So Windows 7...

I have been pondering wheather or not to use Windows 7 as a primary OS, possibly a partition along with XP Home SP2. Here are the questions I have regarding my decision:

*Is a partition between XP Home & Windows 7 possible? Or would a dual boot be possible?

* If I get Windows 7 RC it will expire jun 2010 (march 210 to avoid 2 hourly re-starts ), will it be the full version of Windows 7?

* What kind of driver support does Windows 7 have? I heard you can use Vista drivers.

* What would be the performance/support (in gaming) differance betweet 32Bit and 64Bit?

* Does Windows 7 have DX10? And will it recive DX11 when it is released?

* Is there a compatability wizard to help older games work? Such as Star Wars KOTOR II.

Thanks to all who reply

:major2-Bit-Geek:major

 

I would dual boot with XP, the bootmanager will be auto created. Create a new 50GB partition for it, at the minimum. Yes, full W7, no crippling. Drivers are mainly Vista ones AFAIK. No idea on the gaming Q's. Main OS? I'm not sure if I could be comfortable with that but close, that's why I would dual boot if you want to play with it.

 

How do you go about dual booting? Create 2 partitions?

I would allocate 100GB probably, I have a 320GB HDD to play with and I can keep my backup HDD (160GB) for files that would no longer fit.

:major2-Bit-Geek:major

 

Create 2 partitions, make sure you label them with the OSes you want on them, jsut to make it easier to see which drive to install to, then just run the OS CD, and install to the correct drive.

The only thing you have to be careful of is this: Always install the oldest OS first if you are dual booting. This is especially applicable between XP and Vista/Windows 7 as Vista/Windows 7 use a new boot manager that has to be installed after XP's boot loader.

As stated above, the boot manager will install automatically. When you have finished installing the OSes it will present you with a list of the OSes on your computer, and it will give you 30 seconds to choose one. You just use the up and down keyboard arrows to select the entry and then press enter to activate an entry. The 30 second timer can be adjusted within Windows 7, and the countdown will stop as soon as you press a key on the keyboard.

A great boot loader editing tool for Vista and Windows 7 is EasyBCD: http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1
This can be used to graphically edit the Windows Vista/Windows 7 boot loader, instead of attempting to deciper the command line instructions to do it.

 

I have one PC that uses Windows 7RC as it's main OS.
Yes in 2010 you will have to buy it as the evaluation finishes (not sure if at that time MS will give a discount to existing users).
I am running 64bit and it is definitely better than Vista (after a short learning curve)
The only problems i have had are the standard things that some software is not 64bit and only one thing with the system.
In my Vista system if i use Winrar it snaps open immediately but in Windows 7 there is a very short time lag (about 1 second) other than that i am very happy with it and will be happy to buy it in 2010.

 

Ya, one for XP and one for W7. 100GB would be great to have so you can add all the SW you want. collins! is absolutely correct.

 

Yup, I can agree on the amount of polish applied.:-D As to Vista, I just had to turn UAC off as I was :banghead with its hand holding, enough! Otherwise it's a good OS.

W7 is a whole new kettle of fish, it's getting close to what was promised with Longhorn/Vista oh so long ago and still minus WinFS. (Probably still in the lab and hopefully slated for W8?) I think MS bit off more than it could chew with their tripod for Longhorn/Vista. I like W7 so much that I will be migrating to it completely within the next couple of weeks and grab a copy next year.

Another thing I like is those 2 UKers putting out the W7 videos which Vista should have had but better late than never eh? I just love the picture management vid, second one. The first was more aimed to IT folks. Hmm, I wonder if there's a new one posted up? Gonna take a look.

 

Ya on small adverts, get some positive ads going instead of those Mac ones! I had to add this line as my message was too short. There goes my first attempt at multi-quoting.:-o:-D I now know how to do it properly. How long did it take me to figure this out? Just don't ask.:-D

 

Thanks for all you're great input guys much appreciated

I think I will dual boot at first and maybe if I don't have any major problems I will use it as a main OS. Also I think I wil stick to 32BIT for now, I had 64BIT XP and it was such a let down, I know it has improved vastly since XP 64BIT but I will wait a bit longer before I use 64BIT, maybe when W7 comes out to buy I will get 64BIT though

I can't wait to get it now :-D, I must wait until next week when I can dedicate a full day to the job at hand

:major2-Bit-Geek:major

 

Like I said I will probably give it another shot with W7RC as it's free LOL

But I have the 32BIT version written to a DVD ready for install

My only reserve with 64BIT W7 is the same as 64BIT XP & Vista compatability, I need drivers in 64BIT which thankfully exist now :-D but also games need to be compatable or I will stay away.

