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Replacing Vista with XP on a Dell XPS 730

F

Flesseck

Junior Member
Sorry, if this has been posted repeatedly, but I've looked and haven't found anything convenient. If I seemed to have missed it, please don't hesitate to point me to the proper thread. If not, then I'll explain my simple situation.

My computer is being used for gaming purposes. I am purchasing a Dell XPS 730 with two changes to the original setup:

Memory: 4GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz

GPU: SINGLE CARD:1024MB nVidia GeForce 9800 GX2.

Everything else is the same. My hard drive is 500GB NCQ SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) w/ 16MB DataBurst Cache in case that's useful information. I also have an extra 320 GB Maxtor from a few years ago.

Since I've been recommended to not go with Vista from friends and colleagues and from general internet browsing, I've come to the conclusion to stick with XP since I've been so familiar with the software for years. So what I would like to do is remove Vista and just use XP. What's the cleanest, easiest and most convenient way of doing this? Thanks for your time and reading my post.
 
"What's the cleanest, easiest and most convenient way of doing this?"

Boot from your XP CD, delete the oem partitions on the HDD, then install XP, its not too hard.

Are there XP drivers for all your devices (chipset, audio, lan)
You might have to change the Sata mode in the BIOS if its in AHCI mode, unless you have a floppy drive and want to to the F6 method to install drivers from floppy to use AHCI mode
 
Or just try it with Vista for a while it is nowhere near as bad as some would want you to think in fact it is down right ok. Besides as far as I remember if you switch to XP Dell will not provide support for a non oe installed OS. I would at the very least leave it with Vista for a couple weeks to burn it in and get past the initial hardware test window and you may find it works great for you.

Amos
 
Switching to XP means you won't get to use all 4GB of that ram. More like 3GB minus all the memory your video card comes with. If that card as 1GB on it, you've basically lost 1/2 your memory out of the gate.
 
Originally posted by: nerp
Switching to XP means you won't get to use all 4GB of that ram. More like 3GB minus all the memory your video card comes with. If that card as 1GB on it, you've basically lost 1/2 your memory out of the gate.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for the advice. So XP doesn't take advantage of more than 3GB of RAM?

I guess I could try it out for a bit and see how it goes. I just wanted a backup plan in case everything goes sour.
 
Well, to boil down a lot of jargon into the essence of the point: XP can handle 4GB of ram but hardware devices use a bit of the upper part of that 4GB limit for address space. You basically end up with 3.5+ gb ram to use after subtracting video memory. People with dual SLI setups with two highed cards with 650MB ram each end up with quite a bit of that address space used up.

64 bit versions of Windows don't hit that limit, so you can make use of your full 4GB and beyond.

There is XP64 but to be honest, it's a dead end in terms of driver support. Vista64 is the way to go.

If dell didn't give you a 32 bit install or disc, give them a call and see what you can do about getting one sent. You'll still encounter the limit with 32 bit Vista.
 
I'm not even sure which version of Vista they sent me. Would 64 bit be better over 32 bit for gaming? And are you saying that the 32 bit Vista will have the same memory limit as XP?
 
Yep, 32 bit vista will encounter that same memory limit. Vista CD-keys will activate both 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista.

You should have no real issues playing games on Vista 64 since it has had some time to mature and stabalize in terms of driver support, etc. Myself, I play a few games on my 64 bit Vista rig and have had NO problems. In the odd chance a game won't launch, you can always run it in compatibility mode by changing a setting in the shortcut or run as administrator. I understand that Battlefield 2 might require this to run properly. These are minor little issues that you most likley won't encounter with the vast majority of games.

I'd check your invoice to see if the version of Vista you were given is listed. If you can't find it there, right click on "Computer" on your desktop and look under the "System" area where your Windows Experience Rating is. It should say whether you have a 64 or 32 bit OS next to System Type:
 
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