Win 7 Upgrade for Gaming...Clean install, or not?

M

Markdek

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2007
Messages
1,471
I'm a gamer, and I'm getting 2 copies of Win 7 to upgrade from Vista OEM builders edition. I don't want to do clean installs, if I don't have to. Does anyone have experience on the "quality" of past Vista or the new 7 upgrade path, without a clean install?

Thxs.

.
 
Clean install will be better, just bite the bullet and do it. It really isn't THAT bad but 100% worth it over some upgrade that you eventually will have problems with.
 
upgrading from vista to 7 is a breeze. A clean install is NOT necessary.

While recommended with past OS upgrades, i dont believe it is an issue anymore.
 
Clean install, always.

Also, upgrading takes forever compared to a fresh install.
 
I did a Vista -> Win7RC and have no had no issues. Several friends have as well.

It should go smoothly. If not, then you can reformat =)
 
I did Vista 64 to Win 7 64 RC upgrade w/o issue. I don't see why retail would be any different.
 
It's a personal preference, I Never, ever ever do an in place upgrade. Alway fresh install, seen it too damn many times over the years that an upgrade just isn't quite right. In fact I cancelled my preorder from MS for 7 because I can't do a fresh install have to upgrade.... anyway I digress.
 
I appreciate the advice......but, as you can see from the posts it's a mixed bag. I wish there was something definitive I could use to decide. As said above though, I can always re-install again and do it clean if the upgrade doesn't go well. This sounds like the best of both worlds.

One machine would be easy to do a clean install....the other desktop would be a bear.

.
 
Last edited:
There is no definitive answer because as you can see, an upgrade does work. That being said, enthusiasts like a clean system to start with and that is what most of us will do. It can't take more then an hour to get your system back up and running, as [H] proved, 7 installs in 10 minutes flat.

I get a folder of all the most used small apps and utilities before hand and put them on a flash drive to install once the new OS is back up.

As for the bigger apps and games, just install them once you need them.
 
I did an in place upgrade and had no ill effects. Updated drivers prior to the upgrade and all went well.
 
I actualy upgraded a 32bit XP MCE system to vista ultimate then directly to windows 7 and it works absolutely brilliantly as my HTPC still. No ill effects.
 
I'm going to upgrade vista 64 to win7 64 no clean install here. I'm sure it will be fine and I do not wanna reinstall all the games I currently have installed. If for any reason I see a problem or odd behavior I will do a clean install. If there's no I see no reason to make life harder than it has to be. Vista and 7 are so similar there's no reason not too.
 
Savoy said:
I'm going to upgrade vista 64 to win7 64 no clean install here. I'm sure it will be fine and I do not wanna reinstall all the games I currently have installed. If for any reason I see a problem or odd behavior I will do a clean install. If there's no I see no reason to make life harder than it has to be. Vista and 7 are so similar there's no reason not too.
Click to expand...

Yes, Vista and 7 are similar....I am going w/ this option, and I can always do a clean install later, if needed.

.
 
I've Only had Issues with Win7 upgrades on trouble machines. Done about 6 so far with two having issues, they worked fine with a clean install.

Bottom line - Clean install is always better in the long run but as long as you don't have existing issues you should have no problems - Clean install just sidesteps the possibility.
 
I haven't decided which way to go on my Vista 64 gaming machine. I usually do clean installs, but my Vista system is pretty clean since I use it only for gaming. I'm leaning towards just upgrading over Vista so I can avoid the hassle of figuring out which games I have to de-activate and re-activate or other DRM issues.
 
I really haven't payed attention much but I assume no drivers, chipset,video,sound and eithernet, need to be updated or reinstalled after the win7 install right? Everything that currently works in your vista install should just work upon entering a fresh boot after 7 installs. Did I miss anything?
 
I too will assume that the Visa drivers will work in 7, but I plan on re-updating the drivers to 7 specifically after the install...like for my mouse, video, etc.
 
