Upgrading to Windows 7

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Watch out when talking about processor performance.  It is often an enigma inside a mystery surrounded by a lot of myths.

The only measure of computer speed is throughput.  The whole system has to be taken together and the applications for which it is intended run with a good sample of the data.  This is called a benchmark. 

There are several canned benchmarks out there, each of which will tell you something specific about the performance of a machine in a given environment, which you must understand completely in order to understand the results.

So let's construct a benchmark for your new machine.

1. What mix of things do you want to run?
2. How quickly must the machine respond to each one?  (Right away is not a good answer.)

So, suppose you were running a general backup of all your file system to, say, another external hard drive.  How long can you afford to be down while this happens, or must it happen while you work?

What uptime is required of the machine?  Are there real-time non=stop processes like running the lights in your house or being your telephone automated attendant?  If so, you had better have two machines and a power backup system.  You would have to run the pair of machines in shadow mode so that if one failed, the other could take over and raise an alarm.

Do you want really fast graphics?  This often depends on the GPU and not the main processor speed.  How many Frames Per Second (FPS) is acceptable?  Hoped for?  Do you have a test for this?

Do you do a lot of floating-point calculations?  Running a graphics construction program like the BAT (gmax) does this.  Are you planning to run the BAT?  If so, you might want to test the processors with respect to the number of Floating Point Operations per Second (FLOPS) it can do.  SC4 probably does a lot of this too, and it will affect the frame rate when you are running if the floating unit can't keep up.  The result is lag.

So, you see, it is not how fast the CPU goes, it is how fast the whole box runs.  Using CPU speed as a measure of performance is only the tip of the iceberg.  A slower CPU in a good combination of other components may turn out to provide the best throughput.  So watch out!

Be careful of claims by vendors.  Check the review sites, and make sure of their credentials.

By the way, this old hog of mine does everything I need to do in a timely manner.  I most certainly don't want to go to the expense of a new box now.  Sure it would be nice to have a new, shiny box, but this old slug continues to justify its existence.

[joshriddle 29]

How powerful is that box of yours? What are the specs on it? My machine has rather low specs all over and it works fine. I run the BAT on it, which I am starting to get into again. I never use the actual gmax though.

Mine can't do multi-tasking, but it is good for running one program at a time on. I can run Sim City for an hour though however unfortunately it really bogs down the machine and it is super slow after exiting the game. It takes a few minutes to pick back up though.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

OK, you asked for it:

id:	john-lynx-lts
description:	Desktop Computer
product:	DF247A-ABA 725N
vendor:	HP Pavilion 06
version:	05/1211RE101EXPLO
serial:	MX31413024 NA100
width:	32 bits
capabilities:	smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3
configuration:	boot = normal chassis = desktop uuid = 80C85C84-CF64-D711-BA5D-AEB3EBF27308

id:	core
description:	Motherboard
product:	A7N8X-LA
vendor:	ASUSTeK Computer INC.
physical id:	0
version:	1.xx
serial:	X312345678

id:	firmware
description:	BIOS
vendor:	American Megatrends Inc.
physical id:	0
version:	3.21 (08/31/2004)
size:	64KiB
capacity:	448KiB
capabilities:	isa pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb agp ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification netboot

id:	cpu
description:	CPU
product:	AMD Athlon XP 2400+
vendor:	Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id:	4
bus info:	cpu@0
version:	6.8.1
slot:	Socket A
size:	1995MHz
capacity:	2333MHz
width:	32 bits
clock:	133MHz
capabilities:	fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow up cpufreq

id:	cache:0
description:	L1 cache
physical id:	5
slot:	L1-Cache
size:	128KiB
capabilities:	pipeline-burst internal varies data

id:	cache:1
description:	L2 cache
physical id:	6
slot:	L2-Cache
size:	256KiB
capacity:	256KiB
capabilities:	pipeline-burst internal varies unified

id:	memory
description:	System Memory
physical id:	27
slot:	System board or motherboard
size:	1GiB
capacity:	1536MiB

id:	bank:0
description:	DIMM 100 MHz (10.0 ns)
product:	PartNum0
vendor:	Manufacturer0
physical id:	0
serial:	SerNum0
slot:	DIMM0
size:	512MiB
width:	128 bits
clock:	100MHz (10.0ns)

id:	bank:1
description:	DIMM 100 MHz (10.0 ns)
product:	PartNum1
vendor:	Manufacturer1
physical id:	1
serial:	SerNum1
slot:	DIMM1
size:	512MiB
width:	128 bits
clock:	100MHz (10.0ns)

