Vista 64 questions

[Dinh]

I recently received a free copy of vista ultimate 64 and have a few questions. I'm a huge XP

fan and would never thought of leaving it until i realized dx10 only runs on vista. I just did a

recent upgrade and have a few questions. Is DX10 really worth losing all my knowledge of

XP and making a huge change to Vista? Also the main question is, I have two sata HDD. I

keep one for the OS/programs and the other for Music/games/pictures etc.. Usually when i

reformat with my xp disk I never have to reinstall my games or anything. So WILL I have to

reinstall my games after reformatting with vista 64. Thanks in advance

[bigdogchris]

I recently received a free copy of vista ultimate 64 and have a few questions. I'm a huge XP

fan and would never thought of leaving it until i realized dx10 only runs on vista. I just did a

recent upgrade and have a few questions. Is DX10 really worth losing all my knowledge of

XP and making a huge change to Vista? Also the main question is, I have two sata HDD. I

keep one for the OS/programs and the other for Music/games/pictures etc.. Usually when i

reformat with my xp disk I never have to reinstall my games or anything. So WILL I have to

reinstall my games after reformatting with vista 64. Thanks in advance

I would not upgrade to Vista just for DX10, because unless you have a graphics card

capable of DX10 or are playing games that use it, then you're upgrading for nothing.

Secondly, for your 2nd hard drive, I'm not sure how you reinstall XP and not have to

reinstall those apps, unless they are apps that don't need to be installed. If that's the

case, then they will work fine in Vista. I suggest you unhook that drive before you install

Vista though.

[Dinh]

Yeah I have a 8800GTS with games; Assassin Creed, Devil May Cry 4, Crysis and a few

others. And for the HDD yeah I wonder why myself. I reformatted a few times and never had

to reinstall a few games like WoW, Steam, Fear and a few others.

[sdotbrucato]

I wouldn't upgrade for the sake of upgrading. Although Vista has dx10, most games are barely utilizing its capabilities.
You will most definitely have to reinstall all your apps and games.

Now if you have a better reason to upgrade (4+ GB of RAM, want to go x64 etc) go for it, I've been running Ultimate on my machines since RTM and coudn't be happier.

[Dinh]

Thank you, Damn yeah I been looking through benchmark tests and XP is alot better for games. Maybe I

should mention a few of my parts for more feedback

CPU: E8400
VC: 320mb 8800GTS
Ram: 2G DDR2 800
Monitor: 19" Samsung 941bw 2ms GTG

[IndieSnob]

If you're only running 2 gigs of ram and you're happy with XP, then there is no reason to install Vista 64.

If you wanted to up your system to at least 4 gigs, or wanted features such as Superfetch, Media Center, Bitlocker, or other Ultimate 64 Vista "goodies", then install it at that time.

[mystykmax]

Is DX10 really worth losing all my knowledge of

XP and making a huge change to Vista?

You won't be losing any knowledge. You'll be gaining knowledge of a newer OS. Also, re-installing games isn't that horrible of a thing really, is it? It takes awhile, but it's not like your life depends upon getting the game installed this very evening, does it? I personally love vista, even on my dual-core laptop. It seems to run more smoothly than xp did for me. I'll never go back to xp, and I really liked xp a lot.

[Dinh]

You won't be losing any knowledge. You'll be gaining knowledge of a newer OS. Also, re-installing games isn't that horrible of a thing really, is it? It takes awhile, but it's not like your life depends upon getting the game installed this very evening, does it? I personally love vista, even on my dual-core laptop. It seems to run more smoothly than xp did for me. I'll never go back to xp, and I really liked xp a lot.

excellently put. But I decided switching over just for DX10 isn't really worth it and gaining knowledge of the new VISTA isn't just for me at the moment. Thanks everyone

[DeaconFrost]

If you really think switching to Vista is only about DX10, you really shouldn't be considering it, because you clearly have some reading to do. Others mentioned a few points that are the tip of the iceberg above as to why one would consider upgrading to Vista. Besides, if I can replace XP on my wife's system with Vista x64, and she has no issues "learning" it, can it really be that difficult for readers of an advanced enthusiast website?

[Torquemada XP]

Sometimes, I wish it was possible to reach through the tubes and smiggity-smack a dude. You'd basically already made up your mind about not upgrading, and you never have to reinstall games? Bull.

