I did some thinking, some studying and some work over the weekend and here is my plan of action.
1. My Mobo supports AM2 and not AM2+ CPUs. I was not able to get a BIOS update which would enable my Mobo to support AM2+ although I read that many AM2 Mobos would be able to support AM2+ CPUs with a BIOS update, the only limitation being the restriction of HTT speed to the AM2 limit. Perhaps the Jetway M2A692 GDG does have a BIOS update that allows me to plug in a AM2+ proccy but I have not found it. Please point me to it if there is one.
2. I looked at my Win XP startup and disabled many programs that were starting at boot time. This alone gave me a decent improvement. The startup is not so irritatingly slow now.
3. My reading reveals that there are several good Linux distros that will let me migrate from Win XP to linux with very little pain. I am still inquiring which distro to use. So the plan is to wait till my RMAed HDD returns and then install a good Linux distro on a partition thereon. Use it for a while and see if it suits all users at home. If that works for us then I wont bother with buying Win 7. Else, I may buy a Win 7 Home Premium or something later.
4. If I still need speed of bootup and launching apps, I will then install a SSD later this year or early 2011 and enjoy the fun.
1. My Mobo supports AM2 and not AM2+ CPUs. I was not able to get a BIOS update which would enable my Mobo to support AM2+ although I read that many AM2 Mobos would be able to support AM2+ CPUs with a BIOS update, the only limitation being the restriction of HTT speed to the AM2 limit. Perhaps the Jetway M2A692 GDG does have a BIOS update that allows me to plug in a AM2+ proccy but I have not found it. Please point me to it if there is one.
2. I looked at my Win XP startup and disabled many programs that were starting at boot time. This alone gave me a decent improvement. The startup is not so irritatingly slow now.
3. My reading reveals that there are several good Linux distros that will let me migrate from Win XP to linux with very little pain. I am still inquiring which distro to use. So the plan is to wait till my RMAed HDD returns and then install a good Linux distro on a partition thereon. Use it for a while and see if it suits all users at home. If that works for us then I wont bother with buying Win 7. Else, I may buy a Win 7 Home Premium or something later.
4. If I still need speed of bootup and launching apps, I will then install a SSD later this year or early 2011 and enjoy the fun.