Last edited:
I did in-place upgrades from XP -> Vista -> Win 7 RC and all went well.

The XP even had a couple of repair installs done to it as well.
 
Just as well uninstall any nvidia drivers before doing an upgrade. Otherwise the nvidia control panel ends up with a version mismatch and you have to uninstall/reinstall anyway.
 
While an upgrade might work just fine, it also might not.

By just biting the bullet and doing a clean install you're vastly improving the odds for a more stable and smoother running system, especially since Vista was neither of those things. I'd rather do one install than risk having to do it all over again because the upgrade downed a PC.

Vista and 7 are similar in the same way a Pinto and a Porche are similar. Sure they are both cars, but you can't treat one like the other and expect the same results. Vista was an abortion from the get go, and I wouldn't want any part of it left on a machine I was putting 7 on. Win 7 may look the same, but under the hood it's nothing like Vista.

In 6 years as a tech, we never did upgrades, it was clean installs or find another company to do it for you, and dont call us to fix it later. Just not worth the hassle if the OS gets borked during the upgrade and won't boot, so data recovery becomes a possible nightmare.

Yer gonna do what you want to anyway, so good luck. ;)
 
I formatted and started clean. It sucked, but I had it all going again in about two days.
 
Considering how similar Win7 is to Vista, an upgrade would most likely be perfectly fine. I'd personally do a fresh install just to make sure, however.
 
I'll do the upgrade and if I see any odd issues then I'll format. No reason to do that unless needed.
 
Format is always better because it cleans out old junk. Temp files, program files, porn files...
 
i'd opt for a clean install to wipe out my old dx10 directory and get it replaced with some dx11 stuff.
some software and hardware drivers have been tweaked for windows 7.
 
I always do a clean install just because I am a truly paranoid person and I dont want to have to deal with any potential issues down the line.
 
dekruyter said:
I'm a gamer, and I'm getting 2 copies of Win 7 to upgrade from Vista OEM builders edition. I don't want to do clean installs, if I don't have to. Does anyone have experience on the "quality" of past Vista or the new 7 upgrade path, without a clean install?

Thxs.

.
Click to expand...
FYI you're going to notice absoutely zero difference in performance between 7 and Vista on your systems. You should of saved your money for hardware.
 
i did it twice,

Once i upgraded from vista to 7 and it took 2 hours to do it (i had a 6month install of vista)

then i formatted and did a reash install, took 30 mins and was setup and ready to go.
 
bigdogchris said:
FYI you're going to notice absoutely zero difference in performance between 7 and Vista on your systems. You should of saved your money for hardware.
Click to expand...
windows 7 is a better OS though, at least if you use your system for anything that isn't gaming :)

i originally did an upgrade install over vista, but it had some issues. did a clean install on my x25-m and it's great (even with just the RC). when the final version comes on thurs, i'll do another clean install cuz i'm just crazy like that.
 
I love the "clean slate" feel of a fresh install. Sure, itll take a while to get everything back up and running, but itll ensure that some unnecessary junk that slipped in your hard drive will get wiped out. For me, it's also a good opportunity to reinstall recent versions of apps that I've been neglecting to update lol. It'll also make me not want to reinstall some games that have been sitting idle before, and thus saves some space :D.
 
I only have about a month on this vista 64 install, but I'll be doing a complete install of 7. I do fresh installs every year or so on all my computers and figure it's probably a good idea to keep the habit going.
 
"Computers" as a hobby is dying....

We should all be doing clean installs just for the sake of being [H]ard.
 
Limahl said:
especially since Vista was neither of those things.
Click to expand...

For who? I upgraded to Vista 32 the day it came out and about 3 months later I clean installed to the 64 bit version and I never had a problem. It was fast and stable, there were times it'd be on upwards of 15 or 16 days straight.

In fact I see little difference between Vista and my Win 7 install other than the new taskbar. As far as performance in games and stability goes they're pretty much identical.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top