Windows 7 RC - Performance on Older Machines?

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ZzBloopzZ

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 18, 2004
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I remember reading somewhere that Windows 7 will run much better than Vista on older hardware.

I was wondering if anyone finds this true? What do you think the slowest machine Windows 7 can run but still have great (not slow, where it would be better to run XP) performance?

I heard someone running it on a P4 3Ghz PC and it was flying. I wonder if anyone tried a Athlon XP system with it. :D
 
Yup. Installed build 7100 x86 on Atom netbook with 2GB ram and my laptop 2.4Ghz P4 (non HT) with 1GB ram. Runs great on both machines. x64 7100 on my gaming machine in sig.

I've been running betas of W7 on my laptop and netbook all along though. Just keeps getting better and better. My laptop will idle with only 250MB ram in use. Amazing!!
 
jstmikey said:
I have it running on an older P4 2.4Ghz HT with 1GB ram and it runs great.
Click to expand...

Wow impressive. My laptop has similar specs. Runs better overall then XP on that rig?

Damn, now I can't wait for Windows 7. Itching to try out RC1 for my self but I have final exams coming up soon and don't want to have any downtime until school is out. :(
 
When my older laptop was working, it was working perfectly on my Fujitsu N3510 with Centrino 1.7ghz, 1.5 gb of DDR2, and ati Mobility X300.
 
I tried the 64-bit version on a Socket 939 Athlon 64 (2.0GHz Venice) with only 1GB of DDR-400 and a BFG 6800GT. w/ all the Aeroglass eye candy turned on.

1GB RAM was plenty for browsing/email/office. Half Life 2 (the most "modern" game that plays well on that card with maxed settings) stutters over the first 20-30 seconds of gameplay as stuff gets written to the pagefile, but from there on out it's smooth.

If I threw another 1GB into that machine (or hell, another 512MB) I imagine it'd run any game just as well as XP did.

I have a couple of even older computers that are still functional (Duron 1200 and P3 Tualatin 1GHz) but they only have 256MB and 512MB RAM respectively so I haven't tried.
 
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I wonder how win7 rc would compare to xp pro on an opteron 180 system w/ 1GB ram HDD is SATA II.
 
It works great on all the hardware I've installed it on, from a P3 500 with 512MB of PC100 up to a Q6600 at 3 GHz with 8GB and Velociraptors...

It's the first version of Windows where I have no qualms stealing something else from Apple (those thieves...) with a little something extra:

"It Just Works... even on older hardware..."
 
I have x64 running on my main rig:
Athlon X2 4400 (s939)
4xgb DDR Ram

Very fast and nice.
Also have x32 running on my laptop:
Pentium M 1.8ghz
2xGB DDR ram
5400 rpm drive

Also very nice and smooth. I've got no complaints as far as speed goes.
 
I have it running right now on

Athlon 64 3000+
1GB DDR400
500GB Seagate
All-in-one integrated ASRock mobo of some sort.

Works flawlessly....
 
I put it on my laptop last weekend.

Pentium-M 1.6Ghz
1GB RAM

Works great! Feels as if it's XP but with a tweaked Vista look. I'm very happy, except that there are no video drivers for my Intel 855 Chipset. However, works fine with the Standard VGA.
 
ZzBloopzZ said:
Works great! Feels as if it's XP but with a tweaked Vista look. I'm very happy, except that there are no video drivers for my Intel 855 Chipset. However, works fine with the Standard VGA.
Click to expand...

Give the XP drivers a shot. I installed Windows 7 RC x86 on an older Sony machine a few weeks back, Intel 855 chipset, and used the XP driver to get at least resolution and color depth use. It's infinitely better than the default VGA driver, by far.

Other people have the same issues, actually, here's two threads/articles with more tips and tricks, but the same principles:

http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/637-installing-video-driver-intel-855-centrino-chipset.html

and

http://vinf.net/2009/01/12/windows-7-and-the-intel-855gm-video-driver-solution/

Good luck...
 
I installed the X86 version of 7100 on my backup system. Athlon 1100 with 1 gig of pc-133 and a NVidia GeForce FX 5500 256Meg AGP. It's no speed demon with windows 7 on it. XP was definitely faster. Long boot time and quit a few instances of watching the busy icon churn away on screen. No surprises really, this PC is really close to the minimum system requirements for Windows 7. This post isn't meant to be a complaint about windows 7, its just life in the slow lane. ;)
 
Joe Average said:
It works great on all the hardware I've installed it on, from a P3 500 with 512MB of PC100 up to a Q6600 at 3 GHz with 8GB and Velociraptors...

It's the first version of Windows where I have no qualms stealing something else from Apple (those thieves...) with a little something extra:

"It Just Works... even on older hardware..."
Click to expand...

Integrated graphics aren't a problem here? I'm talking Intel Extreme or 865 chipsets in older Dell Dimensions here.
 
Joe Average said:
Give the XP drivers a shot. I installed Windows 7 RC x86 on an older Sony machine a few weeks back, Intel 855 chipset, and used the XP driver to get at least resolution and color depth use. It's infinitely better than the default VGA driver, by far.

Other people have the same issues, actually, here's two threads/articles with more tips and tricks, but the same principles:

http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/637-installing-video-driver-intel-855-centrino-chipset.html

and

http://vinf.net/2009/01/12/windows-7-and-the-intel-855gm-video-driver-solution/

Good luck...
Click to expand...

I'll give it a shot later tonight. Thanks!
 
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