Upgrade to Windows 7

The Installation

• As advise on the quick start, I disable the antivirus that run and then running setup.exe from the CD without any drama. The program asked whether want to do update of the installation program immediately and start the installation.
• Reboot: It takes 5 reboots before the computer run on Windows 7. Not really impressed with this as it remind me of all other previous windows
• Time to install: I cannot get this – I think I run one of the fastest PC (at least upper range): I7-920 on 3Ghz with Western Digital Black HDD, but I still need just under 75 minutes before the first boot. That’s 1 hour and 15 minutes !
• Good stuff: the installation is literally without assist. The first prompt for putting the 25 digit Product Key was about 1 hour after start.  I have to wonder: whether this is one of newest anti-piracy measure by Microsoft. Imagine if you have spent 1 hour only to find that the product key is not good. I can see a grin from Microsoft there…
• The default login background is  a bit too feminine for me.
• The upgrade preserve my custom theme and background – a bit nice surprise here
• The quick launch bar is gone. I have left with the default huge”pin bar” consists of IE, Explorer and Windows Media Player shortcut – so need to start over here creating quick launch like folder/toolbar….
• The windows sidebar that previously disable in preference of Google sidebar is now activated again. I login with 2 sidebar active overlapping each other
• The “Aero peek” to see the desktop without minimize everything is coollll!!
• But cannot really notice any performance improvement…

Let’s give it a few days or week before judging further of the new release…. But so far I will give it 6 out of 10 mark

Norton UAC (User Access Control) Tools

One of must-install program/tools if you are running windows Vista is Norton UAC Tools. It saves you from frustration created by Windows default UAC that ask question and confirmation every minutes…

Now, for windows 7, we should not required its service anymore. Better uninstall the Norton UAC before upgrading. I did not do this, and all program that need privilege access, such as: regedit, etc, gave me a windows pop up that reads:

“Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source”

After uninstall it in Safe mode, all go back to normal. Without uninstall, you will practically stuck.

Of course what I am talking here is a Personal Computer (PC)

First and The Foremost: The Processor

Regardless of your purpose for computer,  for play games, running engineering/scientific simulation, play multimedia/movie, or just for typing and general use, the most important component that you need to decide first is the Processor.

Processor -or- Micro-processor to be more precise, is the brain and heart of your computer system. This component is the one determine almost every other component that need to be bought and install in the system. So, as first step you need to short list your processor.

There are only 2 major Processor brands at this moment:  Intel http://intel.com and AMD http://amd.com

At first Intel was the one making the Processor and AMD just clone it. But these days, although Intel still in domination, both company is fighting head to head in advancing the technology. Most processor made by Intel, there usually be the alternative made by AMD.  In general AMD is cheaper than Intel, but since Intel is the market leader, some people chose to go with Intel for better peace of mind. The quality and performance and reliability are similar.

So, go to their website and spend sometime to check what processor is on offer currently matched with your need.

For Intel, they have a page called “Find Your Right Processor” to help. Just choose “Desktop Processor” and currently you will be given 4 choices: i7 Extreme, i7, Quad Core and Core Duo. So basically, “Core Duo” have 2 “core” (processing unit), and the rest has 4 cores. Just by this page you start your process of elimination: single core is out to dtae , maybe also double core. Then probably to last good for quite length of time, you need to go to the one with 4 cores. There are 2 alternatives: i7 or Quad core. You probably don’t want to choose the “Extreme” one since it just paying premium for the same technology – it’s probably the fastest but you probably don’t mind wait a few milisecond more but getting better price, don’t you ?

Then go deeper by getting some of the model number of the processor:

• Quad Core: Q9550, Q9400, etc…
• i7 Core: i7-920, i7-940, i7-940

Define Your Budget

After you know various processor number, you need to define your budget: how much money you will put for this upgrade (do not include monitor, printer or other external unit – just the tower/CPU – Central Processing Unit)

This is quite important step to prevent you “getting emotional” and got carried away with further process.

Research Ebay

The next step is to research Ebay. Go to Ebay http://ebay.com.au (or your country’s version). Just type processor number and “PC” and you will get various offer that you can bid or purchase. This step is not advising you to buy from Ebay or not, this is just to do the market price research. You need to know in general how much is the complete PC based on the processor that you chose above. Use tracking file to compare one another.  For example you can use the spreadsheet here: Excel Version / Open Office Version

Of course you can get some price snapshot from other website or shop, but consider Ebay is where the market all flock into, it will be a good start for your research.

You should be warn that there will be countless configuration that can be on offer, for example: this seller offer 3MB RAM with 1.5TB HDD but the other only 6MB RAM with only 500GB Hard disk, etc. Hence, the spreadsheet above will help you together with the component price (discussed below) to get comparable price among each other.

