Is it Vista time yet?

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 27 May 2008, 12:31

I know there are 10,000,000 vista threads but instead of bumping them asking for a few answers here we go again. Is it a good time to switch over to Vista yet?

- Is the performance hit still big?
- Will 4gb ram be enough for heavy tasks (I limit my pagefile to 128mb)
- What issues will I have with 64-bit?

Sadly this is rough questions. I wish I could ask more to the point but I cant. Obviously I want to replace XP with an OS that can offer the same + more. So how much of a difference does SP1 have?

RuadRauFlessa · Post by **RuadRauFlessa** » 27 May 2008, 14:12

I will let you know after I have installed the SP1 which M$ has pulled from the market. For some or other reason they found enouth problems with it to actually retract it. Althouh I have heard from gamer communities with only good things to say about SP1, that is if you get it installed and it does not crash your PC. Dunno about the 64bit though. Performance hit will always be big as Windows has always been bloatware. It is unwise to limit the pagefile size as Windows needs it to operate correctly no matter how much RAM you have.

Hman · Post by **Hman** » 27 May 2008, 14:26

SP1 was only pulled because of a incompatibility with some or other business software (can't remember what).

Vista's performance with SP1 is not that far off XP's, Gaming performance has been tested to be on par.

4GB should suffice. I work with huge files (graphic design) and my pc performs okay with "only" 2GB.

Some apps might not work with Vista64, but they tend to be really old programs.

SP1 improves disc and network access performance. I couldn't say what else's been improved as I have been happy with pre SP1 Vista, only difference I notice is the aforementioned disc / network performance.

Rayne · Post by **Rayne** » 27 May 2008, 14:26

Where did you get this news from?

rustypup · Post by **rustypup** » 27 May 2008, 14:36

Hman wrote:incompatibility with some or other business software (can't remember what).

that would be the microsoft dynamics environment...

not surprising as dynamics, (and great plains), was an acquisition product which they have jury rigged to hell and gone for more versions than i care to count... having it finally turn turtle on them is a source of much amusement to me...

Firestrm_ZA · Post by **Firestrm_ZA** » 27 May 2008, 14:38

Rayne wrote:Where did you get this news from?

wat news rayne?

RuadRauFlessa · Post by **RuadRauFlessa** » 27 May 2008, 14:39

How about this or this or this

Post by **Stuart** » 27 May 2008, 14:39

rustypup wrote:
Hman wrote:incompatibility with some or other business software (can't remember what).
that would be the microsoft dynamics environment...

not surprising as dynamics, (and great plains), was an acquisition product which they have jury rigged to hell and gone for more versions than i care to count... having it finally turn turtle on them is a source of much amusement to me...

Am I living in my own world of imagination or did I read somewhere that XP SP3 experienced the same (or similar) issues?

rustypup · Post by **rustypup** » 27 May 2008, 14:42

schase wrote:Am I living in my own world of imagination or did I read somewhere that XP SP3 experienced the same (or similar) issues?

correct...

bleep! error, family robinson, error.

<edit>
actually, that's a good point ... if my mind isn't playing tricks, they only pulled xp sp3, not vista sp1.... hmm....
</edit>
<edit2>
RuadRauFlessa's links make for some scary reading 8O
</edit2>

Mow · Post by **Mow** » 27 May 2008, 14:48

Dude , i recently upgraded to vista sp1 . If you have to buy it ... I would say no . Stick to XP. If you already have it , go for it . I can confirm the reports I found that vista and xp dx9 performance is now on par. Dx10 is another matter altogether .

I am running 32bit vista ultimate , with 2gb ram and I cant justify buying more. My pc runs fine.

Post by **Stuart** » 27 May 2008, 14:51

rustypup wrote:<edit>
actually, that's a good point ... if my mind isn't playing tricks, they only pulled xp sp3, not vista sp1.... hmm....
</edit>

I also thought so. Didn't they only pull some prerequisite files for auto update or something like that? Not the whole SP?

rustypup · Post by **rustypup** » 27 May 2008, 14:56

schase wrote:Didn't they only pull some prerequisite files for auto update

i believe they simply stopped the auto-update completely, but users can still install selectively at their own risk...

Post by **Stuart** » 27 May 2008, 14:59

rustypup wrote:
schase wrote:Didn't they only pull some prerequisite files for auto update
i believe they simply stopped the auto-update completely, but users can still install selectively at their own risk...

Oh, okay. That would then fall under the category of "or something like that." Strangely, I had to use auto-update on my office PC. The manual install kept crashing on me, so I installed it through Windows Update and it worked fine.

