Topic: Windows 7

[F0CKER]

Thinking of making the jump to Windows 7, wanted to get some feedback from peope here on pros / cons.  The main reason for making the jump is to use a SSD for the OS.  From what I've read, Windows 7 is the way to go, XP is fine, but doesn't take full advantage of some SSD features - trim etc.  Any feedback.

Also, what about programs we use quite a bit, anyone familiar with compatability issues, namely for:

Wavelab 5
CD Wave
Traders Little Helper

[Gordon]

don't have a ssd ( I wish!) but I love windows 7.

wavelab 5 will only work in virtual xp however wavelab 6 works just fine and it's um out there now

everything else I use works great.  cd wave, traders little helper, vegas etc.  I actually haven't found one program that doesn't work.

[F0CKER]

don't have a ssd ( I wish!) but I love windows 7.

wavelab 5 will only work in virtual xp however wavelab 6 works just fine and it's um out there now

everything else I use works great.  cd wave, traders little helper, vegas etc.  I actually haven't found one program that doesn't work.

Thanks Gordon!  Just what I wanted to hear.  Looks like I have myself a little weekend project now.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

I just upgraded to SSD...holy shit what a HUGE difference.

Upgraded my memory to 8GB, made a bit of difference.
Upgraded my CPU to a Core2Quad 2.66 another minor upgrade in performance.
When I added the SSD...Whoa. Much faster boots. Programs load almost instantly.

I've got only Windows 7 + Programs on the SSD. I keep all data on a second standard HD.

I don't foresee any more upgrades for some time now.

[OFOTD]

Not sure if you were in the brief thread on pf or not but I just went the SSD route this past week. 

I picked up a pair of these Intel SSD's    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167023

I'm running them both in RAID-0 and have a few regular drives in my machine as well.  For the record I am only planning on using the SSD drives for my OS and programs only.  No data storage whatsoever on them.

Windows 7 (x64) installed perfectly within 15 minutes from my USB drive.   Programs installed include Adobe CS5, Soundforge 10, Vegas Pro 9, Wavelab 6, TLH, CDWave, Office 2007.   Not one single problem.

Now some thought on the SSD's.....

I bought some good drives, not the cheapest nor the most expensive.  Read any review or comment based site and you can read about how big the technological leaps are in the right now drives as opposed to drives made even six months ago.  Go with the newest drives you can afford instead of  bottom feeding on discontinued models.   The two SSD's I bought had manufactured dates of 6/18/2010 so less than two weeks from being built to being in my computer.  They had the latest firmware as well.   One of the main advantage of Windows 7 IS the built in TRIM support although there are drivers for Vista/XP/etc for it as well as drive firmware updates (make/model depending).     The other being that most of the newer SSD's are 'advanced format' drives meaning they use 4kB sectors.   So again no problems and all the benefits running Windows 7. 

It now takes longer for my BIOS to post than it does for 7 to load completely.  Around 30 seconds from push of power to a workable desktop.   Programs take less than two seconds to load.   

[F0CKER]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

This is just me being paranoid, but is there any reason for me to fear installing Windows 7 64 bit?  I've got an Intel Core Duo processor with 64 bit architecture....what should I be concerned about?  I have 4GB RAM in already, likley to put in more later though.  Should I be concerned with video and soundcards working? 
 

[OFOTD]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

This is just me being paranoid, but is there any reason for me to fear installing Windows 7 64 bit?  I've got an Intel Core Duo processor with 64 bit architecture....what should I be concerned about?  I have 4GB RAM in already, likley to put in more later though.  Should I be concerned with video and soundcards working?

Depends on what hardware you are talking about.  One of the nicest features of 7 is the amount of drivers built in to the install disk.   Otherwise most manufacturers have Win7 drivers on their support pages.   If all else fails I know folks who use Vista and even XP drivers with success.

Have no fears otherwise.  Excellent OS.

[adrianf74]

I can't comment on SSD as my main drive (I'd love to do that in my NEXT system), however, I've loved Win7 since I made the jump last fall.  I find it seldolm crashes and is very clean and easy to use.  I find it faster than Vista (which often crashed IMHO).

