Should I upgrade to Vista or keep with XP?

[leglez]

My computer is starting to slow down and I am thinking about either upgrading to Vista or reinstalling XP. This computer is mostly used for Email, Internet, Media, Word Processing, and Photoshop. I tried Vista on my last computer and hated the little warning message that popped up after trying to do anything. Is there anyway to disable this? It was also a lot slower compared to xp. That was about a year ago, and I haven't touched Vista since. Will Vista be slower compared to XP on this computer?

My specs:

AMD Opteron 165
2GBs of RAM

 

[Elstupido]

I advise to upgrade to Vista, but keep in mind it may take at least a couple of weeks for Vista superfetch to do it's thing remembering your computer habits, making it faster every day. UAC is part of Vistas security and I advise just dealing with this minor annoyance, looks like your system will run Vista just fine.

 

[leglez]

Ok thanks, and is there anyway to check if I can run the 64 bit version? I was reading on here and looks like everyone suggests to use the 64bit over 32 bit. I looked in CPU-Z and under CPU it says: Cache: L1 Data: 2 x 64 KBytes and L1 Inst. 2 x 64 KBytes.

Would that have anything to do with 64 bit?

 

[Elstupido]

The only thing with 64bit is the drivers. If you have fairly recent hardware, you should be ok with them. Check your hardware manufacturer's websites to see if they are Vista compatible. Doesn't really matter Vista 32 or 64, as I believe Vista drivers have to pass compatibility with both 32 and 64bit from MS. I also highly recommend 64bit, just for the fact you can upgrade your ram to 8gb if you like in the future. 32bit is limited to less than 4gb. Your 64 CPU is fine

 

[leglez]

What hardware would it be?

Here is my exact hardware:

Mobo: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2

CPU: AMD Opteron 165 Socket 939

GPU: ATI X800XL (Yeah I know this is horrible, I plan on building a new computer this winter and will be upgrading this)

RAM: 2x1GB G.Skill PC3200 RAM

 

[Elstupido]

Printes are notorious for updated drivers, ram and CPU should not require drivers, but you should need the latest chipset drivers, but I know nothing about that MB. NIC, video, sound card drivers are at the top. ATI should have the latest ones.

I think you will be fine as MS drivers will install most devices.

 

[JustaGeek]

With your hardware, stay with the XP. Vista will NOT be faster.

Defragment and dskchk /f your hard drive, edit the startup items, check for viruses and spyware - that will "rejuvenate" your system.

 

[leglez]

Ok actually I am now considering tri-booting XP, Vista, and Ubuntu. I have one question though. I have 3 hard drives:

A 200GB HDD for Applications,
A 300GB For Everything Else
A 160GB For Music

Whenever I start installing the OS's. I plan on backing the 160GB onto the 300 and then using the 160GB for applications. Then moving my music to the 200GB HDD, and making 3 partions on the 160GB around 50GBs each, and installing an OS onto each. I have never dual booted before and so I am not sure if this is possible, but once I have it all setup will I be able to access my 200GB HDD from XP, Vista, and Ubuntu? And same for the 300GB?

I plan on using this guide:

http://lifehacker.com/software...-and-ubuntu-193474.php

 

[Elstupido]

Forget everything I said, just stay with an antiquated software

 

[Dari]

Just stay with XP until you build your new computer in the winter. Trust me, there will be less headache for you all around. BTW, do your homework now and look for 64-bit drivers for printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, etc...

 

[Scotteq]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
With your hardware, stay with the XP. Vista will NOT be faster.

Defragment and dskchk /f your hard drive, edit the startup items, check for viruses and spyware - that will "rejuvenate" your system.

Agreed - On an older system, you're best off sticking to the older OS.

 

[JACKDRUID]

Originally posted by: leglez
Whenever I start installing the OS's. I plan on backing the 160GB onto the 300 and then using the 160GB for applications. Then moving my music to the 200GB HDD, and making 3 partions on the 160GB around 50GBs each, and installing an OS onto each. I have never dual booted before and so I am not sure if this is possible, but once I have it all setup will I be able to access my 200GB HDD from XP, Vista, and Ubuntu? And same for the 300GB?
[/L]

bad idea.

having a HDD used for application is just... bad, because you won't know which application belongs to which os.

the best way is still to have OS and application together, so in this case you'll have

1 partition of 160 gb
2 partition of 100 gb

install order:

Windows xp
Obuntu
Windows vista

 

[blackangst1]

Unless you need more than 4 gigs memory theres no advantage to 64 bit. And I would move to Vista in a heartbeat. XP is just....well....I guess people still drive Pintos. *shrug*

 

[Sir Anonymous]

When it comes to upgrading to Vista, RAM is everything. With your 2GBs you'll be getting by, especially with SP1. But if you want to do some gaming with Vista, you'll need to at least upgrade your RAM to 4GBs.

Personally, I've found that the only thing particularly attractive about Vista for me was the interface. The shiny, fluid, clean feel of it was...beautiful. But it was marred by the OS draining so much of the computer's resources...ugh. If someone could put that interface on XP without the system drain, it'd be my OS heaven.

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: Sir Anonymous
When it comes to upgrading to Vista, RAM is everything. With your 2GBs you'll be getting by, especially with SP1. But if you want to do some gaming with Vista, you'll need to at least upgrade your RAM to 4GBs.

Personally, I've found that the only thing particularly attractive about Vista for me was the interface. The shiny, fluid, clean feel of it was...beautiful. But it was marred by the OS draining so much of the computer's resources...ugh. If someone could put that interface on XP without the system drain, it'd be my OS heaven.

Check your PM's in a few

 

[Jeff7181]

There's no reason your computer should be running slow. There's a problem that's causing that, and getting Vista is not the solution.

 

[railer]

whatcha got blackangst?

Do you have a lead on some Vista prettyness for xp?

 

[C1]

Originally posted by: Sir Anonymous
When it comes to upgrading to Vista, RAM is everything. With your 2GBs you'll be getting by, especially with SP1. But if you want to do some gaming with Vista, you'll need to at least upgrade your RAM to 4GBs.


Besides RAM, you better include the GPU. Every computer in the store on which I ran the VISTA built in performance test resulted in the GPU having the lowest score (ie, weakest link).