(Finally!) Giving my dad my old computer. Various questions for you all.

[Theocnoob]

I've been planning this for about a year but my father never had enough money to pay for Internet, so, to solve the problem, I have offered to cover his internet costs indefinitely and he has agreed to take the computer.

Couple of issues:

1) It's in a destroyed case. I need a new ATX case in the $0-50 (Canadian) range. No need for USB3 or anything fancy. Doesn't even need good air flow. Must be attractive to a 60 year old man (no aggressive styling, etc)

2) All I have on there is Win XP 32 bit. I'd like to use my copy of Win 7 X64 on there but the system only has 2GB DDR2. Will Win 7 X64 run ok with 2GB? I doubt it...

What solution, other than linux, which I want to avoid since I've trained him in Windows, do you guys see to the OS dilemma? Win XP has no support. Win 7 does... but there's only 2GB of RAM.



The full system, for anyone interested, consists of

E6550 (stock)
Arctic Freezer 7 (I think) cooler
ASUS P5Q-E P45 mobo
2X1GB DDR2 1066 (Corsair)
250GB Western Digital HDD (from 2007... should I replace? Friends don't let friends [or parents] use really old HDD's...)
Geforce 8800GTS g92 (512MB)
Asus Xonar D2/PM (probably the most impressive piece of hardware in the whole machine)
Corsair TX750 PSU (can you say overkill? I know... But it was available so I used it)
Decrepit, dilapidated Antec Sonata 3 with the front ripped off and more scratches than my cat's scratching post

Obviously, being 2006/7/8 tech, this system doesn't have USB3, SATA 3, MSata, M.2, Sata Express, PCIE Gen 3, etc... but I hope it will get my father by.


Thanks in advance for any advice, particularly on the OS dilemma.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Case:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129187
Use the promo code for another $10 off.

OS:
8.1

 

[Theocnoob]

Thanks for responding so fast, ATM. I like the case suggestion. If I can find it at local stores I will jump on it (Don't want to get hosed @ $15 for shipping...).

I agree 8.1 (32 bit if possible) is the best choice. The problem here is that I don't own 8.1, in any form, and this is a "budget project". If I buy a copy of Windows that'll set me back a hundred bucks and this whole thing starts to get stupidly expensive.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Well, even with $15 shipping you're looking at $40 total. That's well within the $0-$50 range for a nice new case.

Win7 will run alright on 2GB, but I would look at Ubuntu.

 

[Theocnoob]

Well, even with $15 shipping you're looking at $40 total. That's well within the $0-$50 range for a nice new case.

Win7 will run alright on 2GB, but I would look at Ubuntu.

Don't really want to put him on Linux. I'd rather cry a little and pay $100 for 8.1. Is 8.1 available in 32 bit? AFAIK the 32 bit OS will occupy less RAM when running than 64... isn't that so? Am I wrong?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Yes, there is 32-bit and I recommend it for a 2GB system.

 

[trents]

Yes, you can run Win 7 64-bit just fine on 2 gb of ram. I've done it many times. It is actually pretty snappy. Unless you have a lot of stuff open at once you won't notice much difference than running it with 4 gb of ram or using the 32-bit version of the OS. The overhead for the 64-bit version of the OS is very small. It also helps if you add a video card with it's own memory.

 

[Theocnoob]

Yes, you can run Win 7 64-bit just fine on 2 gb of ram. I've done it many times. It is actually pretty snappy. Unless you have a lot of stuff open at once you won't notice much difference than running it with 4 gb of ram or using the 32-bit version of the OS. The overhead for the 64-bit version of the OS is very small. It also helps if you add a video card with it's own memory.

But I mean is 2GB @ 64Bit Win 7 going to be enough for smooth 1080P video playback, smooth 1080P streaming playback, few tabs open in Chrome at once, maybe in addition to VLC media player? I don't want to have to tell my dad that he can only have 2 windows open at a time. He's a noob and that will confuse and frustrate him.

 

[Lvcoyote]

If you're semi willing to fork over a hundred bux for 8.1, then why not just buy more memory and slap win7 on it?

 

[Theocnoob]

If you're semi willing to fork over a hundred bux for 8.1, then why not just buy more memory and slap win7 on it?

Touche.