Windows 7: Windows 7 vs. Windows XP?

Hi, this is my first time posting, so please bear with me...

I have a Pentium 4 Desktop that is currently running Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 3. My family is not so good with computers, and I am sick and tired of having to re-install Windows XP every year just so that the computer is acceptably fast. The OS itself is also beginning to look dated, and it has far more security holes in comparison to the new Windows versions.



I was thinking about upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium Edition, but I was worried about the performance. The current system has a 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 w/ HT, 1.5 GB of RAM, and a 160 GB hard drive (soon to be replaced with a 250 GB one). The graphics card is an ATI Radeon 9200 series. Will Windows 7 performance be in line with Windows XP on this setup, or will it be noticeable degraded? Let me know your thoughts!

At a minimum there should be at least 2GB of ram. To see any big improvement 4GB is suggested.

I think your Windows 7 performance will be inline with XP. You are a little low on RAM..but not so low that it's going to be awful. Don't set your expectations that it will be much faster...but it's likely going to look a lot better and should be more stable...plus all of the drivers for your hardware are likely going to install automatically leaving you with not as much to do after install.

So ideally I should probably get another 512 MB of RAM just to bring it up to 2 GB?

That would be my suggestion, if you want to have Win 7. Just be very careful when you buy new RAM, sometimes mix and match can cause problems.

A good place to start when buying new RAM


http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx?&pid=2045508

You can wait to see how performance is with your usage before getting the extra RAM.

It sounds like you'll do fine.

First check the Support downloads page for your model computer for a newer BIOS version. Yours is listed on first bootup screen or by entering BIOS.

While in BIOS, check how SATA controllers are listed, and set DVD drive to boot first before HD.

Now boot from your Windows 7 DVD, select Custom install, use advanced drive tools to delete all, repartition as you wish, then format first partition to install Windows 7.

The installer is driver-complete with newer arriving during install and via Windows Updates. Any missing in Device manager can be found on model Downloads page along with any favorite apps. Adobe reader/flash and Java runtime are at their sites.

I ran Windows 7 in 1GB and it ran very well. I vote with gregrocker - try the first how it is doing with the 1.5GBs. I would, however, recommend you run the windows7 upgrade advisor to make sure there are all the drivers for your hardware and no other conflicts. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Well, you can do it, yes, but I don't think it will be an enjoyable experience - the graphics card is too dated!

Try it but have file backups handy in case you want return to XP

Hi there

Pentium 4 at your speed (3 GHZ) with 1.5 GB RAM will FLY -- plenty of threads on running Windows 7 on older computers.

The only problem might be finding a Video driver etc - but nice fast Pentium 4 will be fine.

I've been running Windows 7 on a small 1GB RAM "Netbook" which originally came with XP Home installed on it.

Plenty of people running Windows 7 on old laptops with 1GB of RAM on them as well.

Cheers
jimbo

+1 Know in advance what could be problematic; remove/replace.