Downgrading Vista to XP

[dood gone krazee]

I just got a new laptop for Christmas. Really nice keyboard awesome RAM, but ohey look it's Vista.

I have the XP installation disks and want to downgrade my laptop to XP. Anyone have tips/advice/how to/don'ts?

[EnR]

I don't have any tips but it should be called "upgrading" instead of downgrading. Hehe.

[dood gone krazee]

Originally Posted by EnR

I don't have any tips but it should be called "upgrading" instead of downgrading. Hehe.

Yeah haha. Well it has 1Gb of RAM and I still have yet to test it on FFR since for some reason it won't connect to the WiFi at my house, but since most people with Vista have problems unless they have like 2Gb of RAM, I'm assuming I need to go to XP.

[OrganisM]

Your assumption is incorrect. Take it from a hardware pro.

Also, this. Unless you really need another tirade. Unlike most who dislike Vista, I actually have a clue what I'm talking about.

[ninjaKIWI]

I suggest you don't, a lot of the newer laptops don't support drivers for XP.
And organism's post.

[MalDON]

Don't upgrade. All the hate towards vista comes right from the Apple marketing department. They put out tons of "reports" of bad driver support so they could then make tv ads referencing these claims.

Vista is loads more stable than XP even when running 1gb of ram. Fact is, you want more than 1gb of ram no matter what OS you have.

Biggest suggest would be to stick with vista and NOT upgrade to flash 10. Flash 10 causes FFR to lag on my desktop. My desktop doesn't lag with anything. Adobe just has some really bad code writers.

[OrganisM]

Originally Posted by MalDON

Adobe just has some really bad code writers.

Ain't that the truth? 4srs, Adobe Bridge makes a friend's Q9450-based desktop crash. Nothing else really does, just browsing with that turd.

[dood gone krazee]

Alright I'll stick with Vista.

Now if I could only figure out how to make it connect to my WiFi.

[OrganisM]

As for your RAM, it's often times very easy to just unscrew a back panel and slap an extra stick of RAM in.

Now in terms of your wireless configuration, that could take more than a few questions to figure out.

[MalDON]

Make sure your wifi is turned on. A lot of laptops have a switch or button to disable it quickly to save battery life.

[fido123]

I ****ing love you Organism. And I think I mention this in almost every computer thread, but more RAM does not always mean faster speeds. If you're running an IM service and lets say COD5, you're probably using ~1.7G of RAM. Now if you have 8G of RAM, you're still only using 1.7G. If you have 1G and you need to run the 1.7G, you're computer is going to start using your hardrive like RAM...which is slow like hell because it has to do a lot of physical moving, and sort though a lot of data. So when saying "My computer is gud", please also tell us the parts of the computer that actually make it go fast:

- CPU, include how many cores, cache, and clock speed (GHz)

- GPU [Video Card], Model, Brand (ATI or NVIDEA most likely), Cache, Cache Speed (DDR1,2,3)

- RAM, Model (DDR1,DDR2,DDR3), Speed (MHz)


Just please keep those basic things in mind, if we see you have a lot of RAM...it just tells us you have no shortage of it therefore you're computer isn't going to work like a terrible piece of crap. CPU, and GPU are more important. (GPU for games more-so)

[MalDON]

Originally Posted by fido123

I ****ing love you Organism. And I think I mention this in almost every computer thread, but more RAM does not always mean faster speeds. If you're running an IM service and lets say COD5, you're probably using ~1.7G of RAM. Now if you have 8G of RAM, you're still only using 1.7G. If you have 1G and you need to run the 1.7G, you're computer is going to start using your hardrive like RAM...which is slow like hell because it has to do a lot of physical moving, and sort though a lot of data. So when saying "My computer is gud", please also tell us the parts of the computer that actually make it go fast:

- CPU, include how many cores, cache, and clock speed (GHz)

- GPU [Video Card], Model, Brand (ATI or NVIDEA most likely), Cache, Cache Speed (DDR1,2,3)

- RAM, Model (DDR1,DDR2,DDR3), Speed (MHz)


Just please keep those basic things in mind, if we see you have a lot of RAM...it just tells us you have no shortage of it therefore you're computer isn't going to work like a terrible piece of crap. CPU, and GPU are more important. (GPU for games more-so)

Actually your computer will still use your HDD no matter how much ram you have. It all depends on necessity of the memory. If the OS decides that a block of ram hasn't been used in so long, it will move it to the HDD.