:major2-Bit-Geek:major

 

I've been running win7 x64 for a month now, and it's doing just fine...I am dual booting with vista 32bit, but i've only booted into that to install sp2, and haven't used it since. I have run into a couple of snags with 64bit but I think most/all of the software I've installed is working fine.
I have been getting some freezes at the desktop/explorer, and 1 or 2 crashes but nothing else.

 

That is encouraging to me. I have been seriously debating whether to even think about it. I have not been a happy Vista person some days. Do you think 7 will get along better with peripherals, and just be less finicky?

 

I'm not too sure as drivers are about the same in both, if your peripheral maker issued flaky drivers for Vista then I'd assume they would be flaky in W7 too. It's not MSs place or duty to issue drivers for peripherals. Maybe look on the mfg.'rs site to see if they have updates available, heck HP even issued Vista drivers for my 4 year old bottom end printer and scanner which I never expected to see. Good luck.

EDIT: Oops, what do you mean by 'finicky'?

 

Actually that is a good question. When I said finicky I meant that I have had problems with printers, etc which were Vista ready supposedly but were having problems. Also, some real problems with just hanging up quite often with office 2007 apps. In one case there were over 100 instances in the problem log but could never figure out what was wrong. I think more stable would have been a better word choice. With XP I never had anywhere near as many headaches, but went with Vista for work.

 

Well, you best put up a thread in SW/HW then, I doubt W7 will help you but who knows.

 

Can someone confirm wheather or not I can use my PCI wireless card with 64-BIT W7?

This is the support/driver page for it: http://www.buffalo-technology.com/support/downloads/

It just says "windows" :confused

:major2-Bit-Geek:major

 

Sorry I didn't notice the link was bad :confused

It's a, WL12-PCI-G54S : Wireless-G 125* High-Speed PCI Adapter under the wireless section. Under CD Images it has this in the notes : AirNavigator including Vista drivers, but no mention of their 32/64-BIT compatability.

Just in case you have used a Buffalo card before, I don't use the client manager 3, I let XP handle it as it is much more capable :-D

:major2-Bit-Geek:major

 

I have W7RC installed now & I am loving it, it's a bit slow but I suppose it's still new. The wireless card hasn't been an issue, in fact I have had no problems with it at all, I have all my drivers up to date & it was so easy :cool

W7 will be my next OS definately :cool

:major2-Bit-Geek:major

 

LOL, a bit slow on your rig?:-D Ya, W7 will be my new OS too next year though I still like Vista.

 

I put another 1GB stick of Kingtson Hyper X DDR2 1066MHz RAM in & W7 perked right up :-D

So now W7 runs on 3GB the same as XP ran on 2GB, I think I will buy another 1GB stick too I miss my dual channel speed with games LOL

:major2-Bit-Geek:major

 

I am looking forward to getting the full version

I am having some issues with games, Crysis works fine except nearly all the sound is missing I think I may try setting it up to run like Vista SP2. GTA IV I am having lots of crashes with even when trying to run it as Vista SP1 or SP2, I need to work on that a bit more to get it to work.

I seems at least some of the problems are caused by the new feture that doesn't let programs have administrator privileges, I know you can allow them to have it but it seems an annoying solution for the sake of minor security.

I have CCleaner & I run it often, I have used Smart Defrag deep optimising the 100GB partition when it needs it (10% fragmentation). I also have Advanced system Care Pro which is great at finding regisrty problems CCleaner misses

I will hopefully be buying another 1GB of the Kingston Hyper X I have 3 of installed currently, probably thursday. That will mean I have 4GB in dual channel rather than 3GB in single channel, with that I will think of trying 64BIT W7 :cool Just to get the use out of the 750MB 32BIT will waste LOL

:major2-Bit-Geek:major