Downgrading Windows 7

[majorben1945]

Would downgrading my M11X to Windows XP prevent any of the Alienware programs from not working and would I have a better gaming experience on it if I went from windows 7 to XP? Also why on websites like this http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ does it say my GT335M has 2.9Gb of VRAM when I have 1Gb of VRAM, it also says that in the MW2 console that I have 2.9

 

[buwish]

This topic has been moved from the section Laptops & Notebooks to section Windows 7 by Buwish

 

[Zoron]

You're not going to notice any significant different in performance by downgrading and you may in fact have poorer performance. I'm assuming you have at least 4GB of RAM in that system and therefore probably have 64-bit Win 7. If you downgraded to 32-bit XP, you'd lose access to any RAM above ~3.5GB. There is also a chance the software will not function on XP, since it was designed for Windows 7.

As for the "VRAM"... Windows will automatically assign excess system memory to video memory if it's required. If you go to detailed performance and system information you will see dedicated graphics memory (1024MB) and total available graphics memory (probably around 3072MB). The total available graphics memory is what is being reported by the other software... not the actual amount of RAM on the video card.

 

[Herr_Koos]

On a modern system with sufficient resources, there is no reason to downgrade to XP. You'll be stuck with an inferior OS for the sake of maybe 5fps difference in some games.

 

[majorben1945]

You're not going to notice any significant different in performance by downgrading and you may in fact have poorer performance. I'm assuming you have at least 4GB of RAM in that system and therefore probably have 64-bit Win 7. If you downgraded to 32-bit XP, you'd lose access to any RAM above ~3.5GB. There is also a chance the software will not function on XP, since it was designed for Windows 7.

As for the "VRAM"... Windows will automatically assign excess system memory to video memory if it's required. If you go to detailed performance and system information you will see dedicated graphics memory (1024MB) and total available graphics memory (probably around 3072MB). The total available graphics memory is what is being reported by the other software... not the actual amjount of RAM on the video card.

But will that total video memory still be how much video memory I use in game
s>?
kkj

 

[Zoron]

No, it is just reporting the amount of RAM available for graphics. The RAM will only be used for graphics if it is needed... otherwise it will be used for any other tasks that happen to be running. Everything is just as it was with XP... the only difference is that Windows Vista and 7 will more accurately report how your RAM is being used.