This is an update on the progress of my personal rig.
I was able to get the new parts put into the old Gateway GT5404 case that I talked about in previous posts and in my YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieZY7QLgAuo).
I am working on getting all of the drivers and BIOS updates installed before comparing benchmark numbers from Cinebench and the Windows Experience to the old configuration of the system. I have successfully installed Windows 7 64-bit on the system and believe my only bottleneck at this time would be the HDD, which I will be replacing in the future with a Solid State Drive.
I am trying to think of different things that I may want to try to do with this computer in the future, including running AMD Dual Graphics or a water-cooling solution. But I think those will be determined by the final choice of case I make.
I have been toying around with the Windows 8 Release Preview (32-bit) for a little bit, during slow times at work, on an older PC that I have.
The PC has an Intel Pentium D 2.8Ghz CPU with 2GB of RAM. I have it setup as a dual-boot between Windows 8 and Vista that came on it. I have installed Classic Shell on it, to get the Start Menu back and to minimize the use of the metro interface, which I am not a fan of at all.
Performance-wise, the computer runs quite smoothly with Windows 8 (especially compared to Vista) and Adobe Flash Player only seems to have crippling effects on the CPU for the first bit of a YouTube video.
Here is the video that I tested with on 720p setting:
The video started at 100% CPU usage (using simple CPU Utliization Gadget) and stablized at 50 - 60% throughout the remainder of the video, which is better than it does on some Windows Vista and Windows 7 videos, where the CPU usage varies and creeps back to 100% causing severe lag. Once the video finished and the system went back to a mostly idle state, the processor was only running at 3%.
I was able to successfully install Google Chrome, Super Anti-Spyware, Microsoft Office Pro 2010 and Visio 2010 with no issues.
I was also able to connect to the PC from a Windows 7 machine using TeamViewer.
Before setting up Classic Shell to get the traditional Windows Start Menu back, I was not fond of Windows 8, but now see it as a usable Operating System to compare to Windows Vista/7. Without Classic Shell, I saw it as more of an OS for a mobile or touch screen device.
I will continue messing around with things on the Release Preview for as long as Microsoft will allow it and will update this blog with anything I find that is great, annoying, or helpful.
