ISO Suggestions for building a budget Windows 7 PC
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From: Paul on 2 Apr 2010 04:20 Brian K wrote: > Brian K conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On 4/1/2010 2:16 > PM: >> I am a photographer/artist. My old PC won't run Windows 7. I am using >> Win XP SP3 and plan to stay with it as long as I can. Eventually, I >> need to build a new one.(System that is) So I'd like some ideas to >> consider. I have two internal IDE drives I plan port over. I intend >> to use it mostly for home office stuff, surfing the net, and >> editing/processing my photos / videos. >> > Sorry if this wasn't quite clear. As I understand it the zero hour when > Microsoft will no longer support XP is approaching...sometime in April > or May. After that there won't be anymore security updates for XP. I'm > not crazy about Win 7, and I have been using the Windows Platform for > quite some time. All of my apps are Windows based. Switching to Mac at > this point doesn't seem practical. I am on a limited budget. Since it's > been over 4 years since I last built a system, I really don't know what > anything costs. I don't even know what's available or where to get it. > > I'm looking for suggestions as to the kind of system that will do what I > want to do (see above quote) but not break the bank. Is $300.00 usd > reasonable? My current system has 2 g ram, 2 IDE 150 G drives, AMD > Athlon 64 3700+ CPU, onboard VIA sound and graphic MoBo is a Mach Speed > K8M8MS.Chipsets VIA K8M800 North Bridge / VIA VT8237 South Bridge. > > My income is limited as I am disabled. I solely depend on my disability > check and the occasional sale of my artwork. What's the bare minimum > that will give me something I can use? > > I hope this clears things a little. Sorry if I come off as some kind of > space head. As I mentioned it has been a number of years. > http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-gb&C2=1173 Windows XP Professional Extended Support Retired 08/04/2014 And this page, seems to suggest security updates and KB pages, will be available until 2014. http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy I'm using WinXP right now, and hadn't even considered changing. ******* How did you conclude that Win7 would not install on that computer ? Did you use a compatibility tool of some sort ? http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/system-requirements "If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes: * 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor * 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit) * 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit) * DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver" Maybe you'd need a graphics card ? I don't know if the VIA integrated graphics would satisfy the last requirement or not. Perhaps the "upgrade-advisor" knows. Video cards can be pretty cheap, if you have a look around. I suspect some of these cards, are a clearing out of spares stock at the factory. I got a nice 4 year old BFG card for $65 about a month ago. This is even cheaper. This has the bare minimum of RAM for compositing or Aero effects. So this is pretty close to the bottom of the supported list at Nvidia. (I picked an AGP card, as I suspect you have an AGP slot there.) BFG Tech BFGR6600GTOC GeForce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X $30 Card comes with DVI to VGA adapter plugs, for VGA monitors. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143027 http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_x86_181.71_beta.html # Installs WDDM v1.1 for GeForce 8, 9, and 200-series DirectX 10 GPUs. # Installs WDDM v1.0 for GeForce 6 and 7-series DirectX 9 GPUs. <--- Products supported: GTX295... Geforce 6600GT... 6100/6150 integrated etc. So try the "upgrade-advisor" web page first, and see what it reports. It should be able to scan for hardware and software that will cause problems. I expect the upgrade tool might need .NET 2 or so installed as well. If you haven't been keeping up to date on cruft like that, there may be a need for an additional download. HTH, Paul
From: Charlie Wilkes on 2 Apr 2010 04:53 On Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:06:57 -0400, Brian K wrote: > Brian K conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On 4/1/2010 2:16 > PM: >> I am a photographer/artist. My old PC won't run Windows 7. I am using >> Win XP SP3 and plan to stay with it as long as I can. Eventually, I >> need to build a new one.(System that is) So I'd like some ideas to >> consider. I have two internal IDE drives I plan port over. I intend >> to use it mostly for home office stuff, surfing the net, and >> editing/processing my photos / videos. >> > Sorry if this wasn't quite clear. As I understand it the zero hour when > Microsoft will no longer support XP is approaching...sometime in April > or May. After that there won't be anymore security updates for XP. I'm > not crazy about Win 7, and I have been using the Windows Platform for > quite some time. All of my apps are Windows based. Switching to Mac at > this point doesn't seem practical. I am on a limited budget. Since it's > been over 4 years since I last built a system, I really don't know what > anything costs. I don't even know what's available or where to get it. > > I'm looking for suggestions as to the kind of system that will do what I > want to do (see above quote) but not break the bank. Is $300.00 usd > reasonable? My current system has 2 g ram, 2 IDE 150 G drives, AMD > Athlon 64 3700+ CPU, onboard VIA sound and graphic MoBo is a Mach Speed > K8M8MS.Chipsets VIA K8M800 North Bridge / VIA VT8237 South Bridge. > > My income is limited as I am disabled. I solely depend on my disability > check and the occasional sale of my artwork. What's the bare minimum > that will give me something I can use? > > I hope this clears things a little. Sorry if I come off as some kind of > space head. As I mentioned it has been a number of years. Are you having any problems with your current system? XP support won't go away until April 2014. 2k support ends in July of this year. I would say, start a cookie jar and keep what you've got until you can spend about $600 to replace it, because then you will have some pretty decent options. For $300, I would look at OEM machines, maybe something with an AMD x2 240.
