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_Jay_
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United Kingdom
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 Posted - 2012/03/02 : 12:18:05
Hello computer people.
Let's start by saying that I'm not especially techy, but I'm not a total moron either. Here's what's happening.
I've got an old (2005, I think) Dell Dimension 5100 PC. It's had a rough life and since until recently I didn't take PC maintenance/care very seriously, it had been pathetic slow and unbelievably frustrating for years. I recently ran a Defrag, Disk Check, started using a program called CCleaner daily, deleted a load of shit (80GB), and un-installed a massive amount of programs. Now the little swine is speeding along quite nicely, and I've grown rather fond of her. She was due to just be gotten rid of, and my parents want to replace her with a new All-In-One, but I think I'm going to keep her with me, and do unspeakable things to her!
I would, however, like to upgrade to Windows 7 (from XP). I realise that a computer of this age and limited specification might not necessarily be able to cope with that, so I downloaded a 'Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor" program from the Microsoft site. It determined that my PC - in its current form - would be fine for Windows 7 32-bit, but would need a memory upgrade (from 1GB to 2GB) for Windows 7-64 bit.
Here's my PC specs, and then I'll ask a couple questions after:
Processor Type: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz
Mainboard, Chipset type: Intel 945G Express
Data bus speed: 800.0 MHz
RAM, Installed Size: 1.0 GB / 4.0 GB (max)
Upgrade Rule Max: 4 x 1 GB module
Hard Drive: 250.0 GB
OS: Windows XP
Question 1: Is it worth installing the maximum 4GB of RAM, or will 2GB be enough to run Windows 7 comfortably and just use it for a few games, iTunes, watching movies, making videos (not sexy ones), browsing etc?
Question 2: Is it worth/does anything else need to be upgraded? Or will just pumping it full of new RAM be alright?
Question 3: In this case, would there be a noticeable difference or advantage/disadvantage of using Windows 32-bit vs. 64-bit? Or does it just not matter for my pretty basic requirements.
Cheese.
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Samination
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 12:58:16
Answer 1: If you wish to use 4GB (the max), you should check to see if the motherboard/chipset can support Windows 7 64-bits. But 3+GB is recommended regardless.
Edit 1: I checked the chipset, might be a different motherboard (or you arent using express chipset), but it only accepts 2 Memory modules.
Answer 2: I would say a new Harddrive would be nice. After 1 year, my Windows 7 folder takes up 22Gb, mostly because of the winsxs folder (which stores "links" to DLL files, but are still counted to the total size of the hard drive).
Answer 3: I can't say I have really tried 32 vs 64-bits of any OS (other than Vista, which was a failure in it self, especially on pre-combiled computers like Dell and HP's). But I can say that a SSD disc and 8GB RAM makes Windows 7 64-bits work like wonders compared to a regular HDD and 3Gb RAM (albeit different motherboard).
A startup time of 8 seconds (after 1 year without format) should speak for itself :) )
Overall: Depending on how much money you have/wish to spend, you should be able to get the same specs on a new computer for a reasonable price today
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Edited by - Samination on 2012/03/02 13:00:28 |
_Jay_
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 13:06:54
Quality. Cheers Sami. I will digest this and have a think. Need to look stuff up. :-)
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dj_deano
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 14:43:36
Dont bother with a solid state drive, thats bollocks. They are way overpriced and you can get something for your needs for a lot less. Upgrade to 2gig ram and you should have enough for what you need. Bear in mind that if you are making movies, you will probably need a graphics card, unless you mean ENCODING movies, then you need RAM.
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dj_deano
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 14:45:16
If you propose on doing what Sam said, you might as well buy a new PC.
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_Jay_
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 14:46:34
I'm guessing I just mean encoding movies? Literally just making videos of tunes to whack on YouTube. As basic as it gets.
You reckon I'll be alright to run Windows 7 on 2GB RAM then? Or is that not what you're saying - and I should just carry on using XP?
Cheers for your help :-)
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dj_deano
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 15:13:27
I run Win 7 on a 2 gb laptop and its pretty fast. Faster than XP and Vista depending on your hardware.
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_Jay_
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 15:16:31
Cool. That's pretty much what I wanted to hear. Cheers Deano.
