Building a brand new system which OS ? WinXP or Vista64

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Zorachus

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My Brother is updating his system, now moving to Intel again with the E8500 cpu, 4gb DDR2, on IP35 Pro Motherboard, 8800GT.

He games a lot and does some business work too, but he does most of his work on Linux, he will dual boot, but not sure if he should go with WinXP Pro or Vista64 ? I have Vista64 on my signature and love it to death. But I have heard games are still better under WinXP ? ANd that there will be no more SP's for Vista anymore, that Microsoft my slow down Vista support and just work on the next generation OS ?
 
If your brother wants to take advantage of the 4gigs of memory, then he would want to go Vista64. Also, I doubt that SP1 will be the last service pack for Vista. Just look at the release of SP3 for XP if you want any indication of down the road support.
 
The people who work on Service Packs aren't the same people who work on programming a new OS (the exception was XP SP2 which was more like a second edition of XP than an service pack; this was partly why Vista took so long). Even after Windows 7 is released - and I doubt it will be next year - they'll keep supporting Vista for a long time. Microsoft always give their OSes support for as long as anyone is reasonably likely to be using them.

Vista x64's a good option now, it's well-supported and will allow the use of the whole 4GB RAM as mentioned. The difference in game FPS was significant when Vista was first released, but this was due to immature drivers, and the difference now really isn't noticeable. For modern hardware, Vista's the best option to fully make use of it.
 
I agree that Vista64 is the way to go if you have a pretty good system. I mean anoyone running the new Intel's and 4gb memory will be sweet.

Also drivers will only get better for Vista, companies will start giving more support to Vista and less to WinXP
 
+1 on vista 64

If you have a fast processor and plenty of ram there is no reason no to install vista64
 
64-bit Windows can access a full 4GB RAM (and far more besides), and will run 64-bit programs, which are somewhat thin on the ground at the moment but can also access more memory and can be faster at some tasks. There are also a few extra security features like Kernel Patch Protection (programs can't edit the kernel's memory) which are only in 64-bit Windows.

The downsides are slightly poorer driver compatibility (but with Vista x64 this has improved significantly, and any modern hardware of respectable brand will work), a few issues with 32-bit programs (very minor, mostly system tools that have 64-bit alternatives) and inability to run very old 16-bit programs without using a virtual machine. In practice, these downsides are pretty negligible, all my hardware worked fine and I've not encountered incompatibilities in any programs I use.
 
According to this review, gaming with Vista service pack 1 update doesnt really make much improvements as expected.
http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/03/25/windows_vista_sp1_gaming_performance/10

I downloaded the Vista Ultimate64 to test it and so far nothing but problems in gaming. Under Steam, HL2 lags like if I was using a 32bit video card, TF2 wont even open "validating" and thats it. Painkiller took FOREVER to install. I want to buy the Ultimate64 OS for GAMING because I like the features on it and the way it looks, but I am afraid of many errors that might cause, maybe I am doing something wrong and I should deal with Steam to find out why i getting these problems. XP Pro was never gave me these problems.
 
You downloaded it? Like from bittorrent? Here's a hint, pirated software is hacked and hacks make software unstable/slow/etc. A legitimate copy of windows will work fine, I have no problems with games on Vista Ultimate x64.
 
devil22 said:
You downloaded it? Like from bittorrent? Here's a hint, pirated software is hacked and hacks make software unstable/slow/etc. A legitimate copy of windows will work fine, I have no problems with games on Vista Ultimate x64.
Click to expand...

MSDN and TechNet members have access to Evaluation versions of all Windows operating systems and servers.
 
Azhar said:
MSDN and TechNet members have access to Evaluation versions of all Windows operating systems and servers.
Click to expand...

I know, but something about mad_vision makes me think he is not a MSDN/technet member, if you know what I mean. :rolleyes: Maybe he is though, I'm just saying if it's pirated that could be the problem.
 
I've been using Vista64 for a couple of weeks now and it has been working great.
All my Steam games including TF2 run great and WoW runs with ease.
I haven't tried older games though, but I'm pretty happy with Vista so far. The only reason I haven't used it before is because I didn't have a computer that could take advantage of it.

And geeze, I'm a little busy right now, so can you guys edit the whole downloading OS stuff. Let's call it the honor system and please review the rules as you cannot discuss that on this forum, even for testing purposes.
 
Vista 64 is the way to go now that SP1 is out. It fixed a ton of issues that I had with Vista, now I think it is fine to install.
 
Mad_Vision said:
I downloaded the Vista Ultimate64 to test it and so far nothing but problems in gaming. Under Steam, HL2 lags like if I was using a 32bit video card, TF2 wont even open "validating" and thats it.
Click to expand...

"32bit video card"? What's that?

I've played TF2 and Portal in XP64 on my gaming desktop without a hiccup. On my Vista x64 laptop I've played different games including fairly old stuff (Tribes 2 yay) without any issues, and the performance is fine. I was impressed enough that I am about ready to abandon XP64 finally, when I get around to upgrading my gaming rig I plan to throw Vista x64 on it.

I'd also think after being out a year, if Vista did somehow ship unable to run Valve stuff, it would have been fixed in short order. Given the rigs running Vista, they would be more likely to ship Vista with a glaring Office problem rather than a Valve one. 8)
 
Mad_Vision said:
According to this review, gaming with Vista service pack 1 update doesnt really make much improvements as expected.
http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/03/25/windows_vista_sp1_gaming_performance/10

I downloaded the Vista Ultimate64 to test it and so far nothing but problems in gaming. Under Steam, HL2 lags like if I was using a 32bit video card, TF2 wont even open "validating" and thats it. Painkiller took FOREVER to install. I want to buy the Ultimate64 OS for GAMING because I like the features on it and the way it looks, but I am afraid of many errors that might cause, maybe I am doing something wrong and I should deal with Steam to find out why i getting these problems. XP Pro was never gave me these problems.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your problems, but it's not Vista x64 that's the problem. I have the same games on Steam and they work flawlessly on my sig rig.

Just make sure that any hardware and software you must have is compatible. At this point there's just no reason to build a new powerful rig and not use Vista x64 if you are a Windows user.
 
I run Vista64 and game on it. I havn't had any problems at all with anything. On the first install it was disappointing it didn't find a lot of my hard ware drivers but that was expected. I imagine the next run of DVD's they make will include most drivers.
 
PS Zorachus That was a great link it was nice to see that. Now I can send it to everyone that tells me their xp machine is a better os for games :D
 
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