Im very confused, idk if i should update xp to vista or win7
#1
Question 
I have been very confused about what to do, I have a desktop with the following specs

OS-XP SP3 32bit
Mobo-XFX MG-63Mi-7159 GeForce 7150 Socket 775
CPU-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66Ghz Socket 775
RAM-Corsair 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz
Power-Power Up Standard 550w ATX Power Supply
Video card- GIGABYTE 9500GT with 512MB DDR3
Blutooth
Wireless N
DVD DRIVE(THINKING OF UPGRADING TO BLURAY if xbmc can play the discs)
The internal hdd on it is only 500GB( mainly games are stored on it), but i have like 6 or 7 TB of networked media.
this computer is used ONLY as a HTPC with XBMC, PC games (FSX , Sims 3, getting that new batman game as soon as i have the cash.)and retro game emulators.

Should I upgrade my PC to win 7, vista or stick with XP. I do have 4gb of ram but 1 GB is not used because xp cant read over 3(Honestly i am pissed that i spent the money on the 4 gb and xp cant read it) :mad:

Also if i do upgrade can i use the 64 bit of win7 or vista?
and can my mobo handle 8GB of RAM?
Will upgrading improve the performance of my XBMC system?

Basically i just want to know if it is worth the trouble of upgrading. I have read the other posts in the forum about win 7 and vista but it just confused me even moreSad

Anyone who has suggestions please please post and help me decide on what to do.:confused2:
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#2
If you do decide to upgrade, I'd recommend skipping vista in favor of Windows 7. There's a funky call to DirectX that has to be done in Vista that screws up the visual for a second, which you don't have to worry about with 7.

With that said, XBMC almost certainly isn't going to take advantage of that extra gig, and it's written as a 32bit system, so if you don't want to upgrade to Windows 7, you really shouldn't need to at present.
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#3
Thanks so much for the quick response

I see, xbmc wont take advantage of the extra ram, but i will be using emulators(dolphin, n64, psx etc), and i am a light gamer but my cousin who stays with me is a moderate to heavy gamer, and we have put the launcher plugin in xbmc and use it to launch games(works flawlessly in XP) some of his games do lag once in awhile, do you think the video card should be upgraded or should more RAM be added(honestly idk if my mobo even supports more than 4gb ram, is their any way to check how much ram it supports). Sorry if my questions are obvious, Im still a bit of a nub when it comes to computers but im trying to learn as much as i canSmile
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#4
you could try the crucial.com scan to see if it tells you your maximum. It works for my system.
When posting about a problem please submit a debug log to give you the best chance at getting an answer. It's easy, painless, and helps provide necessary information.
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#5
Upgrading to Win 7 alone isn't going to help you with not being able to access all your RAM. The problem lies with the 32bit system, so you would have to use a 64bit OS to even begin to be able to use all your RAM. I would recommend Win 7. I was on Vista and liked it, but it wasn't without it's problems, now I'm on Win 7 it's all the good things about Vista with alot of the bad things gone.
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#6
Question 
I was looking at the forums but cant find much on this (Actually im not sure what exactly to search forEek


With my current system, what is the best way to upscale videos, hardware or software? and will upgrading to win 7 64bit change that?


thanks for your answersSmile
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#7
Hi,

Here's my two bits...
I agree that if you have to choose between Vista and Windows 7 the second one is the way to go. But I also wanto to offer an alternative: Why not go for a dualboot Linux/Windows 7 system...
The main reason behind my suggestion is VDPAU (NVIDIA hardware video acceleration), which XBMC makes use of only under Linux. Which basically translates in superb video rendering of even the most complex HD contents.
There's also a couple of other advantages:
- You can fiddle around all you like with windows 7 and games without messing up your XBMC setup.
- Linux (especially if you go for a minimal install) is waaaaay zippier than Windows.
- There's lots & lots of documentation & HowTo's for the Linux port of XBMC.
Hope I haven't confused you further.
Q
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#8
Thumbs Up 
quintixbox Wrote:Hi,

Here's my two bits...
I agree that if you have to choose between Vista and Windows 7 the second one is the way to go. But I also wanto to offer an alternative: Why not go for a dualboot Linux/Windows 7 system...
The main reason behind my suggestion is VDPAU (NVIDIA hardware video acceleration), which XBMC makes use of only under Linux. Which basically translates in superb video rendering of even the most complex HD contents.
There's also a couple of other advantages:
- You can fiddle around all you like with windows 7 and games without messing up your XBMC setup.
- Linux (especially if you go for a minimal install) is waaaaay zippier than Windows.
- There's lots & lots of documentation & HowTo's for the Linux port of XBMC.
Hope I haven't confused you further.
Q


The thought of linux did cross my mind, a friend of mine has done it, i did like it but he did have issues with gaming. unfortunately i had to rule out linux. Also i need windows for itunes my iphone is synced with it.

BTW i tried wine to run itunes but had no success. at the moment windows is my only option i think i will go with dual booting win7 and xp until i figure out win7 properly. thanks for your answer and als thanks to everyone elses answers. if anybody has any other tips or suggestion to make the migration easier please postCool
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#9
If you have a stable working xp, then I would not bother with vista/7.

Win7 is simply vista sp3, as far as I am concerned.

Adding more ram is only helpful if your using more than what you got. Of course, vista/7 will happily swallow all that you give it.

The only reason you might want more ram (and you would need 64 bit os anyway), is if a particular game is running out of ram (not likely but possible).

XBMC does not support reading bluray disks, altho it will read the m2ts files. (no menus etc tho).

You don't need vista/7 for blueray anyway.

I think I saw that it was possible to use an external player for BR playback, windvd or whatever blueray player. I don't have any pointers there except to search the forum for more info.
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#10
i think i might not have any option but to stick with xp, cause i am starting to have doubts about windows vista and win 7, i got a new laptop with vista preinstalled xbmc does not play any network files, i have posted the thread here

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=57550

and it includes a log
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#11
My Sister-n-laws works fine on my network. I just mapped a drive and it works fine. Running Vista that is.
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#12
kizer Wrote:My Sister-n-laws works fine on my network. I just mapped a drive and it works fine. Running Vista that is.


tryed that doesnt workSad
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#13
mw90 Wrote:tryed that doesnt workSad


BTW i tryed playing it from explorer it works XBMC cant load it, works perfect with VLC player
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#14
well I would have probably stuck with XP if I knew what I do now about Vista. What really pisses me off is that you can not kill tasks in Vista unless they choose to cooperate. Which normally when I need to kill a task, they are not cooperating, so no choice but to reboot to kill it. Vista won't remember samba network share passwords and I have a lot of problems with samba performance. That said Vista user interface is much nice than XP...

I doubt I will ever upgrade to Win7.
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Im very confused, idk if i should update xp to vista or win70