SubJeff on 29/11/2009 at 23:56
I'm planning on a minor upgrade/tweak to the PC.
Specs
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Asus P5N-E Sli Socket 775 Mobo
nVidia GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
4Gb DDR2 Memory as 2x1Gb and 1x2Gb sticks
I have several physical HDs.
Internal
Primary: 250Gb SATA - has all programs/games installed on it and all my documents.
Music: 120Gb IDE drive
Backup Drive 1: 80Gb IDE - document backups.
Backup Drive 2: 40Gb IDE - document backups.
External
Video/Photo Drive: 500Gb
Backup Drive 3: 1Tb - a mix of document backups and other media/programs.
I was thinking these drives are all a bit much. The plan is to get a 1.5TB SATAII drive and partition it to place the Primary, Music and Video drives onto the one physical drive and install Windows 7 on it.. I was going to wipe the 120, 80 and 40 Gb drives and ebay them but I'm not so sure selling them is a good idea.
The two external drives will then be my backup drives and I'll retain the 250Gb SATA drive for something too.
One thing I need to do is backup my Steam apps. The Steam support site has details and it it seems a straightforward copy out then copy back in after install.
(
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7710-TDLC-0426)
Has anyone done this?
The other thing is looking at my setup would it be worth me upgrading my CPU/RAM/Gfx card at this point? I've not had any issues with my setup in particular and I certainly don't want to build a new machine.
Is there anything I've missed/should be doing differently?
TBE on 30/11/2009 at 01:43
All your Steam apps can be re-downloaded to Windows 7. You just need to log into your account, and they'll be there ready for download. If you have the CDs or DVDs, that's faster to just reinstall, but if you have time to leave your computer running over night, it will re-download anything you're authorized.
Your system is more than adequate for running Windows 7. I'd recommend you find the drivers you need before hand, and have them on a USB key or something.
A LOT of printers/scanners/faxes do not work with Windows Vista or 7. You may want to see about your printer situation. You may need to dual boot XP/7 to run your printer.
I'd recommend you throw all your music/documents on a single drive by itself without any OS or programs installed. This is easier for permissions, etc. for Windows 7.
Other than that, have a great time. I'm starting to use Vista 10% of the time, and Win7 85% of the time, and XP on my old computer just for printing/faxing/legacy hardware.
EvaUnit02 on 30/11/2009 at 12:05
This is easy, just copy the entire \steam\steamapps\ folder to a backup drive.
Once the new Windows has been been installed then copy the Steamapps folder to say c:\games\Steam\ then reinstall Steam to that location. All of games should be automatically recognised as installed, or as paused downloads.
Remember to not install any games to c:\program files\, because this folder is write-protected under Vista/W7. Having games there may lead to headaches down the road, say when you want to run mods. Choose a more sensible location like c:\games\.
Search through My Documents, Shared Documents and c:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\ for saves/game configuration files that you'd want to back up.
Your hardware seems fine. At this point I'd wait until the second generation of DX11 cards are out before upgrading anything. Your motherboard was popular with overclocking enthusiasts in its day. You should easily be able to run your machine stably at 3.0GHz, with a small OC to the FSB.
SubJeff on 30/11/2009 at 14:47
I should have said I already have Vista. My printer works fine with it.
I'm not looking forward to reinstalling everything though. I have non-Steam games the folders of which I'd rather just copy accross if I can but I doubt this is possible.
I also have Office 2007. Anyone an idea as to how this will be on the new machine? Will it be checked online?
Finally there are all my Firefox extensions and bookmarks. The last time I did this it was a maaaaassive drag.
EvaUnit02 on 30/11/2009 at 15:01
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Finally there are all my Firefox extensions and bookmarks. The last time I did this it was a maaaaassive drag.
Use (
http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/) MozBackup to transfer your profile - extensions, bookmarks and all.
Matthew on 30/11/2009 at 16:13
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
I also have Office 2007. Anyone an idea as to how this will be on the new machine? Will it be checked online?
It should be fine, I had to do the same thing and the online activation didn't seem to have a problem with it.
242 on 30/11/2009 at 16:45
What to choose - Win7 32bit or 64bit?
Is there any major problems regarding games or drivers in case of 64bit version? How about compatibility with WinXP 32 applications, like Photoshop 7 f.e.?
242 on 30/11/2009 at 16:59
So, to lessen potential problems it's still better to chose 32 bit, right? On the other hand, migration to 64bit version will be required eventually anyway. Hmm.
Matthew on 30/11/2009 at 17:02
Right.
