Gaming Time to upgrade OS?

[Raiser]

Hey guys,

Well, I've been stuck with Windows XP SP3 for quite a number of years now, and since I've recently had small upgrades and I'll be getting a new monitor soon, I'm wondering if I should upgrade my OS.

Should I upgrade to Vista or Windows 7?
For each, which "version" should I upgrade to?

Also, if I upgrade to either one, will my harddrive (all my files) be wiped? My external isn't big enough to backup everything from my internal. :\

I'm not sure if you guys need my specs, but if so, let me know.

PS. Already ran the Vista upgrade test. All green.

 

[Edgedancer]

Upgrading to windows seven will allow you to retain all of you old files, placing them in a folder called something like "XP documents." I would advise you go with 7 as it has noticable improvements over Vista while Vista cannot claim anything of its own really.

 

[stormwolf18]

Windows 7 x64 ultimate. Vista is a shame.

 

[RupeeClock]

Windows 7 officially comes out tomorrow, I'd get it.
That is, if your system can handle it anyway, run the Win 7 upgrade advisor.

Upgrading from XP to 7 directly isn't possible IIRC, they designed it to upgrade from Vista. I don't know I'm upgrading from Vista tomorrow.

 

[Satangel]

Windows 7 x64 ultimate. Vista is a shame.

Going to that in the vacation too.
So in 2 weeks, goodbye Vista, welcome 7!

 

[damedus]

I did the WIn 7 Ultimate 64 jump last week its awsome I recomend it.
Tools that would refuse work in Vista and neded xp to work now work in win 7. Not to mention my Dingoo customers enjoy a faster image fix thanks to windows 7. Windows 7 retail comes out tomorow, OEM has been around a few weeks, so take you pick and fancy, be it An Eye patched sailor or a lucky new pc/laptop owner(ME!) or going tomorow to buy the bulky box. Also if anyone used the upgrade program the DVD youll get (OEM) works up to 3 pcs

so my new laptop sudenly gave windows 7 to my old lappy and work pc!

 

[Raiser]

Thanks for your replies. (:
I'll run the 7 advisor later today.

But would upgrading from XP SP3 to Vista (whichever build) allow me to keep my files?

Thus allowing me to go from XP SP3 -> Vista - > 7 without losing anything?

 

[Joe88]

its not recommended to do that

a fresh install would be much better

 

[Satangel]

I'm gonna keep all my data, I'm just gonna format my C partition so Vista and all my programs are gone.

 

[Joe88]

it will move everything to a folder called windows.old on the C drive then install the OS
no need to format, it will detect the old and do it automatically

 

[Lodis]

I don't know how anyone can really suggest a specific OS without first knowing what specifications he has. You could be recommending he upgrades to Windows 7 X64 but he may not even reach the recommended requirements or only have 2GB of RAM.

 

[CasperH]

I'll stay with XP for a while if I were you because of the compatability

 

[DarkLG]

You can go from Xp to Windows 7.I did it and none of my files got deleted.Just chose custom install and it should move all your files to windows.old.

 

[Jiggah]

I don't know how anyone can really suggest a specific OS without first knowing what specifications he has. You could be recommending he upgrades to Windows 7 X64 but he may not even reach the recommended requirements or only have 2GB of RAM.

Why would it matter that he only has 2 GB of RAM? The only thing that would matter is if his computer is so ancient that the CPU isn't x64, which most built in the past 5 years are.

 

[damedus]

Windows 7 will detect the pc and wont install x64 on a non x64 pc. Second i have windows 7 running on 5 machines right now, runs flawlessly, boots fast and feels lighter.
1st: Gaming Rig
i7 OC 3.6 ghz
16gigs ram ddr 3
quad sli 295's oc
HDMI 72" 120hz monitor with shutter nvidia glases
SSD 320g and 2x 7200 1T drives

Win 7 runs around 30% faster as vista 64 did on this pc and im gaining around 12 to 30 fps in most games at maxed settings.

