A question before I upgrade to Win7

[adityaparikh1]

Currently, I have a Dell Dimension 8400 Desktop with Windows XP MCE SP3 on it. WinXP is starting to get really buggy and just doesn’t feel fresh anymore. So I have decided to upgrade my desktop to Windows 7 Home Premium. My specs are as follows:

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 Single-Core
Clock Speed: 3.0 GHz
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
L2 Cache: 2 MB
L3 Cache: 0
64bit and Hyper Threading Capable

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 6800
Memory: 256MB

RAM: 3GB (4 Slots)
Slot 1: 512MB DDR2 (PC2 3200)
Slot 2: 512MB DDR2 (PC2 5300)
Slot 3: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM 800 (PC2 6400)
Slot 4: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM 800 (PC2 6400)

Primary Hard Drive: Seagate ST3160023AS
Interface: SATA 1.5GB/s
Capacity: 160GB
RPM: 7200RPM
Cache: 8MB
Secondary Hard Drive: Maxtor 6L300S0
Interface: SATA 1.5GB/s
Capacity: 300GB
RPM: 7200RPM
Cache: 16MB

My uses include:
Web browsing (Google Chrome, upto 6 tabs)
Listening to music (iTunes)
Streaming HD video (YouTube, Netflix)
Microsoft Office
Editing HD video (Windows Live Movie Maker) (Light usage)
Casual flash-based games
Skype video calls

Typical multi-tasking situation:
Dropbox and Norton 360 running in background at all times
Google Chrome open with 4 tabs
Microsoft PowerPoint open
iTunes playing music while also syncing my iPod

What kind of performance will I get from Windows 7 with a computer of these specs?

My concerns are that is the GPU is dated and it’s only a single-core processor. I would be willing to turn off Aero or any other non-essential feature. I just want stability. Tell me if you want any other information. Thank you.

 

[Solarstarshines]

honestly to get the best performance you need to dump those mem stix and get the same kind across the board 4 gigs or what ever maxes out

4gigs of ddr2 6400 800mhz will do you

the cpu would need some changes too im sure you can get a 3.4 for nothing now days

those 2 things will defenetly make a impact on running 7


also you are running a g-force 6800 gpu or intergraded graphics you might have to use vista legacy drivers for that but the chances are it will still work

 

[Bill2]

Hello, aditya. Run win7 upgrade advisor, it'll tell you how ready the PC is for win7.

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

 

[adityaparikh1]

I understand but would it be OK? If Win7 would run okay, it's fine. My needs are little. And I'm also surpassing Microsoft's system requirements by a lot. I just want to make sure it's not going to lag all the time and I have a smooth experiance. So what do I need, not what would be best. Thank you.

 

[Solarstarshines]

it will run but changing those things i suggested would actually get you the bare bare of it running smoothly especially i don't think you are able to use aero your vid card doesnt support it

 

[adityaparikh1]

Okay not running Aero is not a problem. It would about a $30 update for replacing those 512MB Sticks with better 1GB Sticks and two of the sticks are already 1GB 800MHz PC2-6400 and can you explain what you meant when you said upgrade to 3.4?

 

[bobkn]

nVidia 6800 based graphics cards are old, but they support Aero Glass effects. They can use the latest drivers from www.nvidia.com.

As regards your RAM, if you mix stuff, it would generally run at the settings of the slowest DIMM. Getting rid of the two 512MB DIMMs might be a good idea. I see that the largest ones the 8400 will accept are 1GB.

I doubt that upgrading the CPU would be worthwhile. If a 3.4GHz CPU was available (and compatible), you'd hardly notice a trivial boost like that. (Also, upgrading the CPU looks a bit awkward. The 8400 uses a shroud and fan that looks nothing at all like the standard Intel heat sink and fan.)

You'd be on your own in upgrading to Win 7 - Dell doesn't offer any drivers for the 8400. Looking at the list:

Drivers & Downloads

The only thing that leaps out at me is that it uses an ADI (Analog Devices Inc.) onboard sound chip. ADI doesn't make its drivers available directly, so you'd have to find a source for them. (Maybe that's easy. I haven't checked.)

I have no idea how happy you'd be with Win7 on this system, but I've seen it run OK on lesser systems. Your CPU is single core, but it supports hyperthreading, which is the next best thing to dual core.