Things to keep in mind:
1. Clock timings on ram: They make marginal differences and are not worth the extra money.
2. Overclocking: Don't do it. It's not worth the increase of a few hundred MHz.
3. More ram is better. Sure you might only use up to 2 gigs, BUT, there's also shared video ram which isn't always correctly computed in Windows. The task manager may show 1.7 gigs of the ram being used, but 1 gig of that might be dedicated for video. The rest of the ram could quite possibly be cached on teh HDD. This is especially important on laptops. My computer has 1.5 gigs of shared video memory. Windows shows I am using 1.18 gigs of physical memory. My computer has 3 gigs of ram. However, because of my shared video ram and other windows components NOT computed in the memory bar, I only have 23 megs of ram free. So yes, having as much ram as you can is best. PS. 32bit OS's can go up to a max of 4 gigs well, 3.75ish).

CPU isn't always everything either, but it helps. Anything over 2.5GHz dual core should be fine.

Now, in terms of FFR. Flash has hardware support now which means you want to invest in a nice video card. Nothing fancy, just something better than the build on video. You can pick up a nice card for under 100 bucks from various online retailers. But make sure you do your homework, some online stores like to sell the lower end version of the card as if it was the higher end one. For example, you can get an 8800GTS for 89 bucks, BUT it only has 320 megs of ram. That kinda ruins the point of an 8800.

If you need help picking out parts or whatnot, feel free to ask me. I've built every computer in my house, so it's not like I'm a noob at this

[Adamaja456]

since there are a few references to RAM here, id like to throw our a question. my macbook has 1GB of ram. the only games i play are ffr and sm so would it be beneficial to buy another GB or two of RAM or just stick with the 1GB that came with the laptop?

[EnR]

Adam: Misewell get another 1 gig stick, just for the hell of it, it's not like it's gonna make your comp worse.

[Tr44nc33]

Stay with the 1GB RAM

[MalDON]

Originally Posted by Adamaja456

since there are a few references to RAM here, id like to throw our a question. my macbook has 1GB of ram. the only games i play are ffr and sm so would it be beneficial to buy another GB or two of RAM or just stick with the 1GB that came with the laptop?

Yes, but don't but apple ram. Why? Apple ram is the same kind normal laptops have, only they charge you a ton.

A gig of ram on Mac is like using vista on a gig of ram. OSx uses a lot more ram than most people think. In fact, it's pretty heavy on the ram. You would be doing yourself a disservice if you stayed with a gig.

[OrganisM]

Originally Posted by MalDON

2. Overclocking: Don't do it. It's not worth the increase of a few hundred MHz.

I beg to differ. The entire Core 2 line is highly overclockable, and it's very easy to achieve a stable overclock. Tom's Hardware was able to overclock a $120 dual core running stable at 4GHz. Heat management is relatively simple and can be taken care of with a good HSF which can also be very cheap nowadays. Overclocking should not be synonymous with damage and instability. It's just running a part at a higher frequency than the manufacturer decided to rate it for, not beyond its capabilities. Aside from that, if you're worried about the life expectancy of your part, to give you a good idea, the average life expectancy of a part is supposed to be about a decade. Overclocking it might bring it down a year or two. But most of your overclocking will be done with relatively mainstream parts. Tell me, what do you use your 1998 computer for nowadays? You might have replaced it in 2002. And didn't get that free performance boost.

Now, in terms of FFR. Flash has hardware support now which means you want to invest in a nice video card. Nothing fancy, just something better than the build on video. You can pick up a nice card for under 100 bucks from various online retailers.

