PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

hello,
what do i gain if i upgrade form xp3 to win 7 ultimate? (32bit)
thanks

more ram usage (unless you slim win7 down)
better cpu core/cache usage on modern cpu's with .NET compiled apps
more caching of boot related & often run applications
support for upcoming 4k sector drives (WD Green 2TB atm is the only one afaik)
support for TRIM on SSD's
compatibility issues for older applications & hardware
potential problems for Scope cards under older APIC implementations alongside some wireless NIC drivers and/or gpu drivers under Aero (I tend to frown on disabling Aero to fix things too as that pushes the 'problem' squarely back on the cpu at a high cost compared to Xp32's GDI+.)

Tbh though I'd say that Win7 32bit doesn't offer a compelling upgrade for a machine that's already comfortably running Xp32. What Win7 does offer is the first really compelling 64bit upgrade, or a decent choice for any new machine that's not running legacy applications that are incompatible with UAC. If you're using enough ram on Xp32 that losing 2-300MB to the additional OS overhead will hurt you though, skip it or start planning on 64bit.