My present PC's specs are:
MB: D102GGC2 with onboard ATI Radeon Xpress 200
2 GB DDR2
P-4 3.0 Ghz
Its about two years old. The problem is that when I tried to run
Windows 7 on it, there were a lot of problems. First, the Aero theme would simply not start. Then I found a driver after a lot of searching, and got the Aero running, but if I start an HD video, the graphics card crashes - it gives a message that the driver stopped working and was started successfully. Sometimes the computer just freezes with coloured lines all over the screen. Also, XP mode won't run because the PC has no hardware virtualization.
I run mainly XP so it isn't such a big problem, but I'm buying another PC, for home, and while no one is going to play games on it, I want it to run Windows 7 smoothly, and I want it between 15 and 18K. My assembler has suggested the following configuration:
MB: Biostar G31D - M7
P-4 2.8 Ghz HT
2 GB DDR2 RAM
18.5 inch HCL TFT
and the other stuff.
Will this config run Windows 7 properly? The MB is not
Intel, so I might get an Intel original one instead. I also asked for dual core, but my assembler says this HT one is better.
Please advise.
HT is older. P4 2.8 HT is very old, but I doubt that he's going to use an old Socket 478 processor as I would have known them years ago... Core2Duo is newer and better, but more expensive (may be out of your budget, I don't know off hand), so the processor suggested should be sufficient. The motherboard can run pretty much any of the Intel-brand CPUs you can throw at it today, so if you feel the need you could upgrade to C2D in 1 year I guess and sell off the old one on
Ebay.
Genuine Intel boards aren't that great in my experience, and usually quite expensive by comparison with some other brands. I'd suggest Gigabyte or
Asus (NOT Asrock) boards. Gigabyte are usually good value for money.
2GB is about the minimum amount of RAM you'd see in a PC these days. You could try and increase it to 3 or 4GB, but try and get good quality.
Kingston ValueRAM, if you can.
These days an LCD monitor is an LCD monitor is an LCD monitor. Back in the day I'd have recommended Viewsonic (excellent warranties), but nowadays it's a big ??????.
Samsung are also pretty good.
All in all, pretty much anything you buy (so long as it's new) will run Windows 7. Also suggest a separate graphics card if you can fit it in your budget, especially if you want to do any kind of gaming. If it's just office work and solitaire, no need.
