Maximum PC

Just tonight installed RC on my 4-year-old Gateway MX7525 laptop. The hardware:

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ 2.6GHz
ATI Radeon X600 graphics with 128MB dedicated memory + shared memory
1.5GB RAM
Broadcom wireless card
Conexant audio
120GB IDE HDD

One strange thing I ran into during the install: When I was prompted for the product key I did not have it handy, so I left it blank and clicked "next" thinking I'd enter it later. The installation continued as normal and I have not been prompted for it since, nor have I found any means of entering it.

After installing Windows I had two pieces of hardware not functioning: the sound and the video (was stuck at 1024X768, showed as "generic VGA device" in hardware manager). I went to Gateway's web site and downloaded the only drivers available, which were for XP, and I installed them using 7's XP compatibility mode. The sound card worked, and the video went up to the proper 1280X800, but aero glass effects wouldn't work and my system experience rating was 1.0 for gaming and aero. There was a "troubleshoot aero" link that I clicked on, and it said my drivers did not support WDDP or something like that. Aero always worked on Vista, but that was with Vista finding and installing an updated driver through Windows Update (the Gateway driver was XP only). Seven would not find that updated driver though.

Since ATI does not directly support notebook chips, and since Gateway has not updated the driver since 2005, I had to hack the latest Catalyst drivers so they'd install using the Mobility Modder hack at driverheaven.net. Unfortunately this not only did not give me my aero interface, it made the system go back to "generic" mode and 1024X768. I completely uninstalled the drivers and tried again, with no luck. The Catalyst installer would go through the motions but seemingly not make any changes. I tried a bunch of things, including a "designed for Dell" Vista driver for my X600, all with no luck. Then, on a whim, I decided to try the latest Catalyst driver install again, but with a twist: Even though the driver said it was for Win 7 I ran it in compatibility mode for Vista SP2. It installed this time, and even asked me to restart, but when I did I got the same generic 1024X768 crap. I went into system properties and saw that even though the driver wasn't working I had made some progress: The device was now properly listed as a Mobility Radeon X600. The problem was that there was a yellow exclamation point next to it, and an error saying Windows stopped the device because there was an error. Just for kicks I clicked on "update driver" (I say just for kicks because I had done this several times already, but all of the other times was with the device maganger showing a generic VGA adapter). I clicked on "Let windows find a driver" and waited. After a few minutes of "searching for driver" it changed to "downloading driver", then "installing driver", after which it prompted me for a reboot. I obliged...

...and it WORKED!!!!! 1280X800 and aero enabled!!!!! All systems are now GO! It was a lot of hoops to jump through, but that can be expected with a beta OS and an old machine.

My Windows Experience index is 3.7 now, breaking down as follows:
Processor: 4.3
Memory: 4.3
Graphics: 4.1
Gaming Graphics: 3.7
Primary Hard Disk: 3.9

Not too shabby, considering my Vista Premium experience was 2.7...

MOBO: Asus P5N-D nforce 750i
PROC: Core 2 Duo e6750 2.66 @ 3.66 with Artic Cooler freezer 7 pro
VIDEO: 2 x EVGA 8800GT Superclock in SLI - 185.85 win 7 drivers
PS: Thermaltake toughpower 850
RAM: 4 x 1GB Crucial Ballistix PC2 8500 @ 1033
HDD1: WD 320GB - OS and Programs
HDD2: WD 750GB - Storage and swapfile
DVD: 2 x Lite On 20x sata with lightscribe
CD/DVD: Lite On combo drive IDE
MONITOR: Acer AL2216W 22" widescreen 1680x1050
OTHER:
HP PSC 2410xi all in one
Epson Stylus Photo R280
Microsoft Lifecam VX5000
Saitek Eclipse keyboard
Logitech MX518 mouse
Gigaware 4 port USB hub

Installed Win 7 64 bit four days ago.
Everything but the Epson worked out of the box and that works perfectly with Vista drivers.

Windows Experience

Processor: 6.8
Memory: 6.8
Graphics: 6.1
Gaming: 6.1
Primary HDD: 5.7

Not sure what the problem is for sure.
Pre- Win7-RC (Win7-beta) wireless internet was not an issue but since the new install, I keep having to reset my router to get a connection. Resetting the Linksys G PCI card doesn't work.

Anyone else been able to get a Lexmark X8350 printer to work with Windows 7?