[Scooter123]

I have Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.  No complaints.  But everything I do, could be done on XP. 

I will say that running a home network is easier on W7.  I do really like the Windows Explorer half screens.  If you position the Explorer screen just so, it formats to exactly half a screen.  Open up another Explorer window (or another program) and do the same; it makes copy and paste or viewing data while typing on anothe program much easier. 

Those are the only two advantages that I note. 

I run an HP Workstation, 3.3htz quad core, 8g memory, 8tb RAID hard drive(s) with an 8tb SATA backup.  Really really fast machine. 

[todd e]

i just went there chris, windows 7 is rockin

i'm read up on multi-threading which is a fancy way of allocating particular resources to a virtual operating system (i.e. like remote desktop for windows7, you can open an XP window) but i've not found anything unsupported.

[mmedley.]

Been running Windows 7 x64 on an Intel SSD in both my desktop and laptop for a good while now (6 months). I will never look back. Windows 7 loads in about 30 seconds. Hands down the best upgrade you can give your computer for a very noticeable speed increase. I got 40GB versions and strictly only use the SSD for the OS/programs drive. Everything else (music/vids/etc) is stored/processed on other non-SSD drives.

[H₂O]

I run x64 Win 7 Pro inside Parallels with only 1GB RAM assoc. and it runs great for MS-Office 2010 use.  I am amazed at how well it runs on so little RAM.


Does start to slow if I pull up a huge Visio or something but Win 7 is definitely worth moving too.


I run it natively and it runs great and I have a dedicated box running it as well.


Not to much different then Vista but they definitely tweaked performance.


Someday I will migrate to SSD but not anytime soon - I am sure this will make it a but more snappy.

[jmz93]

SSD? I'm assuming this is some sort of memory drive?
Can I run one of these on an older XP-sp3 system? 

[H₂O]

SSD = Solid State Drive


Typically using High Speed Flash Memory.  These drives typically offer much faster read/write times then standard HDD's or Hard Disk Drives -> which are mechanical in nature.


You should be able to use an SSD with Win XP as the system see's them typically the same as an HDD.

[spyder9]

I have a Dell Dimension 9200 E6600 Core2Duo 2.4ghz 1033 mhz bus  4 GB RAM  Windows 7 Prof. 32 bit.  Will I see a difference in read/write speed with a SSD for my main drive?  I have SATA 1, I think.  My PC is almost 4 years old.  Thanks.

[mmedley.]

Every laptop is different, but mine is around the same age and specs as yours (Dell XPS m1210) and it was a night and day difference. I even went with the 'value' line from Intel. Get it from Newegg and try it for a few days and return it if you are not pleased. I am fairly confident you will love it though. As mentioned, I will never look back when it comes to an OS drive. Mine is super fast...almost double.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167025

[spyder9]

Mine's a desktop, though.  And I'm using about 58GB in the C:\ drive, which includes Win7 and programs.

[mmedley.]

I got one in my desktop too. Exact same model.

Windows 7 OS installation will take about 20GB so you will be left with approximately that much for programs. Of course, you could always go for the 80GB version that is slightly more expensive, but better performance. I think this is the one Dave got...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167023

[F0CKER]

Well I had problems with the full installation to Windows 7 with the new SSD so I stayed with XP and just did a clean install of XP on the SSD.  The PC boots up superquick and is equally as quick opening and closing programs.  Overall I'm happy with the new setup, but will have to make the jump to Windows 7 at some point soon.  Right now, I'm content.

[todd e]

settling for less, how very FOCKER esque ;-)

as much as i love it, honestly struggling to be able to burn dvd-a's.  innis is trying to teach me how to run xp, within win7, so i can use older programs.  stay tuned

[cyfan]

I've been milking the last days out of my old PC and it's time to make the change. I have XP now but am considering the switch to Windows 7 on a new PC (or laptop). I still want to be able to transfer files from Creative JB3s and to use Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (neither of which appear to work on Windows 7). But I've heard that Window 7 Professional has a virtual XP mode to run old XP compatible programs.