From: Jan Alter on 2 Apr 2010 09:02 "Brian K" <brian1951BLOG(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message news:W7idnfjqA-8FFCjWnZ2dnUVZ_tednZ2d(a)earthlink.com... > Brian K conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On 4/1/2010 2:16 > PM: >> I am a photographer/artist. My old PC won't run Windows 7. I am using >> Win XP SP3 and plan to stay with it as long as I can. Eventually, I need >> to build a new one.(System that is) So I'd like some ideas to consider. >> I have two internal IDE drives I plan port over. I intend to use it >> mostly for home office stuff, surfing the net, and editing/processing my >> photos / videos. >> > Sorry if this wasn't quite clear. As I understand it the zero hour when > Microsoft will no longer support XP is approaching...sometime in April or > May. After that there won't be anymore security updates for XP. I'm not > crazy about Win 7, and I have been using the Windows Platform for quite > some time. All of my apps are Windows based. Switching to Mac at this > point doesn't seem practical. I am on a limited budget. Since it's been > over 4 years since I last built a system, I really don't know what > anything costs. I don't even know what's available or where to get it. > > I'm looking for suggestions as to the kind of system that will do what I > want to do (see above quote) but not break the bank. Is $300.00 usd > reasonable? My current system has 2 g ram, 2 IDE 150 G drives, AMD > Athlon 64 3700+ CPU, onboard VIA sound and graphic MoBo is a Mach Speed > K8M8MS.Chipsets VIA K8M800 North Bridge / VIA VT8237 South Bridge. > > My income is limited as I am disabled. I solely depend on my disability > check and the occasional sale of my artwork. What's the bare minimum that > will give me something I can use? > > I hope this clears things a little. Sorry if I come off as some kind of > space head. As I mentioned it has been a number of years. > Glad that you clarified your concerns. I also don't think security updates for XP are a concern for several years down the road as several other folks have mentioned. If you are still satisfied with your computer, its speed, etc then I would hold off on building something for another year at least until you have a little more money for a better modest system. $300 is still a little low for building something that would probably keep you satisfied for three or more years into the future. As long as you are backing up your data in some fashion on a regular basis, either to an external disk or to other reliable media then you should be able to move to that system when ready. If you aren't backing up and need suggestions lots of folks here can make recommendations. -- Jan Alter bearpuf(a)verizon.net
From: Mark Lloyd on 5 Apr 2010 11:42 On Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:06:57 -0400, Brian K <brian1951BLOG(a)earthlink.net> wrote: [snip] >Sorry if this wasn't quite clear. As I understand it the zero hour when >Microsoft will no longer support XP is approaching...sometime in April >or May. That is not correct. Windows 2000 support ends this summer, although for XP it's only SP2 support that ends. XP is currently at SP3 and support for that is NOT ending yet. [snip] -- Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.us "God has no place within these walls (school), just like facts have no place in organized religion!" -- Superintendent Chalmers
From: Brian K on 10 Apr 2010 23:31
Paul conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On 4/2/2010 4:20 AM: > Brian K wrote: >> Brian K conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On 4/1/2010 >> 2:16 PM: >>> I am a photographer/artist. My old PC won't run Windows 7. I am >>> using Win XP SP3 and plan to stay with it as long as I can. >>> Eventually, I need to build a new one.