[Torquemada XP]

If you really think switching to Vista is only about DX10, you really shouldn't be considering it, because you clearly have some reading to do. Others mentioned a few points that are the tip of the iceberg above as to why one would consider upgrading to Vista. Besides, if I can replace XP on my wife's system with Vista x64, and she has no issues "learning" it, can it really be that difficult for readers of an advanced enthusiast website?

I've found that solving most Vista "re-learning" anxiety consists of setting the Control Panel to classic view. "ZOMG, Vistaz is soooo easy now!"

[Volcanon]

Vista's menus are a bit more frustrating(they buried important things that I like to use) but DX10 isn't going to be mandatory in any game for a long time.

There's still no reason to upgrade short of getting all of 4 gigs of memory.

[DeaconFrost]

There's still no reason to upgrade short of getting all of 4 gigs of memory.
It's been over a year and a half since Vista has been released, so why do we still have responses like this? After all this time, are there really people who think the extra memory is the only reason to upgrade to Vista x64? Really?

By the way, your first point is purely an opinion and shouldn't be listed as a reason to or not to upgrade. Most people who use Vista enjoy the new menu system, or enjoy the fact you don't really even need to start menu anymore thanks to the search box.

[Mav451]

My biggest fear with Vista, atm, is with permissions. With XP, I could format a partition and not worry about not having access to a peripheral (non-boot) HD if I had to format. With Vista however, I am insanely paranoid about permissions - if I do format, and I didn't prep a Vista-partitioned HD by "giving permissions", am I going to be completely locked out of my files?

E.g. say I format drive E in Vista. Don't mess with any permission settings. I format my boot drive (C), and reinstall Vista. Will I be able to see my E drive, if my User Name/Admin has changed? Or is permission nonsense going to make it impossible to access?

*I actually deleted my Vista x64 partition out of frustration b/c I had no success running unsigned WLAN drivers, either with RDP or DSEO - yeah so NO Internet access in Vista) - so I'm typing this from my reliable SP2 partition at this point. My 640GB, which is dedicated for OS hilariousness, is back to being empty at the moment...lol at me :(

[Kangg]

Thank you, Damn yeah I been looking through benchmark tests and XP is alot better for games.


Rubbish, Vista games just fine. I honestly can't tell a difference. I killed XP off months ago and went to only Vista Home Premium 64bit and could not be happier.

Vista is more stable, more secure and once superfetch is tuned one hell of a lot faster overall. Hell even my old games like Diablo 2 run just fine in Vista.

[DeaconFrost]

Permissions aren't a problem in XP or Vista if you handle the system changes properly. For example, it is a home system, so there's little or no reason to change the username. Even if you do, if you use a data drive rather than all the "My" folders that are on the system volume, you won't have any problems regardless. If you didn't take these steps or configure your system for the best possible usage, you still always had the option of taking ownership of the drive and then you'd be fine. I'd say your fears are probably unfounded and you don't need to worry about them.

[InCogneato]

not sure why topics like this still exist. Vista performs better and is just plain better than XP given modern hardware, which you have. even in gaming, Vista is already very near XPs performance in this area. do you really want to use an obsolete OS just to gain 1 or 2 FPS in a game?

[Mav451]

Even if you do, if you use a data drive rather than all the "My" folders that are on the system volume, you won't have any problems regardless. If you didn't take these steps or configure your system for the best possible usage, you still always had the option of taking ownership of the drive and then you'd be fine. I'd say your fears are probably unfounded and you don't need to worry about them.

So it sounds like the only issues with permissions is if it were in a typical "Microsoft" folder (My Doc/Music or Windows or root). And even if the permissions were set to another user, it's easy to take over as a current Admin correct?

I think my concern rose b/c another thread, someone talked about permissions + passwords (and then ultimately having to restore his old Vista install to access them) - that would be the only sticky situation?

[DeaconFrost]

And even if the permissions were set to another user, it's easy to take over as a current Admin correct?
Yes, it would be very simple. I use the same username for all of my systems at home, and have never come across any permissions issues.

[Dinh]

Sometimes, I wish it was possible to reach through the tubes and smiggity-smack a dude. You'd basically already made up your mind about not upgrading, and you never have to reinstall games? Bull.

So you wanna smack me for not wanting to switch from a familiar OS to a new "improved" one nice. I'll smack you through the tubes for not even providing feedback. AND yes I never had to reinstall games. You can call it bull but I done it plenty of times. Plus its nothing to brag about unless that's what really turns you on or something.