So.... anybody out there had success using Creative Playcenter and/or Cool Edit Pro 2.0 on Windows 7/Virtual XP mode?

I don't wanna blow a bunch of cash and find out the answer is no.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

I've been milking the last days out of my old PC and it's time to make the change. I have XP now but am considering the switch to Windows 7 on a new PC (or laptop). I still want to be able to transfer files from Creative JB3s and to use Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (neither of which appear to work on Windows 7). But I've heard that Window 7 Professional has a virtual XP mode to run old XP compatible programs.

So.... anybody out there had success using Creative Playcenter and/or Cool Edit Pro 2.0 on Windows 7/Virtual XP mode?

I don't wanna blow a bunch of cash and find out the answer is no.

I wouldn't bother with Win 7 pro and XP Mode. If you're only going to use it for JB3 transfers/old software I'd run XP in Sun/Oracle Virtualbox (free OS visualization that works great).

[George]

I had my old xp desktop for 6 yrs and finally bit the bullet and went all out for a gaming desktop. 
I decided to play it safe and purchase this build from ibuypower and I haven't had any issues at all so far. 

Core i7 930 2.8GHz cpu
2xAti 5770 videocards running in Crossfire
Kingston 64GB SSD
WD 6gb SATA-3 1TB HDD
6GB DDR 1333MHz ram
850W corsair PSU
fancy gaming case with 6 ridiculous fans
card reader
dvd burner
Windows 7 64 bit.

This new pc simply flies, its insane.  I installed WoW in 20 minutes (on my old desktop it took hours).  Like others, win 7 loads up in 30 seconds and firefox is instant, on my old desktop ff would take like a minute or two to load up.  I haven't done any audio editing of any kind, but when I do I imagine it'll be a breeze pulling up wav files to edit.  I'm simply content getting sick fps in games.   

[cyfan]

I've been milking the last days out of my old PC and it's time to make the change. I have XP now but am considering the switch to Windows 7 on a new PC (or laptop). I still want to be able to transfer files from Creative JB3s and to use Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (neither of which appear to work on Windows 7). But I've heard that Window 7 Professional has a virtual XP mode to run old XP compatible programs.

So.... anybody out there had success using Creative Playcenter and/or Cool Edit Pro 2.0 on Windows 7/Virtual XP mode?

I don't wanna blow a bunch of cash and find out the answer is no.

I wouldn't bother with Win 7 pro and XP Mode. If you're only going to use it for JB3 transfers/old software I'd run XP in Sun/Oracle Virtualbox (free OS visualization that works great).

I intend to use the PC for many other things too. But I need to be able to use it with the JB3 and CEP too.

[spyder9]

I've been milking the last days out of my old PC and it's time to make the change. I have XP now but am considering the switch to Windows 7 on a new PC (or laptop). I still want to be able to transfer files from Creative JB3s and to use Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (neither of which appear to work on Windows 7). But I've heard that Window 7 Professional has a virtual XP mode to run old XP compatible programs.

So.... anybody out there had success using Creative Playcenter and/or Cool Edit Pro 2.0 on Windows 7/Virtual XP mode?

I don't wanna blow a bunch of cash and find out the answer is no.

I wouldn't bother with Win 7 pro and XP Mode. If you're only going to use it for JB3 transfers/old software I'd run XP in Sun/Oracle Virtualbox (free OS visualization that works great).

I run Windows 7 32 bit.  Never had a problem with any of my old programs since the switch.  Adobe Audition 3 runs fine too.  However, most issues with older programs is when you go 64 bit.  All I know is I'm never going back to XP.       

[georgeh]

settling for less, how very FOCKER esque ;-)

as much as i love it, honestly struggling to be able to burn dvd-a's.  innis is trying to teach me how to run xp, within win7, so i can use older programs.  stay tuned

[mattmiller]

Does Foobar work on Win 7 64?

[Gordon]

Does Foobar work on Win 7 64?

yes