Spec me an OS bitches

[bomberesque]

OK OK I know I've been lurking for, like, AGES but I just can't find a game that I enjoy playing for more than half an hour since ARMA got boring (OK, ME3 was pretty good) Hello again though

still got a computer though and, more to the point, it still runs Fista and I am at the end of my bloody rope with that

so, OS upgradey tiem

Looking through a few threads it seems that not much useful is expected from W8 as far as desktop PCs are concerned so I suppose I'm going for W7, a reasonable assumption?

Not sure which one I need (although if old 32bit progs will run in XP compatibility mode than I have some use for that ... which means W7 Pro I think)

finally, where's the best (ie cheapest legal) place to buy? Amazon seems to be about 150 quid, as do overclockers ... which feels a bit steep when they're offering W8 for 50 (although this is a pre-order spec price, buy it now before you find out it's shit kind of price I think)

mean

[bomberesque]

oh, here's my PC spec from the V3.0 thread. still the same (although HDD might be taking a big upgrade since I've filled it chock full with and not to mention a bit of )

- Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz Overclocked to 3.40GHz! (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366)
- Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
- OCZ 6GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Gold Low-Voltage Triple Channel Kit
- Akasa AK-967 Nero Direct Contact Heatpipe CPU Cooler
- Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2048MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (102-B50902-00-AT)
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
- Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
- Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLI Compliant PSU
- Microsoft Windows Fista Ultimate SP1 64-Bit

[buzzmong]

Yarp, Win 7 Pro is probably a good idea.

[TezzRexx]

Not sure if your processor is 64 bit, but it likely is. I'll double check later when I'm at home but, if it is, might as well go for 64 bit as it runs pretty much everything, and if you can get 64 bit version of programs, there's substantial speed improvements!

So, Win 7 pro 64 bit is most likely your best bet. Someone on here may be able to help you with a discount...

[Joose]

Not sure if your processor is 64 bit, but it likely is. I'll double check later when I'm at home but, if it is, might as well go for 64 bit as it runs pretty much everything, and if you can get 64 bit version of programs, there's substantial speed improvements!

So, Win 7 pro 64 bit is most likely your best bet. Someone on here may be able to help you with a discount...

All of this. Its also worth noting that windows CD keys don't give a shit about whether you are using 64 or 32 bit. If you can find a super cheap offer somewhere but its only the 32 bit version, grab it for the key, grab a 64 bit install CD from your favoured site of ill repute and off you go. Its what I did, and it works fine.

[FatherJack]

You don't need Pro to use XP compatibility mode, only if you want to run Windows XP mode - which is a) essentially a free copy of WinXP to run as a virtual machine and b) mostly* useless. Windows Home Premium will let you set compatibility on a per-program basis, you can get an upgrade version for about £80 or an OEM version (only allows from-scratch install) for about £70, and the full, transferrable version is around £100. Don't get the £50 Anytime Upgrade version, that's for EePCs and the like which ship with the Starter Edition.

You want a 64-bit version, but you can't upgrade a 32-bit version in-place, so will have to run the transfer wizard to copy all your docs to a spare drive, then clean-install and reinstall all your progs. Usually better to do a new OS that way, anyway.

If you're buying a new hard drive anyway, an easy method would be to start from fresh on the new drive, then mount your old disk either internally or in a USB caddy and just copy the stuff over as needed.

32-bit programs run fine under 64-bit Windows - truthfully pretty much everything except the OS and your drivers run in 32-bit mode, 64-bit games are still fairly scarce. Because 32-bit apps run in a protected environment though, a crash in one them rarely spells curtains anymore - you just close it and carry on without lockups or BSODs. The only problem you may have is with 16-bit programs - which some very old games use for their their installers (but not the actual game). http://www.gog.com/ and http://www.dosbox.com/ are your answers for those.

Home Premium does lack some advanced networking and policy components, such as workgroups, domains, and remote desktop server, but you're unlikely to need them unless you have a big home network and there are free tools that will do the same job, including virtual machines.


