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Is this computer configuration good for Windows Vista?


ppgrainbow

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Here's a follow-up to a previous thread that I made last week: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/170528-considerding-going-back-to-windows-vista/

Since I won the retail copy of Windows Vista Ultimate on eBay for $74, I needed to look for a new custom built PC that still supports Windows Vista on modern hardware even though the OS is out of Mainstream Support.

Tell me this. Will any of the configurations that I made work under Windows Vista? All of this stuff that I configured, but not finalised will cost more than $800. Here's a run down of what it could look like.

1. NZXT Guardian 921RB mid-size computer tower.
2. ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 motherboard supporting up to 32 GB DDR3 RAM.
3. Eight core 3.6 GHz AMD FX8150 processor w/16 MB cache.
4. Cooling: Ultra-performance coolin, copper heat-pip heatsink, high air-flow cooling fan, Artic Silver 5, a 120mm/92m case fan.
5. 8 GB DDR3-1600 RAM (single channel).
6. 2 x 1 TB SATA III hard drives.
7. PCI-e 6-pin compliant 600-watt Coolmax power suuply.
8. 24x DVD/RW optical driver.
9. NVIDIA GeForce GT610 graphics card w/1 GB GDDR3 video RAM.
10. Standard build option, burn-in, test & ship out.
11. One year manufacturer repair/replacement product warranty (expires in December 2014)
12. PCI IDE controller.
13. Internal all in one flash card reader.
14. Wireless PCI-e network card.

Having all of this is going to cost me over $800 and will consume 200 more watts per quote from the Barebones computers section on Portatech: http://www.portatech.com/products/product.cshtml?id=70310&o=71327

Let me know what you think, because I am NOT planning to run Windows 2000 as the host OS in 2014 and I will no longer have access to the old computer also.

Edited by ppgrainbow
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I would not use Vista in combination with the FX CPUs. Their module concept is unknown to the Vista Kernel. For th FX CPUs you should use Windows 8.x.

Thank you for telling me. I have a couple of questions to ask here.

1. Which multi-core CPU should work under Windows Vista?

2. And why is the FX module comcept unknown and untested under Windows Vista?

By the way, AMD came out with its FX CPUs before in late 2011 and months before Windows Vista went out of Mainstream Support.

Also, I heard that the CoolMax PSUs can present a firehazard that can kill hardware very easily overtime.

Edited by ppgrainbow
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the module concept is explained a bit here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldozer_%28microarchitecture%29

and it was developed after Vista was released. Even Win7 has issues to efficiently work with the modules. MS released a fix to improve it, but not for Vista (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2645594/en-us). They are no real cores, so putting threads on the right modules is important.

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the module concept is explained a bit here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldozer_%28microarchitecture%29

and it was developed after Vista was released. Even Win7 has issues to efficiently work with the modules. MS released a fix to improve it, but not for Vista (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2645594/en-us). They are no real cores, so putting threads on the right modules is important.

Thanks for the help.

Even if there are no fixes for the AMD FX processors will Windows Vista still function okay even without the hotfix?

I've also heard that the Bulldozer CPU under Windows has been met with mixed results, especially since the FX 8150 was performing poorly in the benchmarks. Also, in late 2011, AMD admitted that their FX processors didn't meet up to expectations and in early 2012, there were lots of compatibility issues associated with the FX processor too.

Now, which multi-core processor would be better, btw? If you have any ideas, let me know.

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it works "ok", but not very good.

I've used a X4 with Vista, so you can try to get a X6

Well...here's what I've decided and what should be good to go with Windows Vista, just to be on the safe side. Here's a update on the specs:

1. NZXT Guardian 921 RB Black Mid-Tower Case w/blue LED, ATX

2. Fractal Design Integral R2 500W Power Supply, 80 PLUS® Bronze, 24-pin ATX12V v2.31 EPS12V, 1x 8/6-pin PCIe

3. ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0, AM3+, AMD® 970, DDR3-2133 (O.C.) 32GB /4, PCIe x16, SATA 6 Gb/s RAID 5 /6, USB 3.0 /2, HDA, GbLAN, ATX

4. AMD Phenom II X4, Socket AMD3 w/Phenom II X4 955 (4 x 3.2 GHz - 8 MB Cache)

5. Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler, Socket 2011/1155/1156/1366/775/FM1/AM3/AM2, 159mm Height, Copper/Aluminum

6. Cooler Master Thermal Compound, 1.0 g

7. Crucial 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) Ballistix Sport XT PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1.5V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

8. EVGA GeForce® GT 610 810MHz, 1 GB DDR3 1000MHz, PCIe x16, HDMI + DVI + VGA

9. 2 x Western Digital 1TB WD Caviar® Blue (WD10EZEX), SATA 6[Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache

10. Lite-on iHAS124 Black 24x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA

11. Nippon Labs ICR-EE Black 1.44 MB Floppy Drive + All-in-One Card Reader Combo Drive, 3.5" Bay

12. Encore ENEWI-1XN42 Wireless N510 PCI-e Adapter, 2dbi Antenna

13. StarTech 2 Port PCI IDE Controller Adapter Card, two dual channel IDE conectors, four IDE devices, 28-bit LBA

I made some modifications regarding the computer specs and I'm closing in on finalising it. It seems that Portatech wasn't being specific on what type of brand of the components that I want here.

What do you think? :)

To try to reduce costs and power, I may replace the CRT monitor with a LCD/OLED monitor in the near future.

Edited by ppgrainbow
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For the money you are going to spend I strongly believe an Intel based machine would be far more adequate. An i5 with an h87 motherboard and integrated graphics is going to use less power, put out less heat and be more powerful than an AMD based machine.

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you can also use a newer Intel i3/5 (Hasswell) with the integrated GPU if you don't do gaming. They use less power.

For the money you are going to spend I strongly believe an Intel based machine would be far more adequate. An i5 with an h87 motherboard and integrated graphics is going to use less power, put out less heat and be more powerful than an AMD based machine.

Thanks so much for telling me. I'll look up online for what other options that I can consider. :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Vista runs good on FXs, if you disable turbo core.

As for power consumption and temps, My 8320 uses 94W on prime95 with max heat/power consumption setting. As for the temps, they never go above 54c.

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Vista runs good on FXs, if you disable turbo core.

As for power consumption and temps, My 8320 uses 94W on prime95 with max heat/power consumption setting. As for the temps, they never go above 54c.

Thank you for telling me. Can Turbo Core features be disabled in the UEFI BIOS on the M5A97 R2.0 motherboard?

Why doesn't Windows Vista work correctly with Turbo Core capabilities?

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