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Win 7 or XP for this old computer?

StingBull
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Go to solution Solved by GoodBytes,

Windows 7 64-bit or 8.1 64-bit. Either will do.

You have the GPU requirement, RAM and CPU power for either.

Even if you didn't have the specs, I would say Win8.1 Update (as it's better for slower system). Windows XP should be considered an OS with 0 security. The OS is from 2001, and based on 1993 core. The Internet was not what it was. Microsoft said themselves the day XP was released, that they'll be scrapping XP, and restart from scratch for modern hardware (your specs is modern), and for security of the modern area. XP is like a dray wall with holes everywhere, like a crazy, and plastered above, then you make additional holes on that, and put more plaster on it, and now it's all cracked and chipping off, and alreayd has holes again. And now (well coming April) Microsoft pulls the plug on any support what so ever. The OS is beyond repair.

In addition, XP does not support:

-> AHCI natively meaning you dont' get enjoy NCQ form your HDD. It's a feature that boost HDD performance.

-> No multiple core support (works with multiple core, but doesn't take advantage of it, moves everything of itself to single core)

-> No support large amount of RAM (designed for 128MB and 256MB of RAM, it always acts as you are low in RAM, so it moves everything to pagefile, free space or not, slowing down your system experience)

and I can go on and on and on....

The only advantage of making a partition out of a HDD/SSD is making your re-install easier, if you set in Windows, to have your Document, Picture, etc, to your D:\ Partition (second partition), which you can do simply by right-clicking on each folder, go to Properties, then go under the Location tab. That simple.

So now when you need to re-install Windows, you don't need to worry about backing up your stuff. However, this must not be seen as backup solution. The HDD or SSD fails, both partition fails. This is just to make your life easier when it comes to re-install.

As personal data is usually the large part of your storage, I suggest to make C:\ for windows only, and D:\ for your programs, games, and personal data.

Posted

Hello people, good evening. I'm new to the forum and I come in bearing questions. :)

 

I'm not too knowledgable about computers and I have two of questions in my mind.

 

I have an old computer that I mainly use for gaming.

 

Specs are:

 

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU

-Nvidia GeForce 9800GT

-4GB of DDR2 RAM (yeah it is that old)

-Windows XP Professional

 

I'm trying to make the most of it. Since I don't have the money to upgrade the hardware for the foreseeable future, should I update the sofware from XP to Windows 7? Or would that decrease the performance?

 

My second question is, is there any point in spliting a single HDD into multiple partitions?

The stone cannot know why the chisel cleaves it; the iron cannot know why the fire scorches it. When thy life is cleft and scorched, when death and despair leap at thee, beat not thy breast and curse thy evil fate, but thank the Builder for the trials that shape thee.
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well, if you have the money for a $90 win7, you could also spend that on a 7750 and get some more gaming performance.

Gaming HTPC:

R5 5600X - Cryorig C7 - Asus ROG B350-i - EVGA RTX2060KO - 16gb G.Skill Ripjaws V 3333mhz - Corsair SF450 - 500gb 960 EVO - LianLi TU100B


Desktop PC:
R9 3900X - Peerless Assassin 120 SE - Asus Prime X570 Pro - Powercolor 7900XT - 32gb LPX 3200mhz - Corsair SF750 Platinum - 1TB WD SN850X - CoolerMaster NR200 White - Gigabyte M27Q-SA - Corsair K70 Rapidfire - Logitech MX518 Legendary - HyperXCloud Alpha wireless


Boss-NAS [Build Log]:
R5 2400G - Noctua NH-D14 - Asus Prime X370-Pro - 16gb G.Skill Aegis 3000mhz - Seasonic Focus Platinum 550W - Fractal Design R5 - 
250gb 970 Evo (OS) - 2x500gb 860 Evo (Raid0) - 6x4TB WD Red (RaidZ2)

Synology-NAS:
DS920+
2x4TB Ironwolf - 1x18TB Seagate Exos X20

 

Audio Gear:

