So Windows 7

[nivea]

So I have been considering upgrading from my much loved XP to 7 lately, I would really love to use more RAM for my gaming. Is it any good?

Will I still be able to play my favorite older games (BG1-2/KOTOR/Planescape: Torment/Morrowind/ect)?

Will it run my Fallout3/FNV better?

Is it horribly cumbersome compared to the smooth usage of XP?

 

Am I just being silly and should stick with XP, or am I being silly to stick with XP?

 

Opinions please from those who did upgrade from XP to 7.

[Illiad86]

Older games run well on it. Certain older games, Fallout and Fallout 2 in my experience, you have to kill explorer.exe before launching the game. The game will run if you don't, but all the textures will be rainbow in colour. It might be the same for Planescape: Torment as it's from around that era. Morrowind runs on 7, my boyfriend has it installed and it works fine.

 

More RAM is always nice. Make sure you get a 64 bit edition of the OS otherwise you won't be able to use anymore than 3.5GB. Games, programs, and the OS itself will all benefit from more RAM.

 

I went from XP to 7 myself. I actually like the change. 7 is very stable and isn't a huge resource hog. It looks like Windows Vista but performs like XP. A few things are moved around and there's more options, but it's not a hard transition from XP to 7 :)

 

Ya could stick with XP if you want to, support for it doesn't end for another 2 years. I'd just switch over to 7.

[ChuckFinly]

I had the exact same concerns when I switched to 7. In a nutshell, 7 is amazing!

 

It does take a little getting used to when coming from XP, but that comes fairly quickly or at least it did for me.

 

Running older programs:

 

I have a few small issues in running mid-late 90's software that was designed for Windows '95 and '98, but I managed to resolve most of those. (I am actually talking about some of the old C&C games on the The First Decade game, but I eventually figured it out.)

 

It is not as stable as XP in my personal opinion, but its pretty close. XP also in my opinion was the most stable operating system Microsoft produced, but Windows 7 doesn't come far behind it as far as stability!

 

Yes as Illiad86 said, make sure you get the 64-bit edition if you have 4+ gigs of RAM. Note: if you plan on having more than 16 GB of RAM, get the Professional Version (Windows 7 Professional) as Home Premium only supports a max of 16 GB, but most people do not use (or by for that matter) more than 16 gigs anyway so that may not be an issue for you.

 

As far as Fallout 3/NV goes, I think it will run just fine. I did have to play with some stuff before I could get Fallout 3 working properly on mine, but that was because I didn't have all the Windows 7 Mobo drivers. Once I got ALL the drivers for my motherboard, it ran fine. Not really much of a difference from XP.

 

Just FYI, if you upgrade, make sure you get all of your motherboard drivers for Windows 7; a perfect example would be the Chipset Driver. Note: motherboard drivers are specific to that motherboard.

 

I hope my feedback was helpful to you!

Edited August 22, 2012 by ChuckFinly

[nivea]

Thanks to you both you all have given me some things to think about, its a hard choice to decide if I am ready to give up XP. People are always saying stop living in the past, its so old, but damn if it inst the most stable thing widows has made... which is kinda sad rofl.

While I am in no rush to run out and get Windows 7 I am keeping my eyes out for when I find a good deal on it, waaaay to pricey for me right now at full price lol.

[ChuckFinly]

Glad to be of help!

 

There is an OEM version of Windows 7, but that basically means that you can only install it on that motherboard.

 

More details can be found at Microsoft's Site.

 

The OEM version is cheaper, but it comes with restrictions, whereas the full disk version is double the price. You can, however, install it as many times are you wish provided that you only have it installed once at a single given time.

 

To all Windows techies, if I'm wrong, correct me!

[davycrockett]

id say if you love xp and your machine is x64 based try XP pro 64 bit, a quick upgrade with the benefits of being able to use more ram , as for 7 its awesome show me another o/s that can be thrown at a seemingly endless collection of random hardware and software and make it work and i'l buy a copy ! but this week i built three new machines for my company all of which i installed windows 8 onto so if i were in your boots id say get 7 upgrade to 8 when you have got used to 7 . windows 8 is a buffed up version of 7 with a tiled GUI aimed at these new gen devices it would be a leap too far from xp but less of a shock moving from 7 , in short windows 7 excellent windows 8 excellent + 1 .

 

edit forgot to mention xp 64 is a multi faced creature there are a couple of versions one being itanium it dont work on amds ,so check hardware compatibility carefully.

Edited August 24, 2012 by davycrockett

[Rennn]

id say if you love xp and your machine is x64 based try XP pro 64 bit, a quick upgrade with the benefits of being able to use more ram , as for 7 its awesome show me another o/s that can be thrown at a seemingly endless collection of random hardware and software and make it work and i'l buy a copy ! but this week i built three new machines for my company all of which i installed windows 8 onto so if i were in your boots id say get 7 upgrade to 8 when you have got used to 7 . windows 8 is a buffed up version of 7 with a tiled GUI aimed at these new gen devices it would be a leap too far from xp but less of a shock moving from 7 , in short windows 7 excellent windows 8 excellent + 1 .

 

edit forgot to mention xp 64 is a multi faced creature there are a couple of versions one being itanium it dont work on amds ,so check hardware compatibility carefully.

 

I wouldn't upgrade to 64 bit XP two years before support ends, then upgrade to Windows 7. That's kind of pointless.

I haven't heard good things about Windows 8 either. It looks like a resource hog.

[bben46]

Before jumping into a 64 bit OS no matter if it is XP, Win7 or Win8 be sure your computer supports 64 bit.

 

Check the motherboard features list to be sure - if you try to install a 64 bit OS on a non 64 bit capable System it will fail. However, a 32 bit OS will work fine on a 64 bit capable system. Most motherboards made in the last few years will work though. :thumbsup:

[Thor.]

No need to worry about the 64bit thing, most newer cpu's sense the first one, most modern cpus support 64bit. its a standard now that cpus come with 64bit support. you would have to have one ancient cpu for it not to have 64bit support.

 

ever sense this cpu Intel followed

 

http://www.xbitlabs....lon64-3200.html

 

and it goes farther back then that.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

Edited September 18, 2012 by Thor.

[Illiad86]

 

I haven't heard good things about Windows 8 either. It looks like a resource hog.

 

 

Not really from what I've heard. It's just butt fugly . The Start Screen enough just kills it lol :P

 

I'd just stick with 7, it has support until 2020. Windows 8 is going to bomb IMO. I can see it used for smartphones and tablets, but not for a desktop or laptop. Think they designed it in mind to make a decent cheap tablet to compete with the Ipad.

 

Yeah and your CPU most likely supports 64 bit. I remember when the Athlon 64 came out, that was way back when now it seems :P

Edited September 19, 2012 by Illiad86