It's Almost Time To Build A New Computer
-
I may have to do things incrementally, as I can afford them, but it's time. Thanks to previous guidance from CP members, I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series, and I'm looking at motherboards other than SuperMicro for the first time. The price tag on those has gotten so out of whack with the rest of the market, I'm not sure they really want to remain in business. Servers maybe, but they obviously have no interest in being competitive in the desktop market. GigaByte and Asus are now in the running, though I haven't made up my mind. A question that still remains is, if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, what software can I expect to stop working? All of it, some of it, or just Visual Studio? :)
Will Rogers never met me.
-
I may have to do things incrementally, as I can afford them, but it's time. Thanks to previous guidance from CP members, I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series, and I'm looking at motherboards other than SuperMicro for the first time. The price tag on those has gotten so out of whack with the rest of the market, I'm not sure they really want to remain in business. Servers maybe, but they obviously have no interest in being competitive in the desktop market. GigaByte and Asus are now in the running, though I haven't made up my mind. A question that still remains is, if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, what software can I expect to stop working? All of it, some of it, or just Visual Studio? :)
Will Rogers never met me.
-
I may have to do things incrementally, as I can afford them, but it's time. Thanks to previous guidance from CP members, I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series, and I'm looking at motherboards other than SuperMicro for the first time. The price tag on those has gotten so out of whack with the rest of the market, I'm not sure they really want to remain in business. Servers maybe, but they obviously have no interest in being competitive in the desktop market. GigaByte and Asus are now in the running, though I haven't made up my mind. A question that still remains is, if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, what software can I expect to stop working? All of it, some of it, or just Visual Studio? :)
Will Rogers never met me.
Roger Wright wrote:
if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, what software can I expect to stop working?
I wonder if Windows XP Mode is always 32-bit. Hmmm.
-
I may have to do things incrementally, as I can afford them, but it's time. Thanks to previous guidance from CP members, I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series, and I'm looking at motherboards other than SuperMicro for the first time. The price tag on those has gotten so out of whack with the rest of the market, I'm not sure they really want to remain in business. Servers maybe, but they obviously have no interest in being competitive in the desktop market. GigaByte and Asus are now in the running, though I haven't made up my mind. A question that still remains is, if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, what software can I expect to stop working? All of it, some of it, or just Visual Studio? :)
Will Rogers never met me.
I switched to 64Bit on my home machine and in general, never found any problems with software stopping working. The biggest problems is hardware, if you have old printers / scanners etc. then it is worth checking the manufacturer has drivers available for these. It is also worth running the latest version of Windows 7 upgrade advisor, it will give you a good indication of what issues may exist. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15[^] It terms of which motherboard to go for, it really makes sense to look at the various versions of the same motherboard from each of the manufacturers, look at exactly each one capabilities, i.e. how many usb ports, usb power boost, USB3, SATA6, max mem, rear connections, e.g. single / dual ethernet, hdmi, 5.1 sound, 7.1 sound, esata, number of usb ports and see exactly what you want.
Dave Find Me On: Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn My Latest Article: ESD System Communication Failure Fail Safe Software Implementation
-
I switched to 64Bit on my home machine and in general, never found any problems with software stopping working. The biggest problems is hardware, if you have old printers / scanners etc. then it is worth checking the manufacturer has drivers available for these. It is also worth running the latest version of Windows 7 upgrade advisor, it will give you a good indication of what issues may exist. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15[^] It terms of which motherboard to go for, it really makes sense to look at the various versions of the same motherboard from each of the manufacturers, look at exactly each one capabilities, i.e. how many usb ports, usb power boost, USB3, SATA6, max mem, rear connections, e.g. single / dual ethernet, hdmi, 5.1 sound, 7.1 sound, esata, number of usb ports and see exactly what you want.
Dave Find Me On: Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn My Latest Article: ESD System Communication Failure Fail Safe Software Implementation
Damn, Dave, the mix of options has changed so much since the last build, I hardly know what I want - or why I should want it. It's only been about 4 years, but everything's changed!
Will Rogers never met me.
-
Damn, Dave, the mix of options has changed so much since the last build, I hardly know what I want - or why I should want it. It's only been about 4 years, but everything's changed!
Will Rogers never met me.
