Switch to Windows 7?

J

jborchel

Member
I'm on the 64bit version on Vista Home Premium and while I have no operating problems I'm wondering if switching to Windows 7 will improve my system performance. I have a Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 2.0 Ghz processor with 4 MB of main memory. I frequently get a warning that my processor is running at max when I am running Firefox, Quicken, and Word or Excel at the same time. When I go to the control panel I see that my cpu usage is around 77% with 73 processes running. That's what it is now and I have Firefox, Word, and Quicken up now. I rarely run more than one thing at a time. These are mostly resident apps but only one is excecuting when I am running it.

I'm wondering if 7 does a better job of managing the processes and therefore then giving me better performance.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 

My Computer

System One

Welcome
I was going to say yes, based upon my experience, but then I thought that might not be enough. Here is a comparison, be sure to go to page 2 etc to see the results.
Windows 7 vs Vista Performance Comparison
My experience and those shown in the above article, are sure to vary by user.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Do you have SP1? I had 32 bit Vista pre SP and I found it ran my HD on for no reason. It had all kinds of things that wanted to index everything. WMP, Search, and all kinds of other stuff was doing so much indexing it didn't let me use my own drive. After tuning the system and services I got it to usable. Comparing service settings to another machine I got with Vista SP1 I saw that they adopted most of my settings.

But Windows Seven is tuned much better.

Also it doesn't hurt to do some malware scans. See if something is running up the CPU when a particular program starts. Maybe making the competition look bad. ;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G
    2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
MilesAhead said:
Do you have SP1? I had 32 bit Vista pre SP and I found it ran my HD on for no reason. It had all kinds of things that wanted to index everything. WMP, Search, and all kinds of other stuff was doing so much indexing it didn't let me use my own drive. After tuning the system and services I got it to usable. Comparing service settings to another machine I got with Vista SP1 I saw that they adopted most of my settings.

But Windows Seven is tuned much better.

Also it doesn't hurt to do some malware scans. See if something is running up the CPU when a particular program starts. Maybe making the competition look bad. ;)
Click to expand...

Where do I find if I have SP1? Isn't there an SP2? Or was that on XP?
 

My Computer

System One

Go to search, by the start button
Type system information
XP has a SP3
Vista has SP2
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
The best method is to buy the upgrade version, which we can show you how to install just like the more expensive retail version.
If you plan to build computers and then resell them, the OEM edition is the most reasonable way to buy Vista, but I doubt if you qualify for that.
The cost is about $125.00 in the USA.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
If you have an external drive you can back up your current system to an image file. Then install Windows Seven to try it. If it doesn't work, put Vista back on from the image. If it does work, then you can decide which version to buy.

You might ask on Windows Seven Forums. They may have links. I'm not sure.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G
    2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top