I contacted Lexmark Live Chat to see if they had Beta drivers that I was overlooking. Pretty funny conversation which included these little gems:


Yes, please GOD!!!, let me downgrade my OS just so I can use a $80 printer.



How is releasing Beta drivers going to cause problems to their customers? Are they planning on releasing crappy Beta drivers?


Yes, let me please continue to invest in older equipment so that I don't have a hard time installing newer models.

It's a bit of a catch 22.
Until MS releases a final product, some vendors won't spend the time and money on drivers for it.
Then again, people can't realistically test a system that Win7 can't run with.

We have to keep in mind that Win7 is a beta/RC at the moment and although it runs awesome on most systems, there are going to be a few pieces of hardware that it just won't play nice with at first.

couple of newbie questions:

i have the A8N32SLI board (sound disabled)
Atholon 4400
2 GB
2 Geforce 6 series in SLI
Audigy 2ZS sound card
2 hard drivers (WD 340, new 1TB reviewed in MPC forgot name)
3 opticals

I installed W7 and everythign worked fine out of the box, i had to manually set SLI for the cards.

however my questions are this:
without swapping drivers in and out and running benchmarks, what is the thinking on how good W7 chipset drivers are? I know the Asus drivers are old, i am guessing that W7 is justing going to pull the lasters drivers? however i also recollect (sorry at work not in front of the PC) that the USB controllers are Windows and not the nvida sourced ones i had in XP, should i really care?

Second you guys are just running the performance numbers in W7, that is being cited in this thread correct?

MOBO: MSI 945GCM7, Northbridge Intel 945GC, Southbridge Intal ICH7R chipset
PROC: Core 2 Duo E7200 2.75 Ghz
VIDEO: Integrated Intel Graphics
PS: Antec 550 watt
RAM: 2 x 1GB Dual channel Crucial DDR2 1333
HDD1: WD 500GB SATA - OS and Programs, Dual boot with XP
HDD2: Maxtor 250GB IDE - Storage and swapfile
HDD3: Maxtor 200GB IDE - Storage
CD/DVD: Lite On 20x IDE
CD/DVD: Sony 22x IDE
MONITOR: Generic 17" plug & play CRT
OTHER:
JMicron PCI x 1 IDE/SATA controller
HP Officejet 6500 all in one
Micro Solutions wireless keyboard/optical mouse

Installed without any problems. All hardware works fine without any tweaking including the HP all in one. Single exception is I had to install the drivers for the JMicron controller card. Not an issue since the boot drive uses the integrated SATA.

Seems to boot rather slowly when compared to XP, but once it is up it runs very smoothly and quickly. Multi tasking is less taxing on performance than with XP. Download speeds are equal to or greater than XP.

I didn't upgrade from Win Me to XP until Microsoft cut off support for '98/Me. The final verdict is still out until I get all of my software installed but if Windows 7 continues to run as smoothly as it now does, I will be one of the first in line to buy a retail copy. I have never had a smoother transition between versions and I began using Windows way back in 3.0 days. The interface is beautiful. Aero is awesome. Perhaps they finally got it right.

I haven't noticed it boot any slower specifically. Weird.

I have been hearing this a lot... and I agree. This is looking like it is going to be the best Windows version ever.

I upgraded my wife's PC to a new ASUS motherboard with a dual Pentium E5200 CPU and 2 Gig of DDR2. She doesn't like major changes so I kept Windows XP Pro on her new system.

But I took her old MSI Socket A motherboard (K72NG), AMD Athlon 2500+, ATI Radeon X700 8X AGP video card, 2 gig of DDR3200 RAM, 60 gig WD hard drive, 20 gig WD secondary drive, LG DVD RW/R dual sided burner, and installed Windows 7 RC on it. WOW!!! It is like a new computer. I would venture to say that it runs comparably to XP on a low end Core 2 Duo.

The only issue I had was fnding a driver for the Diamond Multimedis Modem (circa 1999) so I switched it out to a U.S. Robotics and it works without any issues. The modem was the only driver that I had to install myself. All other drivers were found and installed by the Windows update feature.

So this is two systems on which I have tried it and it runs perfectly.

Acer Aspireone

Atom 1.6ghz With HT
1Gb ram
120gb HDD
Atheros Wifi card
GMA950

Win7 went on without a hitch, all my hardware is recognized and works, even the FN keys.

Win7 is pretty damn cool, just one question. How do i see how "good" my computer is?

EDIT: Nevermind! its a 2.0! the videocard sucks, but Aero works!!!