Tell me about it, and it changes so damn quick as well. I was going to build a new i7 beast, but wanted to waited to the top end cpu's dropped a little, and opted just to drop in a dual core socket 775 motherboard as a stop gap. then once the old quad core procesors drop a bit, i'll swap to that, before plunging into the latest intel i processors. And to be honest, the machine i have is pretty damn quick for my needs, and the 8GB ram probably helps. I ended up buying this one http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3329#ov[^]
Dave Find Me On: Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn My Latest Article: ESD System Communication Failure Fail Safe Software Implementation
-
Tell me about it, and it changes so damn quick as well. I was going to build a new i7 beast, but wanted to waited to the top end cpu's dropped a little, and opted just to drop in a dual core socket 775 motherboard as a stop gap. then once the old quad core procesors drop a bit, i'll swap to that, before plunging into the latest intel i processors. And to be honest, the machine i have is pretty damn quick for my needs, and the 8GB ram probably helps. I ended up buying this one http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3329#ov[^]
Dave Find Me On: Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn My Latest Article: ESD System Communication Failure Fail Safe Software Implementation
Sweet! I'm looking at this[^] for the heart of my new machine, with an i5 CPU as the brains. The i7 types are still too pricey for my wallet, and I don't see any obvious advantage to upgrading. I'm considering 12 GB RAM, which is why a 64bit OS comes into question. The internal hardware will all change, excepting one PATA drive to recover the data on it, so that's not an issue. Some external pieces will remain, but they're all USB devices and shouldn't be affected much. The MB, OS, RAM, and case I can afford, but all the other stuff inside will have to wait a bit.
Will Rogers never met me.
-
Sweet! I'm looking at this[^] for the heart of my new machine, with an i5 CPU as the brains. The i7 types are still too pricey for my wallet, and I don't see any obvious advantage to upgrading. I'm considering 12 GB RAM, which is why a 64bit OS comes into question. The internal hardware will all change, excepting one PATA drive to recover the data on it, so that's not an issue. Some external pieces will remain, but they're all USB devices and shouldn't be affected much. The MB, OS, RAM, and case I can afford, but all the other stuff inside will have to wait a bit.
Will Rogers never met me.
Roger Wright wrote:
but they're all USB devices and shouldn't be affected much
It was a USB webcam and USB scanner that would work under win7 for me.
Dave Find Me On: Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn My Latest Article: ESD System Communication Failure Fail Safe Software Implementation
-
I may have to do things incrementally, as I can afford them, but it's time. Thanks to previous guidance from CP members, I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series, and I'm looking at motherboards other than SuperMicro for the first time. The price tag on those has gotten so out of whack with the rest of the market, I'm not sure they really want to remain in business. Servers maybe, but they obviously have no interest in being competitive in the desktop market. GigaByte and Asus are now in the running, though I haven't made up my mind. A question that still remains is, if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, what software can I expect to stop working? All of it, some of it, or just Visual Studio? :)
Will Rogers never met me.
Roger Wright wrote:
if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS
I have had no problems with the 64bit version, I don't have any old peripherals so there were no driver incompatibilities to worry about. Mind you I bought a reasonable HP desktop as my machine of choice, I really don't get a buzz out of building the dammed things so I go for a named brand and get the beastiest machine I feel comfortable paying for. It's quiet, has HDMI so I can use 2 monitors out of the box and is dramatically faster than the office machine.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
-
I may have to do things incrementally, as I can afford them, but it's time. Thanks to previous guidance from CP members, I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series, and I'm looking at motherboards other than SuperMicro for the first time. The price tag on those has gotten so out of whack with the rest of the market, I'm not sure they really want to remain in business. Servers maybe, but they obviously have no interest in being competitive in the desktop market. GigaByte and Asus are now in the running, though I haven't made up my mind. A question that still remains is, if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, what software can I expect to stop working? All of it, some of it, or just Visual Studio? :)
Will Rogers never met me.
I've been running Weven 64 bit from the beginning and I've not found much that I can't run. I've had VS205, VS2008 and now VS2010 running with no problems, other than the normal crazy s&*t. I'd say go for it, it's definitely worth it. My 2 sense...
Fishmore & Dolittle - Retirement Planning & Consultants http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site
-
Sweet! I'm looking at this[^] for the heart of my new machine, with an i5 CPU as the brains. The i7 types are still too pricey for my wallet, and I don't see any obvious advantage to upgrading. I'm considering 12 GB RAM, which is why a 64bit OS comes into question. The internal hardware will all change, excepting one PATA drive to recover the data on it, so that's not an issue. Some external pieces will remain, but they're all USB devices and shouldn't be affected much. The MB, OS, RAM, and case I can afford, but all the other stuff inside will have to wait a bit.
Will Rogers never met me.
When I built the machine I have now I originally ordered a GigaByte Mobo and 8GB of memory. Turned out had a bad Mobo and a bad stick of memory. Talk about a beyatch! I ended up with a Biostar and really like it. The only thing I did like about the GigaByte was it had an overclock wizard which if I remember correctly had 3 levels that you could set it at as well as doing the manual overclocking.
Fishmore & Dolittle - Retirement Planning & Consultants http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site
-
I may have to do things incrementally, as I can afford them, but it's time. Thanks to previous guidance from CP members, I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series, and I'm looking at motherboards other than SuperMicro for the first time. The price tag on those has gotten so out of whack with the rest of the market, I'm not sure they really want to remain in business. Servers maybe, but they obviously have no interest in being competitive in the desktop market. GigaByte and Asus are now in the running, though I haven't made up my mind. A question that still remains is, if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, what software can I expect to stop working? All of it, some of it, or just Visual Studio? :)
Will Rogers never met me.