Unless FFR was recoded with GPU acceleration in mind, there will be no effect. Aside from that, any DX9 card will work, so chances are anybody who plays games here already has what they need. As for vs. ingegrated, manufacturers love to save up money with built-in chipsets, and my god is it a crime. A discreet video card is now practically essential for any computer over $300. However, there are cheaper solutions. For something like this GPU acceleration, this card would even work. For $20 more, you'd have GDDR3 memory, which runs faster, and surprisingly be able to play quite a few games with it.

But make sure you do your homework, some online stores like to sell the lower end version of the card as if it was the higher end one. For example, you can get an 8800GTS for 89 bucks, BUT it only has 320 megs of ram. That kinda ruins the point of an 8800.

Actually, that's not a dupe. The 8800GTS you're thinking of is based on the G80 stepping, which Nvidia modified to make the G92 stepping, the technology on which the entire 8000-series you know is based on. The first 8800GTS came out in 640mb and 320mb, but isn't nearly as powerful as the 8800GT or the new version of the 8800GTS that came out after the 8800GTX was pretty much done for.

So, the version of the 8800GTS you'd be looking for is the 512mb version which is the G92 stepping, as opposed to the G80 stepping 320mb or 640mb version. But I wouldn't call that false advertising. They're clearing out stock and it's up to those who purchase to know about the varying architecture, since such information is freely available on hardware websites.

Check this out. I hate to keep referring back to TH, because it's really not the only hardware site out there, but it's a good one. That gives you, month by month, on average, the best gaming video cards you can get for the money. At the end, there's even a hierarchy chart showing you how powerful one model is against another. Notice the qualifier though: GAMING cards. Unless you're going to be doing 3D gaming and a lot of it, don't bother. You do not need an 8800GT or even a 9600GSO if you're playing FFR, browsing the internet, and once in a while playing DOOM 2.

Originally Posted by Adamaja456

since there are a few references to RAM here, id like to throw our a question. my macbook has 1GB of ram. the only games i play are ffr and sm so would it be beneficial to buy another GB or two of RAM or just stick with the 1GB that came with the laptop?

Make sure you check your system specs and know what you have, because not all laptop memory is the same (number of pins, operating frequency). However, it doesn't matter what brand you buy (not really). Apple just buys up third party RAM and rebrands it as their own and sells it to you for ubercash (owait, just like other companies do). Cut out the middle man.

[dood gone krazee]

Alright, so I want at least another 1Gb of RAM, I need a new router (I figured that out, my router is a dinosaur and not Vista compatible) and I shouldn't bother with a new video card because I won't be gaming like THAT on a laptop. I also shouldn't overclock. One last thing. Would I need a new video card for Stepmania or O2Jam?

[OrganisM]

Originally Posted by dood gone krazee

Alright, so I want at least another 1Gb of RAM, I need a new router (I figured that out, my router is a dinosaur and not Vista compatible) and I shouldn't bother with a new video card because I won't be gaming like THAT on a laptop. I also shouldn't overclock. One last thing. Would I need a new video card for Stepmania or O2Jam?

Ah, sorry, this was all hypothetical response based on MalDON's post, which seemed to be mostly about desktop hardware.

You for all intents and purposes couldn't really overclock your laptop. There are limited software overclocks that are possible, but your BIOS would be the best bet, and for obvious reasons the BIOS of your standard laptop would not include such options. The only laptops that would allow that kind of thing are the ones with desktop parts in them, the huge ones from custom builders with those Clevo cases. Those cases at least kind of have the room for circulation.

You'd have a tough time replacing whatever video card you might have in your laptop. It's rare for anything but a high end computer to have a swappable card. Most have built-in cards. Yo'ure set there. And no, Stepmania and whatever else do not qualify as heavy 3D usage. You do not need a new video card for that. You probably couldn't put one in this laptop if you wanted to.

Download CPU-Z and PM screenshots to me, or post text of what the RAM section says (number of slots used, type of module) and I can tell you what's going on. If you have 2x512mb sticks in there with 2 DIMM slots, that means you'd have to remove one of your sticks to put a 1gb stick in, or whatever.

[lumphoboextreme]

wait a second... i thought vista was causing all of my problems with FFR... i mean i can play a song right now and get 100 goods and go to my friends, play the same song on xp and get under 5 without any problem. i just can't find the problem i guess.