SillyDog701

by **iJohnE** » Sat 20 Jun, 2009 10:10 pm

I am very happy, and if it was possible to order a license right now, I would.

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by **James** » Sat 20 Jun, 2009 10:16 pm

Sounds great, John. If I had an extra computer, I'd give it a whirl myself. As it is... I can't afford to try it but when it becomes available, I'm definitely going to install it.

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by **Mandrake** » Sun 21 Jun, 2009 2:32 am

The Windows 7 Experience Index is, in my experience, majorly busted. For instance, when running with a single GeForce GTX 260 I get a gaming graphics score I get a score of 6.0. When I enable SLI, theoretically doubling the amount of graphics power available, I still get a score of 6.0.

My processor score stays the same, regardless of whether the CPU is at a stock 2.66GHz or overclocked all the way to 4GHz. It really makes no sense at all.

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by **stoperror** » Sun 21 Jun, 2009 2:52 am

Actually, from what I heard SLI doesn't actually "boost" your performance all that much.

But about the CPU... That's really a mystery to me.

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by **iJohnE** » Sun 21 Jun, 2009 1:14 pm

I hit a bit of a snag. I couldn't get The Sims 2 to install, and when I did, it didn't work right. So, that sent me back to Vista, I hafl expected that something along the lines wouldn't work, luckily it's still being tested. When it comes out, I am still going to install it, and hopefully have better luck with it.

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by **stoperror** » Sun 21 Jun, 2009 10:30 pm

How did the Sims 2 not work? Did you try compatibility mode? Maybe it's part of EA's marketing department? "Ya know, the Sims 2 doesn't work with Windows 7, but the Sims 3 does."

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by **iJohnE** » Mon 22 Jun, 2009 10:15 am

Every time I tried to create a new Sim, the game would "hiccup" and freeze, forcing me to restart windows.

I think it may have been somthing along the lines of me having the wrong video driver, I'm not sure because everything else worked. It's no bigge though.

Yeah, EA might have something to do with it, I don't plan on getting the Sims 3 anytime soon, because I have everything I want with the Sims 2, I have apartment life, nightlife, and pets. And I heard a lot of bad things about it, so for now I think I'll stick with the Sims 2, not to mention I really don't have 50 bucks to shell out on a new game.

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by **Mandrake** » Mon 22 Jun, 2009 1:00 pm

stoperror wrote:Actually, from what I heard SLI doesn't actually "boost" your performance all that much.

But about the CPU... That's really a mystery to me.

The minimum resolution to make SLI useful is 1920x1200. At 2560x1600 there's no single GPU fast enough if you want to run modern games like Call of Duty 4 with all the details turned up with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing.

Recently I've been playing through Call of Duty 4 again. I did a small test to see how SLI improved performance. I cranked everything up, 2560x1600 resolution, all graphics to maximum, 16X Anisotropic Filtering and 4X Anti-Aliasing in CoD4. I also turned the new Ambient Occlusion feature on the Nvidia control panel. With a single overclocked GTX 260 I got framerates in the 20 -> 30 range. This meant that gameplay was quite choppy in place, and wasn't really enjoyable at all. Enabled SLI, my framerates jump up to the range of 35 -> 45fps. The result was nice smooth gameplay while enjoying all that detail maxed out at an extreme resolution.

The problem is that some people buy an SLI or Crossfire setup then they run at a fairly low resolution like 1280x1024 and see next to no improvement and wonder why.

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by **profman** » Fri 26 Jun, 2009 12:42 am

You may, for a limited time (until July 11, 2009 or until supplies are exhausted), pre-order at about a 50% discount, the upgrade versions of either Windows 7 Home Premium ($49.99 USD) or Windows 7 Professional ($99.99 USD).

Details may be found at: Windows 7 Pre-Order Offer

The actual release date for Windows 7 is October 22, 2009.