id:	pci
description:	Host bridge
product:	nForce2 IGP2
vendor:	nVidia Corporation
physical id:	100
bus info:	pci@0000:00:00.0
version:	a2
width:	32 bits
clock:	66MHz
configuration:	driver = agpgart-nvidia
resources:	irq : 0 memory : f4000000-f7ffffff(prefetchable)

id:	memory:0
description:	RAM memory
product:	nForce2 Memory Controller 1
vendor:	nVidia Corporation
physical id:	0.1
bus info:	pci@0000:00:00.1
version:	a2
width:	32 bits
clock:	66MHz (15.2ns)
configuration:	latency = 0

id:	memory:1
description:	RAM memory
product:	nForce2 Memory Controller 4
vendor:	nVidia Corporation
physical id:	0.2
bus info:	pci@0000:00:00.2
version:	a2
width:	32 bits
clock:	66MHz (15.2ns)
configuration:	latency = 0

id:	memory:2
description:	RAM memory
product:	nForce2 Memory Controller 3
vendor:	nVidia Corporation
physical id:	0.3
bus info:	pci@0000:00:00.3
version:	a2
width:	32 bits
clock:	66MHz (15.2ns)
configuration:	latency = 0

id:	memory:3
description:	RAM memory
product:	nForce2 Memory Controller 2
vendor:	nVidia Corporation
physical id:	0.4
bus info:	pci@0000:00:00.4
version:	a2
width:	32 bits
clock:	66MHz (15.2ns)
configuration:	latency = 0

id:	memory:4
description:	RAM memory
product:	nForce2 Memory Controller 5
vendor:	nVidia Corporation
physical id:	0.5
bus info:	pci@0000:00:00.5
version:	a2
width:	32 bits
clock:	66MHz (15.2ns)
configuration:	latency = 0

id:	isa
description:	ISA bridge
product:	nForce2 ISA Bridge
vendor:	nVidia Corporation
physical id:	1
bus info:	pci@0000:00:01.0
version:	a4
width:	32 bits
clock:	66MHz
capabilities:	isa ht bus_master cap_list
configuration:	latency = 0

id:	serial
description:	SMBus
product:	nForce2 SMBus (MCP)
vendor:	nVidia Corporation
physical id:	1.1
bus info:	pci@0000:00:01.1
version:	a2
width:	32 bits
clock:	66MHz
capabilities:	pm cap_list
configuration:	driver = nForce2_smbus

[joshriddle 29]

 If I knew all that stuff... anyway, here is mine, very basic:

Liscensed to: Josh

Id- Josh-Administrator

Association: SimCity (little thing I came up with)

Description: None

Vendor: Compaq

Series: Presario

O/S: Windows XP

Type: Service Pack 3

Version: Professional

Vendor: Microsoft Corporation

Hard Drive: 320GB

Free Space: 290GB

RPM: 7200

Brand: Western Digital

Vendor: Hewlett-Packard Company

Other hard drive:

Storage: 40GB

Free Space: 26GB

RPM: Unknown

Brand: Samsung

Vender: Samsung

Hardware:

Printer: HP Deskjet F2400 Series

Speakers: Rosewill- unknown

Mouse: Logitech

Keyboard: Logitech

Wireless Network Adaptor: 2Wire

Monitor:

Plug and play monitor Acer, 1920x1080 res.

Graphics: GeForce 8400 GS

Vendor: Nvidia Corportation

Color Quality Setting: 32 Bit

Default Windows Graphics:

Default square monitor (which I got rid of when it broke) I think 1024x968 res.

Graphics: Pro Savage DDR Graphics

Video Memory: 32MB

Random Access (RAM), (Pagefile), whatever you wanna call it:

1.38 GB

Processor:

1 core

1665 Mhz Speed

1.65 Ghz Speed

Version: Athlon XP

Vendor: AMD

Motherboard: Unknown

PSU (power supply unit)

400 Watt

Vendor: Dynex

Like I said, very basic, I didn't go to in depth there.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The Linux hardware lister really does the job, eh?

When I originally put that in, I failed to include the style stuff, and so it went nuts.  Fixed now.

[joshriddle 29]

Did mine as well in an edit. The Windows thing isn't as good as Linux. However most of that I found out myself.

Btw, welcome to page 4. The third one started getting a bit buggy after you stated your machine's specs. Mine as well.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

So, will your new box be ready for back-to-school?  What grade will you be going into?

[joshriddle 29]

Probably not. I would have to wait for christmas money to be able to buy it. Besides, I won't be doing school book reports/essays on my computer. Have to do it by hand which is very.... ugh.. to me. Oh and 8th

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I guess that means you are only 14, so I do understand your frustration.  I haven't been that old for nearly 60 years.