SoulBlade · Post by **SoulBlade** » 27 May 2008, 15:02

Offtopic.
Did all XP developers leave and new guys coded Vista? Or is Microsoft just slipping?

rustypup · Post by **rustypup** » 27 May 2008, 15:03

schase wrote:I installed it through Windows Update and it worked fine.

coming from a masochist who gets his kicks being slapped in financial institutions, this comes as no surprise

Post by **Stuart** » 27 May 2008, 15:17

rustypup wrote:
schase wrote:I installed it through Windows Update and it worked fine.
coming from a masochist who gets his kicks being slapped in financial institutions, this comes as no surprise

Frozenfireside · Post by **Frozenfireside** » 27 May 2008, 15:50

This is my theory to Vista.
DX10 is the only palatable reason why I would want to go to Vista and I have a DX10 card but I only really play games that are DX9 so what's the point?

I am trying to get Company of heroes up to DX10 with patches and driver updates and so on but the only thing I have run in DX10 is 3Dmark Vantage so I see no real point.

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 27 May 2008, 15:57

When talking about Vista you never refer to DX9. Simply because when you buy a new model you want all the old goodies and the new. If vista or rather DX10 cant perform and they are integrated parts of each othen it doesnt help.

So I should wait a while still then?

Frozenfireside · Post by **Frozenfireside** » 27 May 2008, 16:01

Yes. I'm bagging my hopes on Windows 7. I think Microsoft will take Vista and run with it making it what it should have been...But by then DX11 will be out and that will make everyone upgrade again.

cOokie_mOnster · Post by **cOokie_mOnster** » 27 May 2008, 18:29

schase wrote:
rustypup wrote:
Hman wrote:incompatibility with some or other business software (can't remember what).
that would be the microsoft dynamics environment...

not surprising as dynamics, (and great plains), was an acquisition product which they have jury rigged to hell and gone for more versions than i care to count... having it finally turn turtle on them is a source of much amusement to me...
Am I living in my own world of imagination or did I read somewhere that XP SP3 experienced the same (or similar) issues?

Service pack 3 gave me so many nightmares, specifically driver issues!

RuadRauFlessa · Post by **RuadRauFlessa** » 27 May 2008, 18:32

cOokie_mOnster wrote:
schase wrote:
rustypup wrote:
Hman wrote:incompatibility with some or other business software (can't remember what).
that would be the microsoft dynamics environment...

not surprising as dynamics, (and great plains), was an acquisition product which they have jury rigged to hell and gone for more versions than i care to count... having it finally turn turtle on them is a source of much amusement to me...
Am I living in my own world of imagination or did I read somewhere that XP SP3 experienced the same (or similar) issues?

Service pack 3 gave me so many nightmares, specifically driver issues!

I didn't have a single issue with SP3 on XP. For some or other reason it actually fixed some issues all of the other patches could not

general_koffi · Post by **general_koffi** » 27 May 2008, 18:39

Is the performance hit still big?

You won't notice a difference with your rig.

Will 4gb ram be enough for heavy tasks (I limit my pagefile to 128mb)

Yeah, but it's not Windows' fault if you screw around with the page file and things go pear-shaped.

What issues will I have with 64-bit?

It may be difficult to find working device drivers for very obscure hardware peripherals, and one or two (old) x86 applications might not gel with the emulator.

I use the x86 version myself, but I'll upgrade to x86-64 when there are actually applications being developed natively for it. There's no point if 99% of everything is just being emulated.

Still, remember that the only real advantage of Vista is that you can use the DirectX10 effects in Crysis.

RuadRauFlessa · Post by **RuadRauFlessa** » 27 May 2008, 18:42

general_koffi wrote: Still, remember that the only real advantage of Vista is that you can use the DirectX10 effects in Crysis.

That be true

Friggs · Post by **Friggs** » 27 May 2008, 20:31

I'm using Vista Ultimate 64bit and have had no problems with it. Play COD4 a lot and it's the same as it was on XP. I actually went back to XP after installing Vista but after a month I reinstalled Vista again, I prefer vista now on my home PC. I have 4GB of ram and it's the perfect amount imho, my vista sits idle at about 1.36GB. Apps wise, everything I have installed works 100% from VLC player to FDM to Gtalk, etc. No problems at all. I do think windows 7 will probably be a lot better but since i didn't pay for my Vista (not pirated, action pack) and it runs well on my machine I am happy to use it untill 7 comes out and is shown to be the better OS... .

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 27 May 2008, 22:14

Only really going Vista for DX10. I see more games are coming out that supports DX10 but I dont want to get stuck one day when one of hte games are DX10 only. But ms had a really weird way of going about this. Making the IS SX10 exclusive either we will see all games from this point stick with DX9 making my hardware capabilities a lost cause or we will see at some point that everyone is forced to change. This isnt like Win98 where you had support for a long time before you actually had to switch to xp. This is a solid downhill drop and little people accepted it.

I will be going 64 bit when I eventually go vista. As for now it doesnt seem like there is a reason. Especially if you concider you could tweak all the DX10 effects into dx9 for crysis... at least the noticeable eye candy.