Sorry, but i wasn't able to include the pics here. This is the original news though.
How to get Windows Aero on an old computer
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(How to get the clear windows and effects and transparency) This
article was made and published by powermac82. Nope, this was NOT
made by "The IT God". I am also the head of the Marktech organization.
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You are sitting in your room, yelling at your computer to do that download you asked for 5 hours ago. A minute later, you are yelling at it for not having compatible parts. After that, your friends come over and take a laugh at your dinosaur and later you scream at it asking it why it can't run those coll graphical effects. Well buddy, what can I say? I am here to help you resolve that issue, and I am going to put a smile on you and your computer's face.
Now before we begin, you must make sure that:
-Your computer's motherboard has at least an AGP graphics socket for the video card.
-That the processor has at least 1Ghz of processing power to it.
-That you know what you are doing.
-That you have the money to buy all of the parts. (Trust me, they aren't as expensive as you think they are.)
Alrighty then, let's get started. For a computer to run windows aero, a computer must meet the requirements. Here is a list below of what is reccommended by me to run windows aero smoothly as a minimum.
an AGP Nvidia GeForce 6200 GT AO with 256MB of video RAM.
at least 768MB or system RAM. (the 768MB +256MB VRAM will fool the system into thinking it actually has 1GB of RAM)
20GB HDD
Windows vista or Windows 7
An intel pentium 4 @ 1.4Ghz is reccomended as a minimum requirement for smoothness, but you can go as low as a 1.0Ghz Pentium 3. or a 1.0Ghz celeron. (please for your own sake never use a celeron, they are slow and cheap break easily.)
Here is what you can go by with:
Nvidia GeForce FX5700U with 128MB of video RAM
896MB or 1024MB of system RAM
20GB HDD
like I said earlier, you can go by with an intel pentium 3 @1.0Ghz. Pentium 2 processors may not go as high as 1.0Ghz but if you can find one like that fast, consider yourself lucky if your computer is that old.
Windows vista or Windows 7
NOTE: Make sure the edition of windows you are using is at least a home premium, otherwise you will have to watch a youtube video or go on a website to change the registry value to enable aero.
Now unless your computer meets those specs now, I suggest you go buy yourself a nice bunch of parts for your computer. Unless you are the "Patient" type of person, you can wait 3 lifetimes while the window restores from the taskbar halfway up. Alrighty then, let's get started.
If your computer already has Windows vista or 7 preinstalled or installed already, then you have saved yourself alot of time right there. If you need to know how to get aero skipping the whole windows installation process, please scroll farther down until you see a big title called "Continued".
1. The Windows installation Process.
Before you even think of installing your new fancy parts, you must make sure your computer is capable of Windows Vista or 7 in the first place. You will need a:
at least a 1.0Ghz processor
768-1024MB of RAM, depending on what typw of video card you install
An AGP video card (or whatever one that fits your computer) that has alot of video RAM (example: Nvidia GeForce 6200 GT AO with 256MB of VRAM)
Now back up your files, and install windows vista or windows 7. We cannot explain how to install windows vista or 7 here because this topic is about how to get Windows Aero on an old computer. If you would like to know how to install windows Vista or 7 on your computer, google it.
2. Continued
Ok medeokers, you have made it all the way to here. If your computer meets the specs for windows aero, try refreshing the index score of this computer and you will get it. If you have an older video card and you just put in a new one, refresh the index score.
(Tip) If you don't know how to get to the index score, follow these instructions:
1. Click start.
2. Control panel
3. System
4. then click "Index rating is not available" or "Windows expirience index" link.
5. Next to the shield (with 4 colors) click "Refresh my score.
5. Now enter the password or click continue on the UAC window.
6. wait a few minutes while the system checks itself. If everything goes ok, then you have successfully sucked the life out of your computer and enabled windows Aero!
3. Troubleshooting!!! =(
1) Before you assume anything, make sure you have the required specs up above, and make sure your video card is from at least June 2004 or later. If it is not, there is not as much of a chance of it working. it might work, but at the same time, think about it, the newer the better.
2) It's not your motherboard that won't be incompatible, it's the video card that we are rolling the dice on. For all we care you can have 10 pentium pro processors all running at 100Mhz to make up a 1.0Ghz 10-core CPU, but the thing is, it all depends on the graphics card.
3) Watch out for system overheats. If you put "Just enough" specs, you might wanna watch out for a computer's worst enemy- HEAT! Since lower specs make stuff work harder, you will have the tower hot enough to cook eggs in no time. Unless you put a super system CPU cooler, I wouldn't recommend low system specs like that
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4) My opinion about it:
I am very happy with what I did, and I definately am the first known person to get aero running on a computer old like that. Anyone else did it before me? Well, ya should have documented it and wrote it 'cause now it's too late.
Here is a before image:
And here is an after picture:
And to prove it to you that i'm not lying, i will show you the specs.
I had a different background earlier, so that's why it looks different. I blocked the "Product ID" so no one can steal my product key.
Here is a snapshot of the expirience index.
I have some shared graphics memory which gave me 384MB of video RAM on a 10 year old computer. (NOPE I DID NOT HACK BIOS)
Did you see that? This is a gateway E-4600 (ATXSTF MNT Performance 1400) from all the way back in 2001. They said some unflattering things about it back then, and they said it was a bad or "Not the best in performance" tower. Well look at it now! I spraypainted it orange and black to make it look better.
This picture below is not a picture of my tower. It's off of a website that inspired my to spraypaint my tower and mod it.
Now see the resemblence?
Here is a snapshot of what it originally looked like when they came out in 2001:
Well ladies and gentlemen, what can I say? I have just shown you how to turn your sad story into a new life and got your computer out there in the real world! Now it's capable! Now it works! Don't give up on your computer simply because of age! Look what I did to an 10-year-old gateway E-4600, and look what happened. Most of you people can't even get aero on 4 or 5 year old computers. Now that's just sad. I never would have thought that just an average (well actually at the time it was top of the line) computer from the dinosaur age could make it to the real world of computers, and that it is now capable. 384MB of video RAM is decent and in some cases only OK these days, but you've gotta understand this compter only shipped with 256MB of RAM, and video RAM, a dismal 32MB or VRAM. For my computer to have more VRAM now it had RAM to start out with is amazing to me. You are inviting your friends over, and they see what you did to the computer. They don't laugh, but instead make positive comments about the computer. Hooray! you won your reputation back! I guess this is goodbye until next time ladies and gents. See ya later!