[joshriddle 29]

I'm gonna get an AMD Phenom for sure. Just gotta find out which Phenom is best for me. My graphics card is going to be an ATI Radeon. Lot more powerful than this chipset (Nvidia GeForce 8400) I have right now. So that settles that. Next runner up will be something that is compatible with my processor (well doh! ) So we will take care of that later.

And at least this year I won't be having to do cursive writing.  I always hated curisive and I still do. I like to write in print.

These idiotic ads from Photobucket. I was gathering some direct links for my images to post them to my blog and this music started playing but no screen was showing up. Of course I was in another tab at the time but it scared me half to death. I was getting a lot of popup ads from that site recently. Also I was also seeing some more mature content, (not nude people but lot of stuff very unpleasant and unnecessary). Popup ads for this stupid movie and stuff all the time. The popup blocker is enabled but I still get 'em. I may set the security levels to high on that site and scan my machine for viruses. I have heard of that kind of stuff, you start hearing ads out of the middle of nowhere. Thing was even after out of panic when I close my browser out of panic and being scared half to death. I am going to scan my machine after that one, and then go to internet options and set the security levels to high on that site. I may just kill all the ads and annoying popups and just go to Imageshack. After a little while I found out that Photobucket is reliable but terrible in the way of ads.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you are using FF, aren't you also using Adblock +?  You can set it to kill ads from a site.

[joshriddle 29]

Went ahead and tried it out. I only added it for Photobucket for now. Better test it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

By the way, you said you were going to be stuck with your current box until around Christmas.  Do you have enough resources to run W7 at all?  I gather it is just as much of a hog as Vista.

[joshriddle 29]

I don't. If I did I would be running W7 fresh right now. I think my motherboard isn't capable of handling W7

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

So what are you running?  XP?

[Meastro444 1]

It isn''t actually a resource hog like Vista. I believe it uses less then Vista. Then again, W7 is a polished Vista so it should.

[joshriddle 29]

Yes, XP. My machine's components are so out-of-date that they can't even run Vista.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Your machine knows a good thing when it has it.  You have SP3, of course.

[joshriddle 29]

Yup. And I'd tell you. My machine is starting to bog down. Read the PM I  last sent you.

Anyway, got a later version of DirectX (9.0). Runs great.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The version of DirectX SC4 likes is 9.0©.

On Linux, DirectX calls get tranlated into OpenGL.  This is actually good for me because that's what my chip actually recognizes.

[joshriddle 29]

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

The version of DirectX SC4 likes is 9.0©.quote>

Good. That is the one I got. I mainly got it to run SC4 Terraformer properly. Now I can see why it needed a later version of DX

Anyway, I have decided that soon I am going to create a new account strictly for testing things. Such as things that I don't want on my admin account until I know they will run properly and won't screw it up.

So anyway, I have officially found the processor I want and need. Go to this link and look for the AMD Athlon X4 635. Big processor, and won't blow my budget away. I think with that decided it should be easy to figure out the rest.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Cheap price means it is not currently being marketed.  Can you source one?  I was looking at complete systems on eBay.  For what I want they come in around $400.

[joshriddle 29]

Yeah it is marketing.My dad found it on Newegg recently, more than likely around the same price as what was mentioned on those benchmarks.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you get one. make sure it is factory sealed in the original packaging.  With such a low price, something is amiss.

[joshriddle 29]

It might have been on sale, and yes it is new.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, good luck with it.  It doesn't seem to be a powerhouse, but I am sure it is much better than this old AMD XP 2400+.  However, it does what I want in a timely manner, and that's all that matters.

[joshriddle 29]

Ok then. Looks like ATI brought down their prices on their 5700 series on their graphics card. I might want to take advantage of that.

This AMD might be a powerhouse for the money. Also I might be able to overclock it a little. Depending on how much it heats up.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Before you start thinking about tweaking a machine and overclocking processors, I'd suggest you build a computer to specification without any changes.  When you get that running, then you might consider making a few twists, but get it running as specified first.

[joshriddle 29]

I am not going to throw it in there till everything else is ready. So overclocking it and tweaking it like that right now is out of the question. Anyway, I was looking at some cases. I am looking at a few with 3 fans, one with 4 fans, which I need, if I intend to overclock the processor. Thing is that processor has a cooling system built in to it. The case seemed to have an air intake in the front and side so cooling shouldn't be any trouble.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you have to glue a heat-sink onto the processor chip, find some way to practice first on a mock up.  You get exactly one chance to do this right, and if you miss, you can kiss that processor goodbye.

I see you have gotten an animation to work for your sig.  Copy cat.