Should i switch from XP to Windows 7 before installing CS5?

My computer is 8 years old. My friend sold me a NEVER used Dell Optiplex 745 w/Pentium D and 4gb ram. I am going to buy Photoshop CS5 soon. The Dell has Windows XP but wouldn't it be better to install Windows 7 before I install Photoshop CS5?

There is no "upgrade" from XP to Win 7 so you are going to have to do a clean install of Win 7 and install all your applications, so, that answers your question.

No, that does not answer my question. My question was would CS5 work better off Windows 7 than XP?

ProjectNineFive wrote in post #11956971
My computer is 8 years old. My friend sold me a NEVER used Dell Optiplex 745 w/Pentium D and 4gb ram. I am going to buy Photoshop CS5 soon. The Dell has Windows XP but wouldn't it be better to install Windows 7 before I install Photoshop CS5?

bohdank actually answered your question. He stated to install Windows 7 first before you install all your applications. You asked the same question in the subject as well.

ProjectNineFive wrote in post #11959235
No, that does not answer my question. My question was would CS5 work better off Windows 7 than XP?

Now to answer your TOTALLY DIFFERENT QUESTION WHICH YOU NEVER ASKED. It should.

But I would replace the memory with 8Gb RAM first.

I would then install Windows 7.

Then I would install all your apps, including CS5.

Jeez, give the guy (?) a break.

His question was blatantly: does CS5 run better on W7 than on XP ? Pedantry is just plain bad manners.

To answer your question, mate, all I can say is that CS5 runs a little smoother on W7 than on XP, that might be because I had 3Gb of RAM when I was running XP and now I'm on W7 I have 4Gb. My XP install was 32bit as opposed to my 64bit W7 install, however.

It could also be my imagination trying to justify the expense, as it was fine before the upgrade

I ran the trial version of CS5 under 32 bit XP with 4gig RAM,( but XP only sees 3 and bit). The computer was slow running CS5 and regularly locked up when running bridge.
Switched to Win 7 64 bit with the same 4ig RAM , bought CS5 and everything is fine,it could do with 8gig ram but I cant get a 4gig stick under £110 and the mobo only has two memory slots so its major expense to get 8gig. So I just make a cuppa while its thinking ,I'm not really that rushed for time

Yes! CS5 64bit runs great on Windows 7 64 bit.. Be sure to download and run Microsoft Upgrade Advisor to make sure drivers exist for all of your hardware. If you have a lot of older software that you still want to use you might want to consider Windows 7 64 Professional. It has a compatibility that the lesser versions do not. As far as photoshop plug-ins some smaller vendors have not issued 64bit versions so if this is the case you might need to install both the 32bit and 64bit CS5. Good Luck!

I say yes.

I'd say that it doesn't make a whole heap of difference with the CPU that you have. The Pentium D is from mid 2005 based on 90nm die set. Getting more memory would be hard as it's so out of date that most places don't stock it.

Then you have the driver issues from old cards. Again, the hardware manufacturers don't want to spend much time putting well written drivers for hardware that is not totally obsolete.

Windows 7 has more code and more overhead. stick with XP and save your cash for a newer computer.

mjmackinnon wrote in post #11972276
. stick with XP and save your cash for a newer computer.

My advice too.

mjmackinnon wrote in post #11972276
I'd say that it doesn't make a whole heap of difference with the CPU that you have. The Pentium D is from mid 2005 based on 90nm die set. Getting more memory would be hard as it's so out of date that most places don't stock it.

Then you have the driver issues from old cards. Again, the hardware manufacturers don't want to spend much time putting well written drivers for hardware that is not totally obsolete.

Windows 7 has more code and more overhead. stick with XP and save your cash for a newer computer.

well the OP has a newer machine than what he had with upgrade capabilities!!!!!!!

OP==> I have a dell optiplex 745 that the wife uses...
i would say yes it will work... you can put 4gb ram in it (or 8gb)... and run 64bit Windows 7.
My wife doesnt do editing but it does all she needs.. hers has 4gb ram.. windows 7 32bit...

however....nice thing (as long as you didnt pay much for that machine)... is that it is uprgradable..

did he hook you up with the tower version or small form factor?
small form factor uses 1/2 height video cards and you wont find anything really powerfull... my wifes has a ati 3400hd card and works great...

but i want to also point to an upgrade you can definitely do... keep an eye out for a good processor upgrade... that machine WILL take quad cores!!!!!!!!!! i put a quadcore xeon in one to test it out... also Q6600 cpus work....

only thing you need to upgrade CPU is you need a fan that goes under the hard drive caddy... if you have one there now.. great.. if not.. it isnt bad.. but on power on the computer will MAKE you hit F1 as it says.. thermal fan malfunction or something like that...


soooooo.. mind saying how much you paid?
add these in if you want to..
e6400 cpu - $60ish
q6600 cpu - $109ish

fan also is standard in a 755 so if you can find one from them... higher models may have it.. ill look at our 760 and 780's at work.. but they use 2.5" hd so not sure..

blue part is the fan... http://cgi.ebay.com …ernal&hash=item​5d2711bb58