 

[adityaparikh1]

I see I see, I actually have a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card on it. And can you be more specific when you said "I've seen it run OK", how okay?

 

[bobkn]

I see I see, I actually have a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card on it. And can you be more specific when you said "I've seen it run OK", how okay?

More specific? No. I haven't done benchmarking.

It's subjective. I have a Compaq CQ50-105NR (1.9GHz dual core AMD CPU, 2GB of RAM, nVidia 8200m graphics). With Win7, it's reasonably responsive in a web browser. It seems to be adequate for viewing DVDs, although I don't often use it for that. At one time I had Photoshop CS4 on it, and it was entirely usable, if not comparable to my desktop (Core I7).

I installed the RC of Win7 on an older notebook with some sort of Celeron CPU (much worse than yours), 1GB of RAM, and an SiS chipset with onboard graphics (no Aero). It didn't feel more sluggish than XP. (I didn't try transcoding Bluray disks on it, I admit.)

 

[adityaparikh1]

Okay

So pretty much you are saying that I should be fine, performance wise for my needs, correct? See, the main reasons I wana upgrade is software like Windows Live Mesh and iTunes Match aren't compatible with Windows XP and Win7 just seems more stable. No BSoD!

 

[bobkn]

I don't run Windows Live Mesh or Itunes Match. I guess that they'd run OK on a system with enough RAM (i. e., yours).

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

The only thing I have to add is don't use a OEM copy of Windows7...I have lost several P4 systems over the years....Since the activation is tied to the motherboard you will have to call Microsoft to activate on a new board....They will probably activate you but no guarantee...

The P4 is such a old setup I would question doing any upgrades.....

 

[whs]

So pretty much you are saying that I should be fine, performance wise for my needs, correct? See, the main reasons I wana upgrade is software like Windows Live Mesh and iTunes Match aren't compatible with Windows XP and Win7 just seems more stable. No BSoD!

Provided you get rid of the two 512MB sticks. They just slow you down. I would not even bother replacing them for the time being. See how it works.

Still, first order of the day should be to run the Upgrade Advisor as Bill suggested. Just to make sure that there are not any other show stoppers.

 

[1Bowtie]

I have Win 7 Home Premium w/Creative Audigy 2ZS Gamer on Dell P4 XPS Gen 2, running absolutely perfect. So i would say go for it.

 

[adityaparikh1]

I ran the advisor and everything seems to check out OK, except that it says that "Creative Game Port" is Not Compatible but it does also say that "Creative Audigy Audio Processor (WDM)" is Compatible. So will my sound card work properly?

If you guys say that's okay, I'm going to go ahead and install Win7 on the desktop.

Also, I have a laptop that I bought with this desktop and I was wondering how the performance would be if I installed Win7 on the laptop as well. The specs are less powerful than the desktop but here they are:

Dell XPS M140

Processor: Intel Pentium M Single-Core 750
Clock Speed: 1.86 GHz
FSB Speed: 533 MHz
L2 Cache: 2 MB

Graphics: Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900

RAM: 2GB (2 Slots)
Slot 1: 1GB SODIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)
Slot 2: 1GB SODIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)

Primary Hard Drive: 60GB 5400RPM HDD

Uses include:
Web browsing (Google Chrome, upto 6 tabs)
Listening to music (iTunes)
Streaming video (YouTube, Netflix)
Microsoft Office
Skype video calls

Typical multi-tasking situation:
Norton 360 running in background at all times
Google Chrome open with 4 tabs
Microsoft PowerPoint open

What kind of performance will I get from Windows 7 with a computer of these specs?

I understand that these specs are much less than the desktop but the uses and multitasking needs are also less. So how would Win7 run on this laptop? I would again be willing to turn of Aero or any other non-essential features.

 

[theog]

The Sound will work, but Game port will not.
For the Notebook, do you two license's for Windows 7?
Rerun the advisor on the notebook.

 

[1Bowtie]

The game port is a minor thing as you don't need it and it has no ill affects on the OS.

 

[adityaparikh1]

The advisor is fine for the notebook, but performance wise? No I don't have two licenses, I'm going to purchase the 3Pack upgrade off of Amazon.com. That will work, right?

 

[whs]

The upgrade pack is OK. Your laptop will not be a barnstormer, but it will run. The HDD is really small. So you better not plan to have any large amounts of data or very big games.

Make sure you do a clean install with the upgrade pack: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html