Vista - Upgrade or New Install and Advice for Specs

Guys,

Question 1: Is it ok to do an update over my XP or is a brand new fresh install better and why?

Question 2: I'm having issue with update advisor telling me my Belkin PreN Wireless Network card is not compatible. What the heck do I do for Wireless with Vista for my system accross the house. Don't want to run a wire through the house to connect to the router. Not sure what to do.

Question 3: nVidia SLi - I have a pretty cool system that runs well in XP, however I just got Bioshock and graphics are killer but performance is very slow even in SLi which is weird, I want to upgrade to Vista as that is the OS the game was designed for but wanted to see if there were any performance issues with nVidia's 8800 GTX in Vista

Thanks for any help,

i have so far tested the upgrade from XP to vista on a couple of machines, and so far, the little things like changing from "c:\documents and settings" to "c:\users" has gone smoothly. i had to uninstall/reinstall antivirus, uninstall and upgrade to a newer version of nero, but for the most part, it wasnt too painful. your mileage might always vary, of course.

best thing, would be to take a backup of your system, and then try the upgrade, see how it runs. if you dont like it, fresh install and import your data from backups.

1. I would do a clean install, after backing up the XP partition. However, if you will be buying the Upgrade edition, it requires you to have a full installation of XP , so don't delete it before installing Vista.

2. Is it the F5D8000? On their website they just have drivers for XP and 2000, but there is a document explaining how to get it to work in Vista (although the card is not officially supported). Bear in mind that it will certainly not work in the 64-bit version of Vista. I would probably look into replacing the card at some point (I know it sucks if you just bought it), but keep checking their site for updates periodically.

3. Don't know about this one.

Drexl said:

However, if you will be buying the Upgrade edition, it requires you to have a full installation of XP , so don't delete it before installing Vista.

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Your statement is incorrect. See the 'Clean install with a Vista Upgrade' topic linked in the FAQ sticky at top of page

@ Digitalcaveman

1. If your XP install is in excellent shape then running an upgrade install shouldn't present problems. However, an upgrade install won't overcome incompatibilities amongst your library of installed software. The transition to Vista is best done with a clean install, and accompanied by a thorough review of what software you have installed, whether or not you need it, and whether or not it'd be best to get updated versions.

2. You need to get a Vista device driver, obviously! A Vista driver may or may not be included when you install Vista. Be sure to have the PC connected to the internet when you install, and enable the 'Allow to check the internet for updates' option when you see it. The Upgrade advisor could well be a little out of date, and a suitable driver might now be available to the vista install process. If not, there's likely to be a driver available on the manufacturer's website.

Catweazle said:

Your statement is incorrect. See the 'Clean install with a Vista Upgrade' topic linked in the FAQ sticky at top of page

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I stand corrected. However, it does seem like a bit of a pain to do two installs.

Takes longer to complete, certainly, but it only adds a couple of minutes of actual user interaction to the process really. Surely you don't sit there watching the progress bar slowly creep toward completion when you're doing something like installing an OS?

Thanks guys.

Yes, I've been checking Belkin's site since Vista was released. They won't have a driver for Vista. That's whats keeping me from upgrading, I'd have to get a compatible wireless card which would drop me from 108kbps to 54kbps and not sure if I want to do that because my system is accross the house.

Digitalcaveman said:

Thanks guys.

Yes, I've been checking Belkin's site since Vista was released. They won't have a driver for Vista. That's whats keeping me from upgrading,

Click to expand...

Belkin is the brand name of the company which asembled that card. It won't be the brand name of the chip on that card. Belkin doesn't make its own processors to put on the cards it manufactures. Just like any other hardware manufacturer it'll outsource such things.


Find the chip manufacturer website and you could well find a generic device driver for cards built upon the specific semiconductor, and get it working in Vista.


I have a Netgear wireless card here, for example, which actually has a Vista driver available. If it didn't I'd need to try find a driver for the Marvel 88W8335 chipset the card uses.

Thats a pretty damn smart idea, thanks man. I'll try that.

wrong advice