2nd: New Lappy
Core2Quad 2.0Ghz
GTX260M 1ghz
SSD 280
x2 7200 320g drives
17" 1080p screen HD

Win 7 runs awsome on it cant compare as it came with win 7 (im suposed to get the pc tomorow lol post office was early)

3rd: Old lappy
Turion 64 2ghz
1g ddr 1 ram
ati 200m
320g hd 7200
15 inch screen

First this pc works horidly under windows vista(reverted to xp) in xp games would run horidly slow. was a take to college notebook for me lol. Now it has win 7 64 bit runs way faster as it did under xp boots in less time and its runing games at somewhat playable rate( wow went from 9 fps to 22 fps aion went from 5 to 16). it now can play media while using word (wich made it stutter before) and now it plays movies without stalls. this pc was practicaly revived from useless to emergency pc.

4th: netbook
ASUS 904HD
2G ram
rest is stock

Now the win 7 said it coudnt take it lol I installed anyways. Runs better as it did on xp. Now its actualy able of playing some games while downscaling in native screen. basicly gave the netbook a bit of speed and a beter taskbar.

5th : Old pc
some oem Dual core 2.2ghz HP walmart pc lol
has a PCI-e GFX 280 and 4 gigs of ram
hd is a WD 1T 7200

Now this one was a pain in the ass with the audio drivers not being acepted also the dial up modem and the fax (like i need those) Found some info on the web on my ids and did a hex edit to the curent default audio drivers for my card so it ahd the OEM id from the manufacturer. Other than that runs faster and boots fast and performs wonderfuly for what it does (its in a cabinet as a mame arcade)



Now I know win 7 says 1G and x64 2G but it runs on less, the reason for those ram numbers is so Win7 and most curent aplications run at the same time. For example Fallout 3 runs on xp with 1g and in vista needs 1.5 to 2g to run in same way. Take it to win 7 and it runs on 720m of ram could probably even run in 512 but for a decent gameplay if you had win xp and 1g ram and you upgraded to win 7 same pc odds are you would have a better experiance under win 7. also anything that works on XP works on win 7.

 

[Joe88]

I don't know how anyone can really suggest a specific OS without first knowing what specifications he has. You could be recommending he upgrades to Windows 7 X64 but he may not even reach the recommended requirements or only have 2GB of RAM.

you only need 1GB

 

[Golfman560]

I'll stay with XP for a while if I were you because of the compatability

Win 7 has all of XPs compatibility if you get the Virtual PC and the XP Mode. It even integrates programs install on the VM into Win7's start menu.

 

[Raiser]

In case they ARE needed:

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80 GHz
4GB (XP -> roughly 3.5GB) of RAM
500GB harddrive space

I doubt anything else is necessary.

So it sounds like 7 > Vista.
Someone mentioned that you CAN'T go from XP -> 7 directly, but someone else said that you can.

Which is it?
And if I do get 7, will my files be "protected" automatically during the install?

 

[asdf]

In case they ARE needed:

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80 GHz
4GB (XP -> roughly 3.5GB) of RAM
500GB harddrive space

I doubt anything else is necessary.

So it sounds like 7 > Vista.
Someone mentioned that you CAN'T go from XP -> 7 directly, but someone else said that you can.

Which is it?
And if I do get 7, will my files be "protected" automatically during the install?

You can go from Xp -> 7, but all your installed programs will be uninstalled, but your files will be safe.

 

[Golfman560]

You can go from XP to 7 if you do a fresh install and reformat you hard drive, which is recommended for all OS installs. However you can go XP>Vista>7 through the upgrade method (You'll need a Vista CD from somewhere, but you don't need a serial as long as you're just upgrading to 7 right after).

Also 7 >>>>>>>>>>>> Vista
And if you do the Xp to 7 from the fresh install you'll keep an image/backup of your files if you use the Windows 7 dvd and just install it right over the XP partition, but if you reformat or use any 3rd party software to do that you'll probably lsoe all your data. What I would do is split the partition you have your data on to create an empty partition to install 7 onto so that your data is untouched and you have a separate partition for your OS.