Roger Wright wrote:
I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series
I am just curious why people don't go for AMD processors. I have checked the CPU benchmarks and AMD processors take most of the top positions in 'Best Value' (price-performance) CPU's. I bought an AMD-ASUS combo 5 years back and have no problems with it till date (I have heard a lot about CPU getting heated up very quickly). Just bought another AMD processor a week back. The installation stuff is still remaining. Will complete it today or tomorrow. And I am quite hopeful about the performance.
..Go Green..
-
Roger Wright wrote:
if I select Windows 7 64-bit for the OS
I have had no problems with the 64bit version, I don't have any old peripherals so there were no driver incompatibilities to worry about. Mind you I bought a reasonable HP desktop as my machine of choice, I really don't get a buzz out of building the dammed things so I go for a named brand and get the beastiest machine I feel comfortable paying for. It's quiet, has HDMI so I can use 2 monitors out of the box and is dramatically faster than the office machine.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
There are a lot of advantages to buying an off-the-shelf machine, foremost being the ability to make one phone call for warranty service. But I like building things, so I continue out of long habit. I have to admit that I have a long-standing bias against HP, though. I used to work in a military environment, which required absolute configuration control. When the HP suits arrived - they all wore the exact same blue suits then - to service a machine, we had to de-commision it and recertify it, because they would automatically upgrade it to the newest configuration without any documentation of the changes made. Their helpful "service calls" cost the American taxpayers many millions of dollars...
Will Rogers never met me.
-
Roger Wright wrote:
I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series
I am just curious why people don't go for AMD processors. I have checked the CPU benchmarks and AMD processors take most of the top positions in 'Best Value' (price-performance) CPU's. I bought an AMD-ASUS combo 5 years back and have no problems with it till date (I have heard a lot about CPU getting heated up very quickly). Just bought another AMD processor a week back. The installation stuff is still remaining. Will complete it today or tomorrow. And I am quite hopeful about the performance.
..Go Green..
I really don't know why, but I feel very uncomfortable with trying an AMD CPU; it would be like switching to Linux for me. I know they make good processors, and lots of people love them, but I just can't make the switch. Many years ago, possibly before you were active in the industry, AMD created a bastard that was full of errors - the K5 series, IIRC - and I've never been able to shake that memory.
Will Rogers never met me.
-
There are a lot of advantages to buying an off-the-shelf machine, foremost being the ability to make one phone call for warranty service. But I like building things, so I continue out of long habit. I have to admit that I have a long-standing bias against HP, though. I used to work in a military environment, which required absolute configuration control. When the HP suits arrived - they all wore the exact same blue suits then - to service a machine, we had to de-commision it and recertify it, because they would automatically upgrade it to the newest configuration without any documentation of the changes made. Their helpful "service calls" cost the American taxpayers many millions of dollars...
Will Rogers never met me.
Be thankful you weren't using Dell, they don't guarantee the configuration of any of their servers will be the same, even in the same batch/order. They just use the most convenient part! I haven't built a machine since the early 90s, I don't even know what inside them these days. I won't even go for a white box after the last one sounded like a landing zone.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
-
Roger Wright wrote:
I've decided on a i5 CPU, rather than wasting cash on the i7 series
I am just curious why people don't go for AMD processors. I have checked the CPU benchmarks and AMD processors take most of the top positions in 'Best Value' (price-performance) CPU's. I bought an AMD-ASUS combo 5 years back and have no problems with it till date (I have heard a lot about CPU getting heated up very quickly). Just bought another AMD processor a week back. The installation stuff is still remaining. Will complete it today or tomorrow. And I am quite hopeful about the performance.
..Go Green..
Ankurm/ wrote:
I am just curious why people don't go for AMD processors.
Perhaps it's because they don't take most of the top positions in 'Best Performance' category?
-
Ankurm/ wrote:
I am just curious why people don't go for AMD processors.
Perhaps it's because they don't take most of the top positions in 'Best Performance' category?
-
I really don't know why, but I feel very uncomfortable with trying an AMD CPU; it would be like switching to Linux for me. I know they make good processors, and lots of people love them, but I just can't make the switch. Many years ago, possibly before you were active in the industry, AMD created a bastard that was full of errors - the K5 series, IIRC - and I've never been able to shake that memory.
Will Rogers never met me.
Roger Wright wrote:
Many years ago, possibly before you were active in the industry, AMD created a bastard that was full of errors - the K5 series, IIRC - and I've never been able to shake that memory.
I have no idea about this. But believe me, I never had issues with AMD processors. I always prefer them because it gives me the performance I want at a much better price than other(s). I am not a gaming freak so I always find AMD as a better option. I always wonder why people prefer Intel over AMD even if they don't need the "best" performance.
..Go Green..
-
But then you should probably go for i7 in the first place, if "top performance" is your top priority (-. When talking about the best bang for your buck, AMD is the way to go.
Trust is a weakness.
-
Damn, Dave, the mix of options has changed so much since the last build, I hardly know what I want - or why I should want it. It's only been about 4 years, but everything's changed!
Will Rogers never met me.
