Microsoft Windows 7

[ChrisP]

Yeah it's def. their most worthy OS on first release. It's more like Vista with trimmed overhead and all the service pack stuff though tbh.

XP is still good, but it took them 2 epic service packs and 3 years to get it to the point of stable and relatively efficient.

Originally Posted by Apex

What are you guys talking about? I am running 64 bit Win 7 with no problems with flash.

yeah prob 32 bit os with 32 bit flash, not 64 bit browser. Windows 64bit doesn't seem to have the issues I had with linux 64bit emulation. Mozilla 32bit just barely worked and the flash plugins wouldn't work with the 32bit browsers running in the 64bit OS.

[Dirty Penguin]

Yeah...XP is in it's third SP and honestly...with all the recent updates the SP should be (SP4). Now that 7 is on the market they most likely will shy away from XP support and focus on 7. I want to upgrade my Home PC but will wait until Win7 SP1. It's, without a doubt, on its way.

In the meantime my home laptop is Linux and I'm loving every minute of a free OS..with all the free bells and whistles......

As far as Windows 32 vs 64 bit...I feel that Harry HomeOwner should stick to 32bit. Most apps still trying to play catchup. I can't really think of too many reasons why one would need 64 over 32....RAM maybe...CAD, Databases.....I guess....Graphics cards...maybe....Well Win7 32bit should be fine for most....

[BucephalusBB]

Originally Posted by Dirty Penguin

I want to upgrade my Home PC but will wait until Win7 SP1. It's, without a doubt, on its way.

To be honest, XP was only decent after SP2 on more, Vista did need SP1 to be stable, but Windows 7 at the release is in my opinion allready a good one.
And I have been running 7 for quite some time on several computers allready..

Originally Posted by Dirty Penguin

As far as Windows 32 vs 64 bit...I feel that Harry HomeOwner should stick to 32bit. Most apps still trying to play catchup. I can't really think of too many reasons why one would need 64 over 32....RAM maybe...CAD, Databases.....I guess....Graphics cards...maybe....Well Win7 32bit should be fine for most....

Harry Homeowner would not build his own PC but buy a prebuild system. In that case I also think 64-bit would be good for Harry..

[Dirty Penguin]

Originally Posted by Bouncing Ball

To be honest, XP was only decent after SP2 on more, Vista did need SP1 to be stable, but Windows 7 at the release is in my opinion allready a good one.

I can agree here. I think the OS needs a little time in circualtion but I feel that, with all M$ products, they have some sort of exploit buggy glitch that will need to be patched. Once you patch one leak you're bout to find another that needs patching....and so on...and so...on. It's not a bad thing per-say. That's how you design better software. Linux and Mac OS are not without their flaws and glitches either.

Originally Posted by Bouncing Ball

Harry Homeowner would not build his own PC but buy a prebuild system. In that case I also think 64-bit would be good for Harry..

You may be correct. I haven't found a need for 64bit over 32bit. Maybe RAM though. I guess Quad Cores can do more under a 64bit OS than 32. Maybe if you're a gamer and have a honken' video card there's some benefits......

Well...even though I'm not a big fan of Windows products I have been impressed with what they have done in Win7.....(still gonna' wait for that SP1 though....).....

[ChrisP]

Originally Posted by Dirty Penguin

You may be correct. I haven't found a need for 64bit over 32bit. Maybe RAM though. I guess Quad Cores can do more under a 64bit OS than 32. Maybe if you're a gamer and have a honken' video card there's some benefits......

I'm a gamer with honken' video cards and I get less stability and lower fps under 64bit OS. 64 bit is for enterprise only until developers get their a into g and start coding stable software and drivers for 64 bit OS's.

[Dirty Penguin]

Originally Posted by ChrisP

I'm a gamer with honken' video cards and I get less stability and lower fps under 64bit OS. 64 bit is for enterprise only until developers get their a into g and start coding stable software and drivers for 64 bit OS's.

Yea, I agree....I have a co-worker who built his own....(quad core AMD, 4+ gb of RAM, and a honken' video card) and found himself tweaking the video card settings a lot with Vista 64. I'm not sure what kind of video card he had. I know it was an ATI. He said he loaded 7 32bit and is lovn' it.....

[Apex]

I just got a HD 5770 and I am running it with Win 7 64 bit with no apparent slow downs in fps. Although I had to ensure I didn't use the default driver and, instead, download and install the updated one. The default has problems with Win 7 but the updated one runs perfectly. What games were you having trouble in with the 64 bit?

[Willamena]

Can you fellows help with an Ethernet question? The Ethernet board on my new computer doesn't connect to the modem, it seems the address isn't set up. I read online that the address was supposed be assigned by the manufacturer. Device Manager indicates the board is working fine, but advanced options indicate some disabled. Can I activate the IP address in the driver options?

Edit: I read about ipconfig /release and /renew. I'll try that tonight.

[ChrisP]

Originally Posted by Apex

I just got a HD 5770 and I am running it with Win 7 64 bit with no apparent slow downs in fps. Although I had to ensure I didn't use the default driver and, instead, download and install the updated one. The default has problems with Win 7 but the updated one runs perfectly. What games were you having trouble in with the 64 bit?

It's less about "trouble" (although that's not to say there is no trouble for some...) and more about performance. I've got 2 ATi Radeon 4870 1GB running in crossfire. I play almost exclusively first person shooters and during testing of the games I play (Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat : Source, CS:Source, some single player games) I consistently received 40-80 frames per second higher under the 32bit Win7 RC than in the 64bit Win7 RC. I also found this to be true when running games under WINE in Ubuntu about 2 years back. Some games only got about 5 fps running on WINE in the 64bit Ubuntu OS and ran with around 40-70 fps under WINE in 32 bit Ubuntu OS. (my rig back then was an AMD 64 x2 3800 with a PX 7600 GT TDH 256mb and not as flash as my new kit).

What I'm trying to get at is that although 64bit may be stable it is not always going to give you the best performance from your hardware just because it is 64bit and therefore bell-like and whistley.

[Apex]

Originally Posted by ChrisP

What I'm trying to get at is that although 64bit may be stable it is not always going to give you the best performance from your hardware just because it is 64bit and therefore bell-like and whistley.

Yeah, hopefully the driver support will continue to get better. I am just happy I can finally use all my RAM. I also got lucky because my school has a deal through MS. I was able to get the 32 bit Win 7 for ~$35 which then made me eligible for a coy of 64 bit Win 7 for only $5. So I stuck the 32 bit on my laptop and the 64 bit on my desktop.