Finalize Your Configuration

With some info of complete PC above, finalize your configuration / specification:

• How much memory you want?
• What motherboard model you need?
• What casing you want to use?
• How puch power supply you need?
• What and How big the hard disk ?
• Any Operating System (buying operating system during upgrade is the cheapest as it qualifies for OEM price)
• Any special cooler / fan needed for CPU or casing ?
• Any other accessories wanted?

Note to be taken here that unless you know exactly the part/ technology and its variation, combining one part and other just because you feel that’s the best could lead to some compatibility issue. So, you should start with something that has been tested – which is – the configuration reveal by all those seller you compare above.

Check Component Price

Once you finalized your configuration, it’s time to check individualy the price of each component. It’s really important as you will know whether it’s cheaper to just buy from Ebay or store (sometimes!) or assemble yourself and learn (and proud) from it. Here some Australian computer supplier that is well known for their bargain price:

• http://www.itestate.com.au/
• http://www.msy.com.au/
• http://www.pcdiy.com.au/
• http://www.fluidtek.com.au/ (look for some daily combo bargain!)

If the part that you need is not sold by them then either it is too exotic and not common, or it is too early to try to get it (still very new). Either way if you cannot find the item listed by any of those site above, you might do some Googling and find it elsewhere, but expect pay some premium.

Hunt that Parts Down

So, the final part before you actually start the assembling process is : to hunt all those part down ! Take a few days or few weekend to collect all correct part before you start, and get ready to make your own computer !

Hope this helps. Good luck with your research and computer upgrade plan !

Either for upgrading or getting a brand new one, assembly your own PC is not that difficult. You don’t have to be geek or computer expert, just basic understanding and reading this series of article, you will find that it is not that difficult. It will make you proud to yourself and save a bit of money on the making. Of course, if you are computer enthusiast, probably this skill is a must have one.

This is exactly why computer business is spreading like crazy, it is just not difficult. But hanging there could be difficult, as so many competitor on the market, the shop need to slash profit margin to just get order, hence not many survive that long.

The Fundamental

The technology in computer world is really still lighning fast. Meaning the most advance technology today could become obsolete as early as next year. Or on the other way around, something that very expensive today, could be very cheap next year.

Hence, to prevent a frustration that you always be behind (e.g: your computer seems so slow and sluggish) then you need to “future proof” your purchase of new computer. It does not mean that you buy the most expensive thing in the market, no – absolutely no, but you need acquire the latest technology but don’t pay premium (I’ll come back to this later on example below). The goal is to make your new computer survive for the next 5 – 6 years. You might be paying 30% extra compare to if you just buying what is “good enough” today, but it will prevent you to purchase another new one just to keep up.

For example: having memory of 256MB on your computer 5 years ago will be very good. But these days, even 1 GB is not enough for some decent application. Now, if your motherboard cannot really handle more than 1GB, then you don’t have a choice but getting a new motherboard (hence, new processor, etc, etc) – But what if this particular motherboard can still take up to 4GB, then you just buy a new memory chip.

This is what I meant, 5 years ago to buy 512 MB probably will cost you $500 more, but purchased a motherboard that can take up to 4GB could be just $20 different. If you just buy the double memory 5 years ago, you were paying premium . Why? Because the price of memory chip is significantly cheaper over time.

Another example: 5 years ago, having 80GB harddisk in your computer will make people gasps. The “average” was around 40GB or even 20GB. But at this point, having 500GB harddisk is just a norm. If you push to have even 120GB HDD 5 years ago, then you were pauying premium. But , how about if you just take a motherboard that can have up to 4 HDD, then whenever you needed you just add another one.

Purchase or Upgrade a New One

My recommendation, as long as you can still upgrade your computer (just replacing some component with better one and still works) then no need to purchase the new one. In this case you will get the most value of your money.

If upgrading is not really possible or too much hassle, then better concentrate on taking a brand new computer from scratch.

For example: my current computer is roughly 6 years old now (Athlon XP 1800+ on Soltek SL-75DRV5 on 1.5GB memory) – It was a good 6 years running, but at this stage I find it difficult to further upgrade it. For a start, it refuses to recognise 1GB SDRAM (even the low density one) hence I am stuck with 1.5GB from 3 slot. Then lately I keep getting random BSOD (Blue Screen of Death from Windows) with high degree of certainty that it was not cause by software, virus/trojan or even memory. I have changed the Power Supply Unit (PSU) – my reliable Zalman 350W – suspecting those leakage currents from motherboard need more power. It helps a lot and reduce the BSOD significantly, but still not realiable.

The problem is I am doing some live index trading on share market among other things that reliability is paramount. It’s not funny at all when your contract is running and suddenly you need to restart the computer due to BSOD. It could caused thousands of dollar lost in few minutes.

So, after thoughtful consideration, I decided to purchase a new one and make my self the best trading computer at deep discount. The current computer, still running well less some reliability, it a perfect computer for just browsing the net or computer learning for my 5 years old.

So, here is my first step: research the current market.