Do i really need a better operating system?

R

rickwoodall

New Member
Hi Guys

just wondering if you could help me

I'm just about to upgrade to a new PC. It will be used for music production and the only purpose of the upgrade is to be able to create larger more complex music production projects.

my current machines pretty outdated, just running a dual core pentium 4 with 1.5 gig of ram and I'm almost entirely decided on buying this as the replacement http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190626266213?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619

the computer comes without an operating system and I was planning on just installing windows xp home edition, as I'm familiar with it and didn't think it would be an issue for what I want to achieve with the computer. but i contacted to company who sell the computer I'm thinking of buying, asking if they'd provide it with a pre-installed version of xp and they replied saying

"we would always recommend a 64bit operating system so that you can use all 8GB of memory in this system (32 bit systems can only see around 3.25GB)."

Is this true and if so would it have any effect on the type of work i intend to do with the pc?

cheers guys

hope you can help

rick
 
I would not use XP at this time. Step it up to windows 7 and done. Pro if you can afford it. Updates is done or will be shortly.
 
rickwoodall said:
"we would always recommend a 64bit operating system so that you can use all 8GB of memory in this system (32 bit systems can only see around 3.25GB)."

Is this true and if so would it have any effect on the type of work i intend to do with the pc?
Click to expand...
Yep you need a 64-bit OS to use all 8GB of RAM, with a 32-bit OS (such as XP Home Edition), you are limited to around 3.5GB of RAM.

Get this http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/software/operatingsystems/gfc-02050.html it will work nicely for you with that PC. Only get Pro or Ultimate if you need to use Windows XP mode (doubt you do), BitLocker, additional languages or advanced networking settings, otherwise Home will work well. You were using XP Home in the past, so I doubt you need Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate.
 
You will need a retail version of XP to transfer it to a computer, so if you don't have that, then yeah, you're stuck.

When you say larger or more complex music projects, I'd imagine that would use a lot more RAM than you're used to.
 
If everything works fine under Windows XP then use Windows XP.
4 GB of RAM memory is more than enough believe me.
Unless if you are creating 50 music projects at once like crazy lol.But no one does that :D
Don't spend money on something you don't need.
 
S.T.A.R.S. said:
4 GB of RAM memory is more than enough believe me.
Click to expand...
Nah go for 8GB it will be more useful in the future. Your doing music production right, so you want the most RAM possible. 8GB of RAM is so cheap these days you may as well just go for it. 4GB may be enough for your software today, but if you decide to upgrade your software in the future, 4GB may not be enough.
 
Haha no offence,but if the software needs so much RAM memory (even more than 4 GB) to run then that software sucks and it's optimizations are crap lol.
I would never ever use that kind of software.
 
I bought the computer earlier. the same company do a 4 GB RAM 500 GB hard drive version of the computer, but it only costs £30 less, seemed foolish to halve my hard drive and memory for the sake of £30. think I'm going to get windows 7 after all. I think being able to access all 8 GB of ram will be beneficial, I have some amp and effects emulators that function outside of cubase and rout the effected audio to cubase through the soundcard and I expect these will benefit from having the extra RAM.
 
You made a wise choice. The extra RAM will definitely come in handy in the future I promise you. Windows 7 64-bit is also very stable. I use it now, it's all good.
 
Nice pc, no gaming though. Do not downgrade to windows xp! My 60 year old grandmother switched from xp to 7 easy, that means it is a very small learning curve.
 
S.T.A.R.S. said:
If everything works fine under Windows XP then use Windows XP.
4 GB of RAM memory is more than enough believe me.
Unless if you are creating 50 music projects at once like crazy lol.But no one does that :D
Don't spend money on something you don't need.
Click to expand...

-1
Yes, I meant that minus.
 
You won't regret going to Windows 7. It is Microsoft's best operating system so far.

I just upgraded a few weeks ago from Windows XP. The improvements are many in Windows 7. More driver support, more security with more stability.
 
thanks for the advice guys. I'm actually looking forward to having a good look at windows 7, I haven't really used it much at all. We have Vista on the downstairs PC and personally it just isn't for me and I think that has caused my to get overly attached to xp. But now I've looked into it i get the feeling that 7 will be more up my street.

Thanks again

Rick
 
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