Moving from XP to Vista x64..questions

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feo

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 24, 2006
Messages
183
Hey guys

I've had my current PC for about 3.5 years now and it's starting to slow down a LOT so I think a reformat and new OS are in order.

I have XP on the 160GB drive and other stuff like movies and music on the 500GB drive. I have a few questions about the move to Vista:

1. Firstly, what's the best way to completely wipe my 160GB HDD? I want no signs that XP has even been on the PC, I want Vista to go onto a CLEAN slate.

2. Should I partition my 160GB HDD before installing Vista or should I just leave it as one partition?

3. Seeing as my PC is 3.5 years old, it's got all the MS related updates on it already (Office, Live Writer, .NET Framework updates etc.). Is there any way that I can maybe save these updates onto a CD or something so that I don't have to RE-DOWNLOAD them when I install Vista?

AMD Athlon64 3200+ S939
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
1GB Kingston DDR400 RAM Dual Channel
Geforce 6800GT
1x160GB SATA
1x500GB SATA

No doubt I'll think of more questions before I actually make the move but for now, these are the main issues I can think of.

TIA
 
1. Unless you wear a foil hat and are worried someone will analyze you HDD for signs of XP, a simple reformat will do which can be done from the Vista installer.

2. I (personally) just keep my OS drive whole and put anything I don't want getting lost on a large storage drive, however others partition for games, apps, you name it. I just find it to be a waste of space if you don't correctly allocate and 160GB can fillup awful quickly...

3. I'm pretty sure you can't but why would you want to? Just download the newest versions, it really isn't that annoying and I think that a lot of those updates come with Vista (I know an upgraded .NET framework does).


On a side note, why are you going with x64 given you only have 1GB of ram? Are you planning on adding more ram - because you should seriously consider doing as vista is hungry - not a hater, just if you're gonna do it, do it right.
 
im sorry if im saying this but your pc isn't strong enough to run vista properly
i suggest you to stay with xp , much better for p.c .
your computer is vista CAPABLE but it's not the apropriet OS for it
moreover i think vista isn't ready yet .
 
Wait until you upgrade your machine before getting Vista. With those specs, just reformat and reinstall XP.
 
Running Vista with 1GB of RAM and a single core CPU is going to be a little on the painful side. I'd stick with XP on that machine.
 
Vista would run perfectly fine on that machine.....with a memory upgrade. Unfortunately, DDR1 memory is eexpensive right now. I researched the extra 1 GB Corsair kit I wanted to sell, and was surprised at how much more than DDR2 it is.

If you do decide to go with Vista, definitely consider an upgrade in memory as well. I'd also consider getting a retail version, so you can be assured you can move it to a new computer when you upgrade.
 
all that machine needs is another gig of RAM and it should run Vista just fine. However DDR1 prices are ridiculously high right now, so I'm not sure if it's worth spending money for it, especially if you plan on upgrading in the near future.

I recently moved my "old" PC, which isn't a whole lot different from yours (see sig), to Vista x64 and it runs like a champ. I did add an extra 2Gigs for a total of 4Gigs, but that because I use Photoshop a lot.
 
I plan on at least changing the mobo, RAM and CPU.

I only game on my 360 so my graphics cards is staying put but yeah, I know that 4GBs of RAM seems to be the sweet spot nowadays which is what I'm gonna be upgrading to.
 
feo said:
I plan on at least changing the mobo, RAM and CPU.

I only game on my 360 so my graphics cards is staying put but yeah, I know that 4GBs of RAM seems to be the sweet spot nowadays which is what I'm gonna be upgrading to.
Click to expand...
I'd recommend halting on your Vista upgrade until you start swapping out those components. If you buy an OEM Vista, it'll be tied to whatever motherboard you install it to. As the other users have said, you might just want to a fresh XP install.

What I did was sort of piece-meal a new system together. I bought all the components in my sig one at a time, and after about two months I bought the last piece (processor) and ordered a copy of Vista with it. Just watch the Hot Deals forum.
 
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