Worth upgrading OS and or GPU?

[PainlessDocM]

I am wondering if it is worth upgrading from Vista x64 to Windows 7.
Is the overall performance really that much better?
What are the advantages /disadvantages of this OS over Vista?
What are the differences between the versions of Windows 7 (home premium,etc)?
Can I legally download / upgrade to Windows 7 without losing my data?
Can I dual boot Windows 98 for older games?

Is it worth upgrading from an Ati 4890 to the Ati 5800 series and why? (except for DX11 support)




This is my current system:

-Gigabyte EX58-UD5 X58
-i7 920
-Corsair XMS3 Triple 6GB DDR3 1600MHz CL8
-WD VelociRaptor 1500HLFS 150GB S-ATA II 16Mb
-A secondary slower HD of which I can't recall the specifics right now
-Ati 4890
-Vista x64 (home premium)
-Samsung 2493 HM 24"

I use this computer for everything , but the most demanding applications are different planetarium programs, video editing software, Autocad software and games of course.



Thanks in advance

 

[Aphyosis]

Frankly i'd sit on it. Maybe go to W7 but it's a fairly solid box. Wait until it actually get's fairly outdated then buy a new one.

As for your other questions/

1. Personally i'd say yes, but i worked with the pigshit that was Vista at release, so i'm probably biased.
2. System footprint is comparable. Can't really say much since i've never touched Vista myself.
3. Frankly i don't know now, i don't know if it's been patched to be more stable or what. Although if Vista doesn't have it the minimize button in the corner 7 is worth every cent =D
4. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare
5. Sure, just back it up to a external. Hell if you have enough space on the drives you don't even need anything external.
6. Yup, just make sure 98 is installed first.

 

[Sander]

The first question you should ask yourself is: does my current PC still work well enough?
If the answer is yes, why would you upgrade? If the answer is no, then you should probably upgrade.

 

[PainlessDocM]

^Indeed, and it does work very well but perhaps it could be working (much) better with a simple upgrade. Although it doesn't seem like that would be the case when upgrading to Windows7.

 

[mor]

1. Personally i'd say yes, but i worked with the pigshit that was Vista at release, so i'm probably biased.

same here, in my experience WIN7 in its beta stage was way better than vista even after its first RC.

I am wondering if it is worth upgrading from Vista x64 to Windows 7.
Is the overall performance really that much better?

i would say that it doesnt worth the added cost, unless you can get it practically for free trough any number of programs, student for example.
overall Win7 provide a much better user experience and better performance.

Can I legally download / upgrade to Windows 7 without losing my data?
Can I dual boot Windows 98 for older games?

win7 has the upgrade option and if the win98 compatibilty mod doesnt work for you then you can use dual boot

 

[KarmaPolice]

I spend a fair bit of time upgrading/repairing laptops and desktops, so I'm not talking out of my arse here.

You would be suprised how much resorces Vista/7 itself takes up, making it slow and buggy to run apps, let alone games. I'm sick of seeing dinky £250 laptops with 7 on it, because they honestly can't cope with it. I rip it off and put on XP as a matter of course now.

Rule of thumb - if your computer runs Vista nice and quick (starting up, opening intergrated apps like Media Player etc) you have power to spare and could upgrade to W7. If it is slow and keeps on hanging/crashing, it might be a better bet to downgrade to XP.

The problem with Windows is that it does not like installing dual-boots when you are installing an older OS after the newer one (ie 98 after Vista). There are work-arounds for this, but it will often screw up the ability to dual-boot properly.

If you were to get a 7 install disc (full install, not the Vista upgrade), you could wipe the hard drive using a program like GParted, then install 98 onto one partition, then install 7 onto the other. Then it would be a true dual-boot. Just make sure that your hard drive supports 'IDE mode'. Look in the BIOS at startup. XP and before don't do well at reconising non-IDE hard drives, but most BOIS' have emulators for this problem. You would lose all your stuff, however unless you move it all onto one seperate drive you wern't formatting.

However, I don't recommend installing 98. I don't know how it will handle a multi-core CPU, it definatly won't reconise your RAM, and support for your hard disks may be spotty (due to their large size)

For older gaming, I personally prefer XP. A well tuned DOSBox has worked with every game I have thrown at it. XP Pro would be best, Home has less support for large RAM (3GB+) and for multi-cores. x64 edition has not been supported for some time. It should also reconise your graphics card, which 98 won't.

A bit windy, but I hope this helps abit.

 

[alec]

Heh. Yesterday I simply vacuumed my fans and got a new €4 fan to fit over my processor and the difference is astronomical.

My baby's been going for ten years now.

 

[Wooz]

Is the overall performance really that much better?

Yes, it's markedly faster.

What are the advantages /disadvantages of this OS over Vista?

Much more customizable, less memory usage, you can basically shut everything that you don't need off fairly quickly... automatic driver detection&download, improved performance on most apps.

What are the differences between the versions of Windows 7 (home premium,etc)?

I think everything's up at microsoft's site?

Can I legally download / upgrade to Windows 7 without losing my data?

Yes.

Can I dual boot Windows 98 for older games?

Yes. If you choose so, you can also boot Vista if you keep it on your hdd. Furthermore, i think W7 has more support/works better with Ye Olde Games.

 

[KarmaPolice]

W7 has poor support for older games - and when I say old, XP-era games fall into that catagory too. You can get work-around solutions for some of them, but some take a fair bit of legwork to get right - and they will often conflict with other mods/hacks you have (like no-cd patches) Some will refuse to work at all. Their 'compatability' mode is just awful.

I still stand that XP offers the best combo of capability/support for retrogaming.

 

[fedaykin]

Indeed, W7 and Vista are both unsuitable for most older games. What's even worse in W7/Vista is that now, older 3d games that ran fine in XP, notably those that rely on old versions of DirectX, have lost support. For instance Dark Forces 2 and Aliens versus Predator require fanmade patches to run. Klingon Academy still has no workaround. So if it's not a DOS game, but a pre-2000 3d windows game, you'll often be screwed, as the various emulation software available has either none or only experimental 3d acceleration support.

 

[KarmaPolice]

One of the biggest draws for windows was their backwards-compatability. I've been PC gaming for 15 years now, so I have games from the 386-era to today. Until Vista, every OS supported the older games. With the removal of 'true' DOS in XP (the DOS in XP is more like an emulator) it became harder for retrogaming. Luckily, DOSBox came along and allowed you to run-in-window DOS games.

Microsoft, with 7 seems to think that nobody plays any games made before 2005, or just don't care. I know enough about OS design that compatability problems will happen when switching file subsystems (32bit to 64bit) but those problems were overcome back in '95 when they changed from 16bit to 32bit). Although I'm still wondering why they bothered to make a 32-bit version of 7.

Me? I now operate an XP/Linux dual-boot. I'll skip 7, and wait for 8. Either that or Linux finally can emulate all PC games.

 

[PainlessDocM]

Thanks for all the replies.
Seems like I wont be spending my money on Windows7.

I overclocked my gpu and will do the same with my cpu in a year or so.

Perhaps I'll dual boot with Windows 98 for the Dos environment (although I manage to run most Dos games reasonably well with D-Fend) and certain of my old favorites that work on Vista but not flawless. (Dungeon Keeper 2 being one example)