Every couple of years I upgrade my computer with bits donated by my cutting edge kids.
I now have a motherboard with 8 gig of memory, a triple core processor, a blank 1tb HD, but no OS, I am just about to order Windows 7 home premium
64bit SP1 from ebuyer, before I press the button, does anyone recommend I go for 8, or a different version of 7.
Advice eagerly awaited
(no votes for Linux as I don't have clue how it works or how to get drivers for all my PCI bits and bobs)
Best to stick with 7, definately dont want 8 unless youve got a touch enabled display.
Personally I'd go for 8 (I have done on both our PCs), but then install the free download "Classic Shell" which lets you boot straight to the desktop, re-instates the Start Button, IE's menu bars, etc. and will let you select the look and feel of 7, XP or Windows Classic. That way you get the latest OS (8 is a little more efficient than 7), but the familiarity of whichever version of Windows you prefer.
If you go with 8 you might find that it doesn't have the correct drivers to set everything up on your older motherboard, so it would be best to stick with 7.
I have also decided to go for a SSD 60GB drive for which ever OS I go for, anyone else go for 8 with classic shell?
I've got Windows 8 64 bit with Stardock 8 which is commercial solution to fix the
ridiculous "Modern" interface, it's only 5 US Dollars. Without it I doubt my PC would have survived until now as I'd probably
have stamped on it in a rage 
With the proper start menu, Windows 8 seems fine. It's very fast with an SSD due to the hybrid sleep mode, mine
boots in under 5 seconds.
So far I have found no significant issues or incompatibilities, the worst for me being the Cisco VPN client I use when working at home that stops
Windows shutting down after using it, but this is due to be fixed (by Cisco).
[Edited on 8/7/13 by MikeRJ]
quote:
Originally posted by Brett Jones
If you go with 8 you might find that it doesn't have the correct drivers to set everything up on your older motherboard, so it would be best to stick with 7.
Go with 8....
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
Every couple of years I upgrade my computer with bits donated by my cutting edge kids.
I now have a motherboard with 8 gig of memory, a triple core processor, a blank 1tb HD, but no OS, I am just about to order Windows 7 home premium 64bit SP1 from ebuyer, before I press the button, does anyone recommend I go for 8, or a different version of 7.
Advice eagerly awaited
(no votes for Linux as I don't have clue how it works or how to get drivers for all my PCI bits and bobs)
I also use Windows 8 with a start button/classic shell app. I like it. To be fair I also liked it without the Start button, but my IT man at work didn't! With an SSD, it is bloody quick. I have had a few issues to sort, but nothing tricky.
+1 for Linux. If you are used to the look and feel of Windows XP or Windows 7 then use Linux Mint as you will be able to use it straight away with no issues or conflicts.
Classic shell is good it get rid of the biggest objection to Windows but but some Windows 8 annoyances remain, to b be fair most version of the Windows interface have niggling differences in thse interfaces to the techie stuff such as Control Panel and Networking.
be very careful going with a 60Gb SSD, I did this on the win7 machine at home and it very quickly became full even though I was using it for the OS
only. you can get round it be redirecting some storage to other drives but its a pain. In the end I buckled and splashed for a 250Gb drive.
[Edited on 9/7/13 by snakebelly]