I ordered myself an upgrade copy Windows 7 Professional from Amazon's Windows 7 center. The shipping is free, and I get to use a credit certificate that I had just received. I am soon retiring a computer running Windows XP and plan to couple that computer's XP installation CD with the upgrade version of Windows 7 in order to install Windows 7 on a system that I plan to build some time in the future.

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by **Mandrake** » Fri 26 Jun, 2009 1:17 am

That's not the only way to get Windows Seven. If you buy a new PC after the 26th June with Windows Vista (Premium, Business or Ultimate) preloaded on it then you are eligible for a free upgrade to Windows Seven. (Usually a small fee applies for the shipping of the DVD.)

But, you donâ€™t have to wait until GA to get a new Windows PC. In fact, we know many people need that new PC sooner â€“ for back to school specifically. And we have the answer for people who need a new PC now but still want to get Windows 7 and thatâ€™s the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, which kicks off tomorrow, June 26th! Anyone who buys a PC from a participating OEM or retailer with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate on it will all receive an upgrade to the corresponding version of Windows 7 at little or no cost to customers. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program will be available until January 31st, 2010 â€“ and is global! For more information on taking advantage of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, visit www.windows.com/upgradeoffer.

Link to the Windows Team Blog Announcement

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by **Don_HH2K** » Fri 26 Jun, 2009 8:41 am

profman wrote:You may, for a limited time (until July 11, 2009 or until supplies are exhausted), pre-order at about a 50% discount, the upgrade versions of either Windows 7 Home Premium ($49.99 USD) or Windows 7 Professional ($99.99 USD).

I wonder why they didn't extend the offer to Ultimate as well. Maybe they figure enthusiasts are more likely to dump $219 on it later on?

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by **Tidosho** » Tue 30 Jun, 2009 6:09 pm

This thread i very interesting, as I'm deeply into Windows 7 myself. My copy of Win 7 is running on my testbed laptop which is:

Fujitsu Amilo Li 1818

Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 (w/Centrino) 1.73GHz

2GB DDR2 RAM

Intel GMA950 graphics

It uses the older 945GM chipset, but runs 7 very well. I've been tweaking it, and have found a way to get the old Windows XP Quick Launch back. I wrote in my blog, click the link to see it:

Windows XP Quick Launch in Windows 7

It's nice to get the taskbar back the way it used to be, I'm not a fan of the default way in 7. I hope this is useful to you all.

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by **Tidosho** » Wed 01 Jul, 2009 6:55 pm

Here's my System Properties dialog:

Sorry about the size of the image, my Win 7 testbed runs at 1440x900 on its glossy 17" screen, and graphics look amazing! If this breaks image size rules, I'll change it, but it didn't look right when I tried.

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by **Antony** » Thu 03 Sep, 2009 4:09 am

BusinessWeek reports that Microsoft's best operating system Windows 7 might not be easy for users to upgrade, unless the user has Windows Vista and 16 to 20 GB of free HDD space to shuffle files around.

Further, upgrading from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium would cost US$120. Which is only $9 less than the alleged $129 yearly OS X charge by Apple bashers. (Here in SillyDog701, we have examples.) For the facts: Apple did not roll out a new major Mac OS X version each year, and the latest Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard costs only $29.

source: Windows 7: Upgrading Can Be Hard to Do (BusinessWeek)

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by **James** » Thu 03 Sep, 2009 9:11 am

Antony wrote:
Further, upgrading from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium would cost US$120. Which is only $9 less than the alleged $129 yearly OS X charge by Apple bashers. (Here in SillyDog701, we have examples.) For the facts: Apple did not roll out a new major Mac OS X version each year, and the latest Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard costs only $29.

source: Windows 7: Upgrading Can Be Hard to Do (BusinessWeek)

True. But listen to what Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte have to say on Windows Weekly (TWIT) in this podcast regarding the new Snow Leopard and the so-called "deal" from Apple. It's just another perspective but an interesting one.

It's found here: http://twit.tv/ww

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