I have a desktop, Gigabyte 945GCM-S2L Mainboard, Intel C2D E4500 2.2GHz processor and 1Gb DDR2 RAM. Also has Asus GeForce 210 Graphics card with 1Gb RAM. My kid uses this for net browsing and mainly for playing games like GTA, NFS, Simpsons, Tmforever. My normal procedure is to install the games and then copy the folder to another location and uninstall. Then run from the copied location. Most games do work in this portable mode. Can and should I install Windows 8 on this desktop (I am bored of XP). I do have a spare hard disk to experiment but is it worth the effort. Will the games run? Or am I better off installing Windows 7 (I read that Win 8 consumes less resources). I also have old games like Aladdin, Prince of Persia which kids don't really play much but will these run on Win8? Which version of Win8 is suitable. Do I need to upgrade the RAM or can I first install and do that later?
Hardware wise you are fine! Some more ram would be good though, 1GB these days just isn't enough. I'd say instll win8 on your spare HDD, see how the older games run and then decide from there.
So which version should I install? I read the threads but still not sure. Do i download the RTM version? Will it expire?
It's very simple with Windows 8. Use Windows 8 Pro, it will be the most "normal" Windows 8 installation. If you install Enterprise you will never get Media Center to work, and you will alway need an active KMS server or a stolen/leaked key to stay activated. But if you don't have access to a legit key (that you have paid for) Windows 8 will expire yes. There is no permanent activation method just now.
I don't have any key. Do you think there is going got be a crack soon? I can wait a couple of months, am not in a hurry. Else I will go ahead with Windows 7.
Hi. Yes you can run Windows 8 on your configuration, although for running graphic-intensive games (you be the judge of how graphic-intensive those games are) under anything higher than XP (Vista, 7 and 8), I would recommend at least 2GB of RAM; preferably 4GB of RAM. 1GB of RAM on XP was great, and Windows 7 and 8 work great on just 1GB of RAM: I've put Windows 7 on a computer I built 10 years ago and that I upgraded with 1GB of RAM, and it was definitely usable. It wasn't made to be used for games, though. Windows 8 does indeed consume even less resources than 7 did and is faster to boot and shutdown. Also, I have no idea what nVidia's support is for your graphics card under Windows 8, so you should research that first. Most of my experience in recent years is with ATI/AMD. My final recommendation: find some free partitioning software (Paragon?) and make some unused space on your hard drive, or use a spare hard drive and dual-boot XP and 8. I would install Windows 8 Enterprise; it's a lot less annoying while while it's still unactivated than Windows 8 Pro is. Good luck and have fun! P.S. One more tip once you install Windows 8, the first thing you should install is Classic Shell to give you back a Start Menu; unless you desire to get used to the new "Start Screen" which is totally different. Then you'll have the best of both worlds and still be able to use the new Windows 8 apps when you desire.
Save some money and buy Windows 8 Pro for $39.99 when they release it 26.October. Since there will be no OEM activation activators (like Daz Loader) on windows 8, you have to always use a KMS server (only good for 180 days, then you need a active KMS server for 180 days more etc...) or stolen/leaked keys that will be blacklisted short time after they a released in the wild (when you find it, everybody else including Microsoft has found it also).
$39.99 is for upgrades. Does that mean that I first make my XP desktop genuine and then buy this online? What is KMS server? What are the general MDL users going to do about this? Will people revert back to Windows 7?
I don't think that those, who was getting to work with Windows 8 will revert back! KMS = Key Management Server/Service. That's for the Windows 8 Enterprise which is an corporate version and will be also used in Organizations. Those is lacking the Media Center because corporate's don't need (?!) that as well as organzation's.
At the moment I run Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation (90 days activated) on one machine and Windows 8 Professional unactivated on an other machine. I was need an activated version for to test that all Apps I need to run, special those for development, will work with Windows 8. All what I'll have tested and found good without any problem, I'll install on that Windows 8 Pro Machine for to be ready at the time I could activate with an legit key, October 26. onward! That's the answer for your question. In real, I'll buy several Windows 8 Licenses but will also running 1 machine with XP and on other with Windows 7 Ultimate for some work which I couldn't do with Windows 8. The Webserver will continue running Windows Server 2003 Web Edition for the next one or two years, there isn't any need to change now. For testing I run an Windows Server 2012 now for to get use with it. It's really depend on how my business will run, I'll change from the old 2003 or not.
You don't need an activated Windows XP, Vista or Win7 to do the upgrade. I have tested this on all versions. The upgrade did not stop when I used the upgrade from within Windows 7, when Windows 7 was not activated. On all other Windows installations, you need to start the "upgrade" from boot, and it did not care about activations or not.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you two are talking about two different things. It sounds like you're talking about using physical media (or ISO images) to upgrade Windows. It sounds like windows.seven is talking about using the $40 upgrade option to get a legally license copy of Windows 8 installed.
We don't know yet what MS really will do from October 26. onward! It's possible that MS will change the process and limitations regarding the Upgrade to Windows 8. Till now all legal copies "sold" by MS are bound to some MSDN, TechNet and other prepaid yearly to renew services. I not talking about VL or MAK versions, that's a different story. As off now, those Key's MS gave out are Key's for fully working installation and including upgrades. The Upgrade limited Keys will be available October 26. onward and only than we'll know if there any special limitations for to be able to "upgrade" or not. Everything else talking about those matter will be rumor till the Public Final is available on October 26. By the way, I'm not talking about the may or may not possible available not so legal activations.