Please Help - Which Windows Should I Buy?

Right, familiarity and the system is expected to be retired from this venture in fairly short order. And yes, another mobo needs to be selected.

Thanks guys.

johnz said:

In addition to what's already been said, I would STRONGLY suggest to the client that he goes with Win7-64. XP's coming up on 10 years old, and it really has nothing to offer other than familiarity. If the client isn't expecting to retire in the next couple of years, he's gonna have to change to a new O/S sometime, so now's as good a time as any.

Otherwise, Earthdog's on the right track. You don't have to overbuild such a pedestrian computer. I'd go with 4gb of memory, and a solid, but cheaper MB.

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Im guessing this is your first build for someone else?

No, but this is the first important one.

EarthDog said:

Im guessing this is your first build for someone else?

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Stick with XP if the client wants it, it will probably be easier. I don't consider XP to be 10 years old or close to it as said above, first off it simply isn't - it came out in 2001 or 2002. Secondly, SP3 isn't that old and XP is perfectly functional for everything I can think of today other than direct x 10 which they just chose not to make for XP. I'd date the OS on the latest service pack and the fact that it is still supported and updated - not really that old. Keep that extra ram in case someday he does want to try windows 7, I would anyway. I'd also ditch the overclocking board and use that money elsewhere in the system. Or get the cheapst board that meets his features and is still a good reliable board.

Ben333 said:

I don't consider XP to be 10 years old or close to it as said above, first off it simply isn't - it came out in 2001 or 2002.

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October 2001. It's 8.5 years old. Closer to 10 than 5 ;^)

Windows XP is pretty much useless now that Windows 7 is out. Sorry to break the news to you but Windows 7 works pretty nicely, I like it much more than XP. But as another person said just use 32-bit in case the 64-bit can't run one of his programs.

I really have to put my 2 cents into this one. Win7 x64 is really the smart way to go. It is more secure, faster (even my wifes P4 rig runs it smoother than XP ever did), and all around just has more to offer. For another thing, when you install 4 GB of RAM into XP 32 bit, and the person you are building it for sees around 3.2 (depending on the amount of GPU RAM) GB, he may be a little unhappy. I know one of my clients would be. Also, something else worth keeping in mind, I have been running Win7 x64 for around 8 months (I got in on the RC1, then when RTM came out, I got Pro), and haven't had any issues whatsoever running 32 bit programs. As a matter of fact, it seems that most of the programs I use run better in Win7 than I could ever get them to in XP. Also, no matter what hardware I used, and no matter how many discs I used, on numerous installs, XP would give me several BSOD's, while I haven't had a single error in Win7, even from a rig that I thought was going to be under powered.

Emotional Ninja said:

Windows XP is pretty much useless now that Windows 7 is out. Sorry to break the news to you but Windows 7 works pretty nicely, I like it much more than XP. But as another person said just use 32-bit in case the 64-bit can't run one of his programs.

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Sorry to break the news to you, but no links to personal sites in your sig.

Windows XP is far from useless. Windows 7 is fully usable, it is, and I myself use it on one machine. Some people are comfortable with what they have, this being for business the client probably just doesn't want to mess around with new things. XP is completely useful, supported, and compatible at the moment.

My client wants Windows XP - AND - use of all 6 gigs of memory, and he's not at all accepting of the idea of using 4 GB or less.

So that seems to spell Win XP Pro X64 or preferably Win7 64.

The new mobo that I have picked out is the ASRock P43DE P43.

Now we've come full circle.

If a 64 bit OS is required XP 64bit would be at the bottom of that list.

Considering there is no reason to buy Vista over 7 at this point, that pretty much leaves Windows 7 64 bit as the only choice.

I hate to say it but I don't think this guy is respecting your opinion very much. He consulted you to build a machine for him. If he can't accept reasonable decisions based on your expertise then why are you doing this for him?

The build looks great. If he doesn't like going with Windows 7 64bit slap XP64 on there but tell him you're not interested in supporting it.

I remember Win XP 64 being REALLY buggy... can anyone confirm? Seems like I recall it being a huge flop due to problems with the 64bit architecture...
I have used Vista 64 and Win 7 64, bulletproof. I cannot agree enough with the other posters when they talk about Win 7 64 being the right choice here...

No. Win7 64 is the wrong choice for this client because he wants Win XP Pro (32). It's a mission critical build to get a business off the ground. And he demands not being bothered with dealing with a new operating system and all that may or may not entail. The client has determined that optimal functioning of the program MS Excel (in Win7 64) is not a higher priority. End of story.

Ducatti said:

I cannot agree enough with the other posters when they talk about Win 7 64 being the right choice here...

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Something that has not been said yet... XP will soon be at the end of life cycle and so, service packs and critical updates will be stopped...sorry I have no timeline.
Also he might consider that win 7 has directx 10 or 11? support..although I do not know if your spreadsheet prog uses direct x...if it does, then it might take advantage of the newer version, and most likely the video cards already support DX 10.

Both win7 and XP (with service pack 3) are rock stable at this time....so you might just want to let the client look at this thread and he can make a more informed decision based on what has already been stated in favor of both os's

I have tried win xp pro x64 and for me it was also very buggy. HOWEVER I am running Windows 7 Ultimate X64 and its very smooth running and just as fast if not faster then the XP even with all the fancy pants graphics running. For me its win 7 since they dropped support for XP there really isn't any point in spending money on it *thanks Microsoft!* <---Sarcastic**