Hifiman HE-400i - Kennerton Magister - Beyerdynamic DT880 250Ohm - AKG K7XX - Fostex TH-X00 - O2 Amp/DAC Combo - 
Klipsch RP280F - Klipsch RP160M - Klipsch RP440C - Yamaha RX-V479

 

Reviews and Stuff:

GTX 780 DCU2 // 8600GTS // Hifiman HE-400i // Kennerton Magister
Folding all the Proteins! // Boincerino

Useful Links:
Do you need an AMP/DAC? // Recommended Audio Gear // PSU Tier List 

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Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Main rig on profile

VAULT - File Server

Spoiler

Intel Core i5 11400 w/ Shadow Rock LP, 2x16GB SP GAMING 3200MHz CL16, ASUS PRIME Z590-A, 2x LSI 9211-8i, Fractal Define 7, 256GB Team MP33, 3x 6TB WD Red Pro (general storage), 5x 8TB WD White Label/Red (Plex) (both arrays in their respective Windows Parity storage spaces), 1TB Teamgroup MP33 (dumping ground) Corsair RM750x, TrueNAS Scale

Sleeper HP Pavilion A6137C

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.4GHz, 4x8GB G.SKILL Ares 1800MHz CL10, ASUS Z170M-E D3, 128GB Team MP33, 1TB Seagate Barracuda, MSI GTX 970 100ME, EVGA 650G1, Windows 11 Pro

OptiPlex 7040M

Spoiler

Intel Core i7 6700, 2x16GB Mushkin Redline (stuck at 2133MHz CL13), 240GB Corsair MP510, 2TB Seagate Barracuda 2.5", 130w Dell power brick, Windows 11 Pro

Mac Mini (Late 2020)

Spoiler

Apple M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB, macOS Sonoma

Consoles: Steam Deck LCD (512GB), Softmodded 1.4 Xbox w/ 500GB HDD, Xbox 360 Elite 120GB Falcon, XB1X w/2TB MX500, Xbox Series X, PS1 1001, PS2 Slim 70000 w/ FreeMcBoot, PS4 Pro 7015B 1TB, PS5 Digital, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo Wii RVL-001 (black)

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Try to get another 4Gb to total 8, grab a decent video card if you can handle one, install 8.1

 

 

well, if you have the money for a $90 win7, you could also spend that on a 7750 and get some more gaming performance.

 

I especially said I don't have the money for hardware. I don't live in the USA, computer parts are expensive here. It's not economical to upgrade piece by piece; therefore, if I ever get a chance to upgrade I would buy a new computer.

The stone cannot know why the chisel cleaves it; the iron cannot know why the fire scorches it. When thy life is cleft and scorched, when death and despair leap at thee, beat not thy breast and curse thy evil fate, but thank the Builder for the trials that shape thee.
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I especially said I don't have the money for hardware. I don't live in the USA, computer parts are expensive here. It's not economical to upgrade piece by piece; therefore, if I ever get a chance to upgrade I would buy a new computer.

 

But considering you already have winXP and your cpu isnt that bad, a new (even low end) video card would give you the biggest improvment in gaming performance.

 

But since you dont care at all, just buy win8.1 for a lot of money and be happy with the same performance as before.

Gaming HTPC:

R5 5600X - Cryorig C7 - Asus ROG B350-i - EVGA RTX2060KO - 16gb G.Skill Ripjaws V 3333mhz - Corsair SF450 - 500gb 960 EVO - LianLi TU100B


Desktop PC:
R9 3900X - Peerless Assassin 120 SE - Asus Prime X570 Pro - Powercolor 7900XT - 32gb LPX 3200mhz - Corsair SF750 Platinum - 1TB WD SN850X - CoolerMaster NR200 White - Gigabyte M27Q-SA - Corsair K70 Rapidfire - Logitech MX518 Legendary - HyperXCloud Alpha wireless


Boss-NAS [Build Log]:
R5 2400G - Noctua NH-D14 - Asus Prime X370-Pro - 16gb G.Skill Aegis 3000mhz - Seasonic Focus Platinum 550W - Fractal Design R5 - 
250gb 970 Evo (OS) - 2x500gb 860 Evo (Raid0) - 6x4TB WD Red (RaidZ2)

