OCZ 840 with XP :: pros & cons

I will be building an 840 from barebones in January that will serve double duty as a portable music recording studio, and as a gaming rig. I will gladly sacrifice DirectX10 for stability and peripheral driver support for i/o devices to input microphones, instruments, and mixers, so I would like to install XP.

However, I have never owned a laptop and don't have a full understanding of the necessary driver support (if any) for the actual computer itself, and how drivers for these very new laptops differ from their desktop cousins. In other words, are there drivers out there that i will need for this machine to run properly that will only be available on Vista? I have noticed that even the Beta 8.12 video drivers linked in another post have an available XP download so it seems the really important stuff will be available for XP, but...

...I am looking for general pro's and con's of using XP on a (crossfire enabled) 840 from the collective expertise of the OCZ forum community.

If I have missed a previously posted thread on this subject, sorry, and please link.

Thank you!

 

This rig was built with intentions of XP being compatible. The OCZ Technology website, under their support page, offers XP drivers for download for all major system components. From what I gather, there are no con's for using XP. Only Pros.. aside from future computability issues. But, that's all software oriented.

 

Well that is excellent news!

Thank you, sir

 

I think im going to try Windows 7, I figure WTH worst case I reformat

 

Can the whitebook handle Windows 7? also how stable is its beta(if available)? bummer you wont be able to use the touchscreen capabilities.

 

OCZ does not support XP on this model, the drivers on their site is an incorrect link and is not for this chassis.

 

Yep you can use Vista drivers, i've been hearing really really good things about W7 it's supposed to be a heck of a lot faster than Vista

 

Even on the new Driver Support Page, which correctly represents the Vista drivers? It appears it's fixed compared to the previous support area. Good to know.. But, Don't you have some XP compatible drivers for it?

 

X-masGT We'll know for sure next year when the new OS comes out and they charge you an arm and a leg for it on its 30 different flavors. JK windows.. we love you... LOL. I'm thinking about making a special partition for Linux. though I would like to try out Windows 7 on a partition. just to see how it runs... So you run windows 7 with vista drivers right? They should have just come out with a SP instead of a new OS. Microsoft is desperate for money.

 

I'm down for giving it a dry run..where do I get a copy?

 

We're already on SP2, or 3, or 1, I dunno.. they may have the right idea with Win7, just start fresh..be minimalistic, and have support for everything. Oh, wait.. Be a Mac.

Or, be W7 and stomp that dorky, cool, nasally mac guy into the ground..big, beefy, balding W7.

 

Yes we do support XP but OCZ does not currently support any XP installations. That link is for a different chassis, if you look at the date they are from JUNE. The last response from them was that they will not be supporting XP.

 

Lol.. but I liked having the options of different flavors.. like home basic, home pro, business and ultimate all in 32 or 64 bit.. that was awesome.. I really miss the days when all u had was 3.11 and .. yeah that was it. or 95 or 98 ... and it worked the same for all. Now its buy ultimate and get the missing calculator not included in business + be able to recognize 160 Gb of ram. .. Why not jut come out with the one version and period.. I hope they do that with W7.

 

I see.. I was remembering something different - http://www.ocztechnology.com/drivers/OCZ_17_inch_DIY_Gaming_Notebook__OCZDIY17A2/

z, PM'ing you..

 

PMing Me? why? hehehe I needs to become something more than an Notebook Enthusiast.. I want to be a notebook soulreaper

 

wanna be what?

 

Sent you a PM

 

So, the original question is:

If one were to install XP on this platform anyway, what exactly would be the problems encountered by OCZ not supportng it?

Would it be little issues, or major things, like no network drivers or video etc...

I would really like to have an idea what the end result trade off would be by using XP, so examples wold be great.

Thanks

 

With minimal effort, you can find the more up-to-date drivers for the system. If you take a look at the drivers on the OCZ download page, then do a search on your own accord to find those same drivers in the XP version - I think you'll be just fine. And, you may just run across some that are even more up-to-date than the Vista downloads available. It's really on you man.. As, most folks stick with Vista nowadays, unless using this rig for massive-gaming or benchmarking.

 

Finding XP drivers for Vista only machines SUCK. Heres the best advice I can give you as I did this with my brothers Vista only Toshiba Lappy.

Use CPUz to find out the chipset (its p45 or something I want to say) then start googling away with various terms like "Mobile P45 XP drivers" etc. I'm sure they're there.

When it comes to utilities like the WiFi or such find out the Wireless card used in the machine (you can look at your specs and it'll probably tell you) then you google "Intel XXXX wifi Drivers" XXXX being the Card type. Finding XP drivers can sometimes be tough, but not impossible!

As for me I'm LOVING Windows 7 it seems as fast as XP but with more visual flare than Vista. Drivers with the Windows 7 Alpha's are compatible with Vista my Dual 8800 GT's are purring right along =D

 

you can have directX10 in xp (unofficialy) it works great. at least on my desktop.

 

Yeah, I must have my Windows 3.11 discs somewhere . I just moved and was unpacking all my junk and Wow! These are the OSs I found: Win95, Win98, Win98 SE, ME, NT Workstation, Win2000 Pro, XP Home, XP Pro, and of course the Vista Home Premium I got with the Whitebook. Yeah, Microsoft had us all jumping through the hoops.

I also have an unopened box of OS2 Warp Ver. 4.0. It's great to be able to install all the OSs older than XP where you don't have to go through that activation process!!!

 

what, no Dos 6.22?

piker....