* Windows Ultimate does have the neat trick (which I've never actually managed to pull off) of booting into the guest OS on the virtual drive for those times when only actual WinXP will do, but I've just booted real XP from another disk/partition or used another computer on the rare occasions I've needed that. Virtual machines are usually a non-starter for games.

[friznit]

My god it's Bomber! You're alive!

Hello thar and /me bums etc. Wondered where you'd got to. Can't add anything useful about OS's I'm afraid. I'm still hooked on ArmA though :p

[bomberesque]

thanks all ... looks like a way forward FJ

The only prog I have that might benefit from legacy OS compatibility is i think 16 bit ... maybe even 8? it's based around Btrieve but narf I can live without it, it's for work but being phased out as I speak.

as you say, with a new HDD, fresh install probably the way to go anyway, although the one I have is 500 GB so I'll probably keep it in a spare bay for storage

/me bums friz furiously ... could be convinced of a bit of ARMA, how are sessions being organised with out the 5cheduler .. like posts and stuff?

[fabyak]

Hai Bomber! /me bums
You appear to have decloaked! If you would care to check your pm's you may find something of interest

[bomberesque]

[bomberesque]

OK, drive bought, W7 lined up ( )

out of interest, can anyone use their tech magic skillz to tell me if my M-board will support "the industry’s new, high-performance SATA 6Gb/s interface" which my drive apparently is compatible with? no worries if not, it's 7200 RPM and SATA 2 backwards compatible (which matches the existing drive) so should be OK but if it were faster aswell as bigger, it would help me justify the spending with Mrs B (it's this one btw)

[Joose]

A quick look at your motherboard on the Gigabyte website suggests not.

Claim you are future proofing!

[bomberesque]

future proofing!

Gotcha!

actually, I was thinking about fettling in a liquid cooling system for both less noise and less dust in the casing ... worth doing or am I just going to fek it up and drown the whole thing?

[Dr. kitteny berk]

future proofing!

Gotcha!

actually, I was thinking about fettling in a liquid cooling system for both less noise and less dust in the casing ... worth doing or am I just going to fek it up and drown the whole thing?

50/50.

I've had major issues with the WC in the gonk, killed a few HDDs with it, but is mostly fine.

[bomberesque]

50/50.

Hmm, so me being a noob at building 'puters I'd be more like 90/10 OH FUCK I'VE FLOODED THE KITCHEN. perhaps not then!

[Dr. kitteny berk]

hehe, it's just a matter of leak testing and calculated risk.

That is, knowing to put your HDDS above the slightly leaking reservoir.

[deject]

If you're not happy with traditional air cooling (either performance or noise wise), but are apprehensive about building your own water cooling setup, there are lots of closed system coolers like the Corsair H80 that are really great. They're more expensive compared to most air coolers, but they're simpler and easier to install than most water cooling setups.

[Thompy]

Or, you know, one of these.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BhLbbTPVrM[/media]

[Dr. kitteny berk]

If you're not happy with traditional air cooling (either performance or noise wise), but are apprehensive about building your own water cooling setup, there are lots of closed system coolers like the Corsair H80 that are really great. They're more expensive compared to most air coolers, but they're simpler and easier to install than most water cooling setups.

This is a fair point, I'd certainly be thinking that way for a new build if I wasn't concerned about gpu cooling.

[deject]

If you're not happy with traditional air cooling (either performance or noise wise), but are apprehensive about building your own water cooling setup, there are lots of closed system coolers like the Corsair H80 that are really great. They're more expensive compared to most air coolers, but they're simpler and easier to install than most water cooling setups.

This is a fair point, I'd certainly be thinking that way for a new build if I wasn't concerned about gpu cooling.

Yeah those units are pretty much designed solely for CPU cooling alone so if you're looking for a complete cooling solution they won't get it done. Still, as an alternative to a typical HSF, it has some big upsides.