Questions before Windows 7 upgrade

[thefuzmixman]

Hey guys,

I'm an XP gamer about to upgrade to Windows 7 finally. I got a new video card and another stick of ram. I feel like I've got an adequate system to upgrade now. However, I've got questions before I tear the plastic open... I think can still send it back at this point.

1.) Should I install the 32-bit or 64-bit version? Which will yield the best performance for my system?
2.) Will I see an improvement with my quad core? Will it be noticeable with gaming?
3.) Is all my hardware compatible with Windows 7? Do I have enough memory?
4.) Can 7 be tweaked for gaming the way XP can? (minimal services/visuals/processes etc)


Current setup: (see sig)

 

[bigi]

1. I'd go with 64bit.
2. Yes, depends on particular game.
3. Run 7 upgrade advisor. Looks good to me.
4. Yes, don't sweat too much on it. I'd rather get 4GB of ram.

 

[Tsaico]

1. I go with 64 bit, unless you have a lot of legacy devices to use, many of the older and few new devices I had were useless since there was no 64 bit drivers. One was an old scanner, which i just threw out, the other was a Sony Voice recorder. They weren't deal breakers, and the benefits outweight the costs, but you do need to know the driver issue exists. Also if you share printers, you need to do some fanagaling to get them to work on 32 bit hosts that are trying to share with your local drives.
2. Yes, and depends on the game.
3. Looks fine too.
4. I also agree with the just 4+ GB of RAM instead of trying to optimize.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

1.) 64bit for sure.
2.) I believe so, on certain ones more so than others.
3.) Hardware looks fine but yes definitely run the upgrade advisor. If you can swing it, personally, i would get more ram (6-8GB)
4.) I think so but I don't know too much about it. i'd backup before messing with it too much.