(System that is) So I'd like >>> some ideas to consider. I have two internal IDE drives I plan port >>> over. I intend to use it mostly for home office stuff, surfing the >>> net, and editing/processing my photos / videos. >>> >> Sorry if this wasn't quite clear. As I understand it the zero hour >> when Microsoft will no longer support XP is approaching...sometime in >> April or May. After that there won't be anymore security updates for >> XP. I'm not crazy about Win 7, and I have been using the Windows >> Platform for quite some time. All of my apps are Windows based. >> Switching to Mac at this point doesn't seem practical. I am on a >> limited budget. Since it's been over 4 years since I last built a >> system, I really don't know what anything costs. I don't even know >> what's available or where to get it. >> >> I'm looking for suggestions as to the kind of system that will do >> what I want to do (see above quote) but not break the bank. Is >> $300.00 usd reasonable? My current system has 2 g ram, 2 IDE 150 G >> drives, AMD Athlon 64 3700+ CPU, onboard VIA sound and graphic MoBo >> is a Mach Speed K8M8MS.Chipsets VIA K8M800 North Bridge / VIA VT8237 >> South Bridge. >> >> My income is limited as I am disabled. I solely depend on my >> disability check and the occasional sale of my artwork. What's the >> bare minimum that will give me something I can use? >> >> I hope this clears things a little. Sorry if I come off as some kind >> of space head. As I mentioned it has been a number of years. >> > > http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-gb&C2=1173 > > Windows XP Professional Extended Support Retired 08/04/2014 > > And this page, seems to suggest security updates and KB pages, > will be available until 2014. > > http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy > > I'm using WinXP right now, and hadn't even considered changing. > > ******* > > How did you conclude that Win7 would not install on that computer ? > Did you use a compatibility tool of some sort ? Bingo. I wouldn't say there are compatibility issues without running compatibility checks first. Uh, remember what it was like trying to run Windows 98 SE on a Windows 3.5 machine? From what I've read even if Win 7 didn't have issues with my scanner, on board graphics (we're talking a LOL blistering 8X AGP here). > > http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor > > http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/system-requirements > > "If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes: > > * 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor > * 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit) > * 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit) > * DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver" > > Maybe you'd need a graphics card ? I don't know if the > VIA integrated graphics would satisfy the last requirement or not. > Perhaps the "upgrade-advisor" knows. Video cards can be pretty > cheap, if you have a look around. I suspect some of these > cards, are a clearing out of spares stock at the factory. > I got a nice 4 year old BFG card for $65 about a month ago. > This is even cheaper. This has the bare minimum of RAM for > compositing or Aero effects. So this is pretty close to the > bottom of the supported list at Nvidia. (I picked an AGP card, > as I suspect you have an AGP slot there.) > > BFG Tech BFGR6600GTOC GeForce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X $30 > Card comes with DVI to VGA adapter plugs, for VGA monitors. > > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143027 > > http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_x86_181.71_beta.html > > # Installs WDDM v1.1 for GeForce 8, 9, and 200-series DirectX 10 GPUs. > # Installs WDDM v1.0 for GeForce 6 and 7-series DirectX 9 GPUs. <--- > > Products supported: GTX295... Geforce 6600GT... 6100/6150 > integrated etc. > > So try the "upgrade-advisor" web page first, and see what it reports. > It should be able to scan for hardware and software that will cause > problems. I expect the upgrade tool might need .NET 2 or so installed > as well. If you haven't been keeping up to date on cruft like that, > there may be a need for an additional download. > > HTH, > Paul -- ________ To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address. Brian M. Kochera "The poor dog is the firmest of friends, the first to welcome the foremost to defend" - Lord Byron View My Web Pages: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951 My Shutterfly Page http://photosbybrianmk.shutterfly.com/ |