Should I upgrade to Windows 8?

[punkbestintheworld58]

It all sounds so good that I want to get my hands on them but the geek world says that I shouldn't. So should I make the move? I'm currently running Windows 7 Ultimate smoothly.

My System Specs:

Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard
1.5 GB Kingston RAM
80 GB Seagate HDD
Intel 92 MB Onboard Graphics
SoundMax Integrated Audio
Intel Pentium D 925 3.0 GHz

PS:
The upgrade assistant says that I am good to go.

[humbert]

Should you upgrade to Windows 8? In a word:
ABSOLUTELY!

In your specific case you'll be better off with Win8 32bit.

I assume that 80 GB hard drive you've got is an SSD. I don't remember the last time anyone made a magnetic drive that small.

[Ahmad]

What a coincidence !!

This is the same as my case EXCEPT for I have 768 MB RAM.
Recently, I tried a copy of Windows 7 32-bits very lite to see whether it'll work on my machine or not.. It worked well but very slow because it needs at least 1GB RAM.

But I don't know Windows 8 32-bit will be the same or not.

I'm sure this Hard disk is magnetic like mine.. Isn't it ?!!

But, may I ask if you can replace the 512 RAM with 1GB.. Can you do that?
Because this motherboard supports up to 2GB and when you put 2 equal DIMMs with the same bus speed, RAM runs at dual channel which is much better and faster than your case [1GB+512MB]... If you can't, don't care about my words.

[punkbestintheworld58]

About your question, YES YOU CAN! My 1.5 GB is obviously a 1 GB and a 512 MB combined so its gonna work well. Just give the BIOS or the UEFI some time to detect the newly installed RAM and you'll be on your way. 728 MB is an awful low amount of RAM. Usually DDR2 Modules are cheap so are DDR3 Modules but DDR Modules are hard to find and much more expensive.

[humbert]

@Ahmad - The best way to see the ideal combination for your memory upgrade is to do what I advised Mike, i.e., to download a PDF manual from, I believe Asus in your case. I've owned many Asus boards and their site has all the manuals plus all tech support information.

Just one thing - they have a sheet called "supported memory" with manufacturers and model number. Don't pay too much attention to that! If <for example> your board uses DDR2 168 pin, 800 mhz, it will work regardless of who makes it. I know this from experience. Just recently I bought some memory for my Asus board which wasn't on their list but did meet the specifications. They worked perfectly.

I firmly believe you should upgrade to Windows 8, 32bit. One thing about W8 is that it's far less taxing on the system than W7. Not only does Microsoft say it, but in my own tests I've seen that it's much faster and much more stable. I have yet to see Windows 8 crash on me, whereas when I had XP crashes were frequent. Trust me, after several months of testing I firmly believe it's well worth it!

[Ahmad]

I was asking "punkbestintheworld58" if he can upgrade to 2GB RAM NOT me.
Because in 2GB RAM, the 2 DIMMs will work in dual channel which will be more efficient for him if he wants to run Win7 or 8.

In my case, if I want to upgrade this machine, there is no way except for old used DIMMs because I don't find them "DDR1" any more.
Besides, now, I'm too busy to think about those things.

I was just assuring "punkbestintheworld58" that his machine will run Win7 well because I've tried that with less RAM. And according to what humbert said, Win8 will run better.

Good luck. 

[humbert]

@Ahmad

My apologies - somehow I got you confused with the guy you were giving advice to. I suppose it was just wishful thinking on my part. 

[punkbestintheworld58]

Thanks guys, I just upgraded last night and Windows 8 is AMAZING! All was running smoothly except for 1 thing: Screen Resolution. My screen is at max 1366 x 768 but now I'm stuck at using 1280 x 1080. If someone would be so kind to give a link for a fix so that I can probably go up at least 1280 x 768.

[humbert]

Thanks guys, I just upgraded last night and Windows 8 is AMAZING! All was running smoothly except for 1 thing: Screen Resolution. My screen is at max 1366 x 768 but now I'm stuck at using 1280 x 1080. If someone would be so kind to give a link for a fix so that I can probably go up at least 1280 x 768.

Go to the graphics card's web site and immediately download the latest driver, even if it's correct on device manager. W8 is great on drivers, but not so when it comes to graphics card or something a little strange.

After the proper drive is installed, you can use the card's software to correct the resolution or right click on the desktop and select "screen resolution".