100GB and contains about 35GB.
The 8400 ran very well and actually improved it's Passmark score slightly over the previous XP-64.
The problem is, this setup requires running system restore almost every day. Plus, it seems to delete all but the last three restore points. Today, I ran restore twice and both times Win said the restore was unsuccessful.
I was resigned to reinstalling everything. However, when restarting after the second attempt, it ran fine. I don't understand this aspect.
The one questionable component is the sound card, which is an e-mu 0404PCI. This has XP ans Vista drivers, but the drivers for Win7 are from Creative (owns e-mu) but listed as "beta".
Any thoughts on this situation? If
I can't find out the reason for these freezes at startup (unable to start), I might be doomed to restore 3 or 4 times a week!
I just can't trust this computer a the moment, waiting for the next disaster. Am I pushing this elderly computer by using Win 7 64 Ultimate? I can revert it to XP if its 'worth it.
Very disappointed after all this work.
TA!
Cheers,
BambiBoom
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