Operating System

[Septfox]

I'd just like to add in something that I'm surprised nobody else has pointed out...

Windows 7 apparently (just what I've read, I can't uh, actually run it yet) has much better memory handling than XP does. It does use more, being a bit more bloated, but what it doesn't use it handles more intelligently.

 

It'd depend on your hardware in the end, though. If you're running weak/outdated hardware, sticking with XP would probably be better, assuming you plan on updating your hardware before you stop being a student (and thus are no longer eligible for the discount). Once you update your stuff, you can continue with XP until you save enough for 7 Pro. Did you post your system specs? Skimming over the thread, I didn't see them :\

 

A brief question:

 

If a video card works fine in the BIOS without any issues, does that mean it might or will work with an operating system once the drivers are installed? Presumably, it might depending on the history of the card.

It means it might work. If you're talking about an old keyboard-driven BIOS, they run at very low resolution and color depth, so even a card that say...has half its RAM burnt out should still be able to view it. On the other hand, once you have drivers installed Windows will usually prompt you to bump your resolution/color depth up from the defaults (640x480x16 color I think, or 256 color), which is when I imagine problems would start to arise. You might even be able to do basic things like web browsing and whatnot, but if anything would try to use that RAM, poof, BSOD courtesy of the graphics driver.

So yea, it would depend on the history of the card. If it's been overheated one too many times and burnt parts of itself to a crisp, it might get you to the BIOS, but you're pretty likely to get instability in Windows, if you get there at all.

 

Why do you ask, out of curiousity?

Edited February 5, 2012 by Septfox