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11-28-2010, 12:57 PM
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#1 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 207
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OS Upgrade...Anything to Watch Out For?
I'm looking to upgrade my self-built PC (which was only possible with kick-butt community advice from PC Mech). I've got 4GB of RAM, a 1.5GB GTX475 and ... wait for it... Win Vista 32Bit.
When I built my computer, it made sense. Not now with a couple upgrades. My plan is to buy and install a fresh Win 7 64bit OS. The assumption is that I get the upgrade to Win 7 (which I like a lot), and with the upgrade to 64bit it will be equivalent to increasing my RAM by about 3GB (i.e. getting all 4GB of system RAM and that on my Video Card). 1) Is my assumption on the realized increase in RAM correct? 2) Are there any considerations I should make? I have disks for software or download receipts (MS Office and Steam games). I will back up all music and personal folders on an external drive. It will take some time to reinstall all anti-virus and system admin stuff (e.g. ccleaner), but it seems like one upgrade that costs $99 will allow me to get my system's full potential. Cheers
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11-28-2010, 01:21 PM
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#2 |
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Techphile.
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: San Francisco Bay
Posts: 5,962
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Personally, I would start fresh with a full install of Windows 7. I would load the full OEM version for $100. Then load your software and then bring in your files from your old C: drive slaved to your motherboard.
With a fresh install you are not bringing over a bunch of old baggage (garbage files, settings you don't want, malware etc) that might be detrimental to a fresh start. To keep things simple, you will want a second hard drive to be your new C: drive. I think this is a little easier than moving things to a backup requiring you to move things twice, but of course have your backup just in case the worse happens. Then wipe your old C: drive and use it as a clone or a JBOD drive. By doing it this way you are also never down to one copy of all your precious files...completely dependent on one drive not failing or becoming corrupt. I think it's really nice to have a freshly loaded OS that is still snappy.
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Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | Intel 2600K @ 4.7 GHz | Win 7 Pro 64 |8 gigs Corsair 1600 | Two Diamond 6990's in Crossfire| Corsair AX1200 | Thermalright Silver Arrow | Western Digital Black 2TB 64 meg cache | Lian-Li PC-A71B | Logitec Z-5500 | Three Asus 26" VW266H monitors running under Eyefinity | Last edited by David M; 11-28-2010 at 01:47 PM. |
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11-28-2010, 01:32 PM
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#3 |
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Forum Administrator
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Premium Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 37,791
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You will only be increasing your useful ram by about 0.75gb.
Do a clean install, buy the OEM version. |
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