ATX 2013 System Requirements Letter

[Crank]

I have purchased my last two systems from www.cyberpowerpc.com I like the site (advertises in MaximumPC magazine) as it allows you to customize most everything. The prices are decent. Three year warranty. No sales tax. Pretty good turn around time of about 7-9 days to custom build and receive your system.

[Guest Taxed]

On the new system I am getting, the only option is Win 8,,,not looking forward to that learning curve...but better now than in January!

I saw a post on another board where the new Win 8 systems are offered an upgrade to 8.1. Not sure if it is free or there is an upgrade charge.

I am waiting for the reviews of win 8.1 before I upgrade my XP system next year. i have another computer with Win 7.

[Janitor Bob]

I'm going to pay the extra $40 and get Win 7 on the new system. I spoke to ATX and they said that either 7 or 8 will work with 2013 but they suggested Win 7 for prior years. I'll upgrade to Win 8 when 8.1 has been around and reviewed more.

[Crank]

I saw a post on another board where the new Win 8 systems are offered an upgrade to 8.1. Not sure if it is free or there is an upgrade charge.

I am waiting for the reviews of win 8.1 before I upgrade my XP system next year. i have another computer with Win 7.

8.1 is a free upgrade

[Jack from Ohio]

I'm going to pay the extra $40 and get Win 7 on the new system. I spoke to ATX and they said that either 7 or 8 will work with 2013 but they suggested Win 7 for prior years. I'll upgrade to Win 8 when 8.1 has been around and reviewed more.

Vision computers does not charge extra for Win7. Win8.X will soon be a repeat of Vista. I am skipping it altogether, just like I did Vista.

The 4 major systems in our office now are from Vision. 3 years parts and labor warranty, and other perks included on every system.

Tech support answers the phone in20 seconds or less.

NO, I do not get a kickback.

[mcb39]

I'm going to pay the extra $40 and get Win 7 on the new system. I spoke to ATX and they said that either 7 or 8 will work with 2013 but they suggested Win 7 for prior years. I'll upgrade to Win 8 when 8.1 has been around and reviewed more.

IMO, that was a good decision, Bob. The new business laptop that I purchased a month ago has Win 7 upgradable to Win 8 already loaded. At this point in time, I cannot imagine ever installing that upgrade.

[Izzet]

I would recommend sticking with the Win 7 myself. Win 8 does have a bit of a curve to get used to.

As well, CCH SFS partnered with Dell for lower cost upgrades and new computers for ATX/TW users. www.dell.com/mpp/sfs is the website link; the OptiPlex 7010MT Win 7 version is a solid computer - i7 processor, 16 GB RAM, and a 500GB hard drive.

[ADGFINANCIAL]

My IT guy recommended I get a SSD drive. He showed me that in the 4 years that I had my last computer I used only 60 GB of my 500GB of hard drive space. So this time I got a 120GB SSD drive and it's really fast. I only use it for business about 600 returns a year.

August @ ADG Financial.Com

[Guest Taxed]

You can install your operating system on the SSD for quick boot up and install your business software on another larger non SSD hard drive.

I configured my system so that drive C is the larger 1TB hard drive and that takes care of many programs that default to the C drive for installation.

[Crank]

I noticed that the recommended processor is a 3.4Gz i5 as per the System requirements document on ATX's website. This differs from the OP's letter (this first post in this thread) that states it is an I7

[Naveen Mohan from New York]

John:

the printed chart that I got from ATX did say 3.4 GHz (Intel core I7 Quad processor or higher.

Naveen Mohan

[Crank]

If anyone is interested in purchasing a new system you can get a 5% discount with the code "SPRING0410" at www.cyberpowerpc.com

I bought a system from them in 2008 and just got a new one today. I first read about them in MaximumPC magazine. I was very satisfied with the first purchase. They have a lot of options to customize the system to your liking and also have preconfigured systems for those who want it. Their prices are good as I priced a similar, but under equiped, system at Dell and it was 25% more. 3 year limited warranty. Build time is 5-10 days.

I am not affiliated with them nor do I get any sort of kickback. Just wanted to pass along the info for those that are interested. BTW I also looked at visioncomputers that Jack posted about and they looked good too.

[Jack from Ohio]

The following information is the results of my experience for 2012 and my testing of 2013. I will not go into detailed explanations. You may accept my information or ignore it. I will not spend time trying to convince the die hard "old system works and I won't replace it" group any further than the information I am posting.

My system recommendations:

Operating System - Windows 7 PRO only. No other. Make the move from Win XP, despite any stubbornness you have about not changing. Get over it. It is a dinosaur and will not be supported by Microsoft after spring 2014. Hardware is inexpensive. If your peripherals do not run on WIN 7, replace them. Printers and scanners are cheap. Get over your fondness of the old stuff.

64Bit is nice, but will not give a substantial boost in speed to ATX2013. 64Bit will improve many other programs.

Processor speed of 2.6 or higher will be adequate for ATX 2013.

4GB of RAM is sufficient. Any above that will not give increased performance.

If you are using a dedicated server - Server 2008 64Bit (there are several versions) or newer. If your system will support 64Bit, up to 16GB of RAM in the server.

The recommended list from ATX will probably be useful for ATX2014. Plan your upgrades now so any learning curve for new operating systems can be done before season.

[jshtax]

The following information is the results of my experience for 2012 and my testing of 2013. I will not go into detailed explanations. You may accept my information or ignore it. I will not spend time trying to convince the die hard "old system works and I won't replace it" group any further than the information I am posting.

My system recommendations:

Operating System - Windows 7 PRO only. No other. Make the move from Win XP, despite any stubbornness you have about not changing. Get over it. It is a dinosaur and will not be supported by Microsoft after spring 2014. Hardware is inexpensive. If your peripherals do not run on WIN 7, replace them. Printers and scanners are cheap. Get over your fondness of the old stuff.

64Bit is nice, but will not give a substantial boost in speed to ATX2013. 64Bit will improve many other programs.

Processor speed of 2.6 or higher will be adequate for ATX 2013.

4GB of RAM is sufficient. Any above that will not give increased performance.

If you are using a dedicated server - Server 2008 64Bit (there are several versions) or newer. If your system will support 64Bit, up to 16GB of RAM in the server.

The recommended list from ATX will probably be useful for ATX2014. Plan your upgrades now so any learning curve for new operating systems can be done before season.

I was told ATX 2012 had a memory dump of 1.5GB so once it got to that point it had to be reset(program restarted) and for 2013 it has been moved up to 4.0GB so if someone is only using 4.0GB of RAM they wont be able to use the full potential of the software. This is all based off of an ATX tech. Do you agree with what this tech was saying? If you go higher than 4.0GB isn't the 64BIT required? I personally am surprised they went this route opposed to letting the program clear its own cache when the user initiates a save.

[Jack from Ohio]

I was told ATX 2012 had a memory dump of 1.5GB so once it got to that point it had to be reset(program restarted) and for 2013 it has been moved up to 4.0GB so if someone is only using 4.0GB of RAM they wont be able to use the full potential of the software. This is all based off of an ATX tech. Do you agree with what this tech was saying? If you go higher than 4.0GB isn't the 64BIT required? I personally am surprised they went this route opposed to letting the program clear its own cache when the user initiates a save.

You may assume anything you want about what the technician said. I have no further comment. Take my recommendations or leave them. Your choice.