Asus P5Q Pro
Quad 6600
8 Gigs PC 2 8500
G-Force GTX 260
CD/DVD Burner
Blue Ray Burner
Lots of hard drives

One problem. my Hauppauge HVR-2250 will not work with 8 gigs of RAM. Any ideas?

My setup works.....



..... but i haven't really gotten into testing printers and such yet, just games, right now. i can say that i think my ACER monitor doesn't like my HDMI cable, but that isn't a Win7 issue though. And i am stuck using DVI, which rocks my socks!

might be a bit dated video drivers, but i recently have upgraded to Catalyst 9.8 yesterday.

Works:

AMD Phenom II X3 710 CPU
ASUS M4A78T-E MOtherboard
MSI GeForce GTX260 OCv4
2x2GB OCZ DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24
Linksys WMP300N Wireless Adapter
WD SATA Drive
LiteOn DVD Burner
ASUS LCD Monitor
Logitech keyboard
Microsoft Laser Mouse

Only problem I've experienced is that my memory can't pass memtest. It can't even make it more than a few seconds into the test, yet my system appears to be running just fine (I've played several hours of Mass Effect on very high graphics setting w/o a hitch).

That probably means you have some bad memory lol.

That's what I thought, but after many posts in various forums (MPC, OCZ, ASUS), I have found no resolution. My system appears to be running fine (no BSODS or any other crashes) after several hour-long periods of use, so at this point I'm not sweating it.

just plugged in the HP DV1270i - it is a dvd/cd combo drive with light scribe technology.

Visiontek TVWonder 600 USB TV tuner doesn't work...yet.

Here are my Performance scores:

More details about my computer


Component Details Subscore Base score
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9000 @ 2.00GHz 7.0
Determined by lowest subscore

Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB 7.0
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M 5.4
Gaming graphics 2799 MB Total available graphics memory 6.4
Primary hard disk 325GB Free (456GB Total) 5.9
Windows 7 Home Premium

System
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
Model HP HDX 18 NoteBook PC
Total amount of system memory 4.00 GB RAM
System type 64-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 4

Storage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total size of hard disk(s) 466 GB
Disk partition (C:) 325 GB Free (456 GB Total)
Disk partition (D:) 2 GB Free (10 GB Total)
Media drive (E:) CD/DVD

Graphics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Display adapter type NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M
Total available graphics memory 2799 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 1024 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 1775 MB
Display adapter driver version 8.16.11.8681
Primary monitor resolution 1920x1080
DirectX version DirectX 10

Network
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Network Adapter Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Network Adapter Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 AGN

Notes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The gaming graphics score is based on the primary graphics adapter. If this system has linked or multiple graphics adapters, some software applications may see additional performance benefits.




I did a clean install with my student upgrade download I bought for 29.99 through DigitalRiver.

I did not experience any issues with the download as I understand some people had. I initially did an upgrade and then read about how I should have done the clean install. I went back and installed the OS a second time, the second time I did a clean install. I just chose custom instead of upgrade and used the same key.

First thing first, I'm not a rookie anymore.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz AM2
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe nForce 570
4GB 2 X 2GB Corsair XMS2 memory
2GB 2 X 1GB Corsair XMS2 memory
1 WD 150GB RAPTOR W/Windows XP 32 bit
1 WD 150GB RAPTOR W/Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
2 EVGA 8800 GT 512
LG Bluray and HD drive
Creative SB X-Fi XtremeMusic

I play BF2 and it doesn't work on windows 7 so I use XP instead.
There are drivers for the soundcard but the mode switcher doesn't work. You have to go through the control panel to switch it.
As everybody knows XP 32bit version only recognizes 3gigs of memory, so does Windows 7 in 32bit (though this was going to change)
I use Windows 7 32bit because Call of Duty World at War doesn't work in 64bit and Unreal Tournament also.
Team Fortress 2 works with everything, fine piece of game code right there.

I installed W7 on my Compaq Mini110 and it went well with just a minor hitch, no drivers for the built in WWAN module. I don't use the wireless 3G network so it's ok.

Specs:

Intel Atom N270
2GB RAM
16GB SSD (even for a cheapie SSD, it boots insanely fast)
Intel 950 graphics
Broadcom 802.11G Network Adapter
Atheros AR8132 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.20)

WEI:

Procesosr: 2.3*
RAM: 4.5
Graphics: 2.4
Gaming graphics: 3.0
Primary HDD: 5.9