Synology-NAS:
DS920+
2x4TB Ironwolf - 1x18TB Seagate Exos X20

 

Audio Gear:

Hifiman HE-400i - Kennerton Magister - Beyerdynamic DT880 250Ohm - AKG K7XX - Fostex TH-X00 - O2 Amp/DAC Combo - 
Klipsch RP280F - Klipsch RP160M - Klipsch RP440C - Yamaha RX-V479

 

Reviews and Stuff:

GTX 780 DCU2 // 8600GTS // Hifiman HE-400i // Kennerton Magister
Folding all the Proteins! // Boincerino

Useful Links:
Do you need an AMP/DAC? // Recommended Audio Gear // PSU Tier List 

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Posted

youd be better off with windows 8.1

| CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k | Mootherboard: ASUS P8z68v-Pro | GPU: EVGA GTX780Ti 3GB | RAM: Kingston HyperX Genesis 8GB (4GBx2) 1600mhz | PSU: Corsair AX760 | STORAGE: Samsung 840 Pro 512GB | COOLER: Noctua NH-C14 | CASE: Fractal Design Define R4 Pearl Black | Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit |

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  • Solution

Windows 7 64-bit or 8.1 64-bit. Either will do.

You have the GPU requirement, RAM and CPU power for either.

Even if you didn't have the specs, I would say Win8.1 Update (as it's better for slower system). Windows XP should be considered an OS with 0 security. The OS is from 2001, and based on 1993 core. The Internet was not what it was. Microsoft said themselves the day XP was released, that they'll be scrapping XP, and restart from scratch for modern hardware (your specs is modern), and for security of the modern area. XP is like a dray wall with holes everywhere, like a crazy, and plastered above, then you make additional holes on that, and put more plaster on it, and now it's all cracked and chipping off, and alreayd has holes again. And now (well coming April) Microsoft pulls the plug on any support what so ever. The OS is beyond repair.

In addition, XP does not support:

-> AHCI natively meaning you dont' get enjoy NCQ form your HDD. It's a feature that boost HDD performance.

-> No multiple core support (works with multiple core, but doesn't take advantage of it, moves everything of itself to single core)

-> No support large amount of RAM (designed for 128MB and 256MB of RAM, it always acts as you are low in RAM, so it moves everything to pagefile, free space or not, slowing down your system experience)

and I can go on and on and on....

The only advantage of making a partition out of a HDD/SSD is making your re-install easier, if you set in Windows, to have your Document, Picture, etc, to your D:\ Partition (second partition), which you can do simply by right-clicking on each folder, go to Properties, then go under the Location tab. That simple.

So now when you need to re-install Windows, you don't need to worry about backing up your stuff. However, this must not be seen as backup solution. The HDD or SSD fails, both partition fails. This is just to make your life easier when it comes to re-install.

As personal data is usually the large part of your storage, I suggest to make C:\ for windows only, and D:\ for your programs, games, and personal data.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Hello people, good evening. I'm new to the forum and I come in bearing questions. :)

 

I'm not too knowledgable about computers and I have two of questions in my mind.

 

I have an old computer that I mainly use for gaming.

 

Specs are:

 

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU

-Nvidia GeForce 9800GT

-4GB of DDR2 RAM (yeah it is that old)

-Windows XP Professional

 

I'm trying to make the most of it. Since I don't have the money to upgrade the hardware for the foreseeable future, should I update the sofware from XP to Windows 7? Or would that decrease the performance?

 

My second question is, is there any point in spliting a single HDD into multiple partitions?

 

lol I can relate.

I just built a new rig in late Jan.

I moved up from Core 2 Duo, an old Win XP home I built in Dec 2007.

 

If I were you, I chose neither, and go straight to ubuntu.

 

Hardware wise, some USB 3.0s PCIe.  And depending how old your HDD is, a new one for storage may be considered, and use the old HDD for torrenting/scratch HDD

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