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dj_deano
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 15:30:29
If your doing heavy graphics (such as photoshop), making music or playing 3d games, you absolutley should get a new PC. For what you require, 2gb and 250gig will be fine.
You can always get an external HDD for buttons if you require extra space for media etc.
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_Jay_
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 15:38:33
Yeah, I'm doing relatively basic stuff. I've already got a couple of external HDDs. :-)
I do also have a pretty powerful 4GB/500GB/Windows 7 Acer laptop. This PC is just something I'm being sentimental about and don't feel it's worth throwing away. It'll be useful to me or someone else in the future if I can get it satisfactorily upgraded now and keep it maintained.
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Lorenzo.Tweakn
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 15:44:20
or you could jus build a former monster. ;)
btw i need more RAM. LOL. n its a former monster cause when purchased by my friend the i7 860 2.8 was the best out at the time.
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Samination
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 16:01:32
quote:
Originally posted by dj_deano:
Dont bother with a solid state drive, thats bollocks. They are way overpriced and you can get something for your needs for a lot less. Upgrade to 2gig ram and you should have enough for what you need. Bear in mind that if you are making movies, you will probably need a graphics card, unless you mean ENCODING movies, then you need RAM.
overpriced, yes. bollocks? wtf you on about? And 2GB RAM is barely getting Windows XP to run properly at SP3, or do you like waiting 3 minutes for a computer to load everything? :)
It's the 2010, no 1980...
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Samination
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 16:03:10
quote:
Originally posted by _Jay_:
Yeah, I'm doing relatively basic stuff. I've already got a couple of external HDDs. :-)
I do also have a pretty powerful 4GB/500GB/Windows 7 Acer laptop. This PC is just something I'm being sentimental about and don't feel it's worth throwing away. It'll be useful to me or someone else in the future if I can get it satisfactorily upgraded now and keep it maintained.
I'd say keep it, since if you intend to ever install Windows 98 again, you will be ****ed on computers newer than 2007. I still have a computer I can install Windows 98 just to play legacy games like Silver
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TheOneNOnly
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 16:55:45
quote:
Originally posted by _Jay_:
Question 1: Is it worth installing the maximum 4GB of RAM, or will 2GB be enough to run Windows 7 comfortably and just use it for a few games, iTunes, watching movies, making videos (not sexy ones), browsing etc?
2GB is fine if you do not plan on playing semi-modern games. The problem is even if you wanted to upgrade is finding your RAM standard to buy in the first place.
quote:
Originally posted by _Jay_:
Question 2: Is it worth/does anything else need to be upgraded? Or will just pumping it full of new RAM be alright?
It depends on what you mean by a few games. Do you mean semi-modern (3 years of less) games, or games like playing on Facebook? Onboard motherboard GPU's will not get you by on any semi-modern games. You'd have to get a separate graphics card to be able to play newer games.
This creates two new problems for you. You'd have to see if your motherboard supports PCI-E x16 card slots; Which is what all new cards come out on as their bridge-type. And if it doesn't you'd need a new motherboard to play semi-newer games all the way up to games releasing this year. But if you did that you'd need a new processor, RAM that supports your memory channel probably doesn't really exist anymore. And on top of that you'd probably need a new power supply for newer components.
quote:
Originally posted by _Jay_:
Question 3: In this case, would there be a noticeable difference or advantage/disadvantage of using Windows 32-bit vs. 64-bit? Or does it just not matter for my pretty basic requirements.
[/quote]
The only noticeable difference for 64-bit is the ability to install more then 4GB max RAM. 32-Bit only allows for the user to install up to a maximum of 4GB in the first place. Since your motherboard doesn't even allow you to go past 4GB in the first place there is no difference. And some programs do not have installation specs for 64bit.
My advice? If you're going to upgrade, which if you plan to do anything modern with gaming or production, use something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7
That way you can get a bundle for cheaper of parts you need, and then build around that. It'll help in the long run.
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Samination
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 20:05:10
32Bit systems wont use beyond 3Gb RAM tho. I think some XP or Vista setups might fail to load if there's too much memory installed
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TheOneNOnly
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Posted - 2012/03/02 : 21:39:20
That is what I meant.
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