Upgrading the OS

Question

Just ordered; XPS 720, Nvidia 8800GT 512, Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4, 2GB ram, 320GB SATA HD.

Plan on adding max mem and more disk space as soon as the box get here. While not the top of line, specs and componet test rate it with very high marks and the cost was right.

It comes with XP Media Center, never heard of it, ask around, same results.

I want to do more with high ram beyond the XP 3GB limit, had poor results from Vista Home.

All the money I saved on the system will go into ram, adding 2 dimms of 8gb for a total of 18gb.

So a swift (ya right) system OS upgrade, is what I'm thinking.

I was thinking XP 64 or XP 2003 server or does this XP Media Center address use of high mem?

Or does Vista Pro handle and access high mem without problems.

All my modeling apps are 32bit but want to load them and use ram as working temp drives for rendering.

Any advice of any kind would be greatly appreciated.

jasemccarty · Answer

As an FYI... an XPS 720, will only support a maximum of 8GB of RAM.

And all XP Media Center Edition basically is, is XP Pro with a media application to organize and view your media from one place through a TV like interface.

Gunslngr21 · Answer

nevermind Message Edited by Gunslngr21 on 03-07-2008 07:44 AM

tigerwolf7 · Answer

I'm somewhat confused-why did you order XP instead of Vista?

If you want to address more than about 3GB of RAM, you'll need to get a 64-bit version of Vista. Dell dosen't sell their consumer systems yet with 64-bit Vista, and dosen't appear to supply drivers for the 720 either, so you'd have to try to find ones on your own.

That dosen't sounds like the right system for you. If you need 4 or more GB of RAM, I'd talk to a Dell sales person and see what systems can be ordered with 64-bit Vista. I know at one point the Precision workstations could be, but I'm not seeing it in the configuration screens right now, just 32-bit. But you might be able to order one of their systems that way.

Okmochi · Answer

The Dell purchase options here (Okinawa) only gave 2 OS choices, Vista Home or the XP Media.

Dell Japan had a mega discount going, ($250 off, free shipping and a 20 inch flat screen)

Figured ,I had purhased XP64 and Server 2003 a while back, was afraid to attempt to upgrade my only highend workstation while in med project.

Now with this second one, thought purhapes now was the time.

In your opinion, Vista 64 would be a better choice?

Never used it, more than half my apps would not install on my new Dell laptop which came with Vista home.

Wathever the OS, drivers for the Nvidia Video card are my biggest concern.

Sounds like you are also saying that the 720 in general my be a problem getting any drivers.

Darn!

Okmochi · Answer

jasemccarty   Thanks for the info, even being able to use 8gb beats the 3 I get now. This media center, sounds like what Ive custmized on to my currrent XP PRO box.

tigerwolf7 · Answer

Video drivers won't be an issue-just grab them off of Nvidia.com for your OS.

The 64-bit version of Vista is much more main stream, much more ready to be used than the 64-bit version of XP was. That was kind of a testbed as much as anything. For most people, I'd recommend sticking with 32-bit Vista, but if you really need more than 3GB, then 64-bit Vista is probably the way to go (unless you have some really picky application that needs some other OS).

What applications are you having trouble with on 32-bit Vista? Almost everything should run, though some things may need to be set to run as an admin, and/or require a compatibility mode.

Drivers for 64-bit XP or Sever 2003 are both going to be harder to get than for any version of Vista.

Okmochi · Answer

Hey Tigetwolf

That was very informative, thanks!

The main list of apps that either will not install or are very crash pron on Vista Home (32 bite, right).

Were SketchUp 6 (no install), AutoCAD 2004 (no install), ArcGIS 9.1 (crash), Photoshop 7 (crash), 3DMax (no install), and World Construction set (no install).

I had asked around and heard there was some settings for Vista Home for compatibility mode.

Just never heard back, you know anything?

I just jumped back onto an older Dell laptop to get back to work.

So now the nice new shinny one with big screen, my son has abopted as his.

sighhhhhh......

tigerwolf7 · Answer

I think if you right click on the shortcut to a program, there should be a tab called "compatibility" or something like that, which should have a check box for different modes. The option to run the program as an administrator is probably somewhere on those tabs too.

Most programs seem to run using a combination of one or both of those.

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Upgrading the OS

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