Windows XP vs Vista

Javelin · 11-09-07, 07:32 AM

Is it worth it to purchase a new computer system with XP or go with Vista? Will XP hold up for future gaming or is Vista the way to go (for the present time). Would like your thoughts

AirborneTD · 11-09-07, 07:50 AM

I've basically got the same question. I'm thinking of staying with XP for now. I just haven't heard great things about Vista.

TDK1044 · 11-09-07, 07:56 AM

With any new Microsoft OS, it takes about a year to build a service pack to get the bugs out of it. If I were you, I would purchase a computer with the Vista OS and put up with a few short term issues in order to get long term gains. From a gaming point of view, the new generation of video cards are designed with Vista and DX10 in mind.

stabiz · 11-09-07, 08:02 AM

Yes, and the mighty reward of DX10 is enhancements you have to send to a lab to see, and half fps. Yay.

TDK1044 · 11-09-07, 08:09 AM

Up until now, games have been designed for XP and have been made to be Vista compatible. Going forward, the opposite will be true.

antikristuseke · 11-09-07, 08:22 AM

Buying Vista right now is a waste of money, though it will become worth it eventualy, maybe in a year or two.

seafarer · 11-09-07, 08:08 AM

DirectX 10 will be a windows Vista only feature, so unless game coders specifically code for both DX 9 AND 10, newer games will inevitably NOT work on XP.

That's the only longer term downside to staying with XP I see now.

That said, I moved to Vista just beacuse it came with my new box so I figured I'd give it a try - most of the games I cannot get to run on it were typically also unplayable in XP S2. Some exceptions do exist - like Janes USAF, but that's a graphics software issue (and I experienced the same kind of thing going from Win98 to WinXP, so, it happens). Oddly enough, other old games work fine - eg. Janes WWII Fighters.

My only real complaints with Vista are the UAC and file/registry virtualization features - just because IMO, they are extremely poorly implemented - so much so that they offer almost nothing positive and a great deal of negatives. These "features" are easily worked around though, once you understand them (which in turn begs the question of why have them, if they are so easily bypassed). That, and Vista's file indexing is phenomenally slow and recurrently disk intensive - I have disabled all indexing on my machine.

Also, since I only ever use my windows box for games, I have gone into system performance settings and set everything for max. performance, min. eye candy and effects. Vista does have some very nice visual features, especially on big wide screen monitors, but the default system settings also take up a lot of RAM and CPU cycles.

In terms of SHIII and SHIV specifically, they both run absolutely fine on my machine.

--
AMD Athlon 64X2 4800+, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 400GB SATA HD
PNY GeForce 8500GT 512Mb video
Samsung 216BW LCD monitor

SHIII, GWX 1.03, SHCommander
SHIV 1.3, NSM 3.3 classic, LBO/ROW

Skybird · 11-09-07, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Javelin

Is it worth it to purchase a new computer system with XP or go with Vista? Will XP hold up for future gaming or is Vista the way to go (for the present time). Would like your thoughts

Simple questions, simple answers:
The value of DX10 is questionable. Vista sucks. Future improvement of these two issues remains to be seen - I don't hold my breath. Ask subman, he pointed to some comparisons that illustrated that.

Conclusion: stay with XP. That's what I would do if needing to buy a new system now or in the next 12 months.

MS currently advertises that it expects a huge jump in XP-people turning towards Vista this X-mas. they made many questionable statements abiut sales in the past year as well. Don't believe everything they say. They do not wish to give objective information. They do wish to push up their sales. Most of Vista sales are suspected to be OEM versions being preinstalled on ready-systems.

Found at simHQ:
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...cts-mass-vista
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...cts-mass-vista

Knowing a salesman in a huge elctronics warehouse in my city, I can tell you what he keeps telling me since all this year: Vista lies like lead in their shelves. It is the second-biggest electronic warehouse chain we have over here.

Konovalov · 11-09-07, 10:13 AM

Again I share Skybird's sentiments on Windows Pista Vista. I certainly have no intention of migrating from XP to Vista within the next year and longer if I can do so. I'm happy and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

SUBMAN1 · 11-09-07, 10:20 AM

Don't even get me started...

MorganThePirate · 11-09-07, 10:30 AM

I have been using vista for the last three months. I love it.

Go with vista, forget xp. Remember what happened with DOS & WINDOWS? The same will happen with vista & xp.:hmm: Good Hunting.

SUBMAN1 · 11-09-07, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorganThePirate

I have been using vista for the last three months. I love it.

Go with vista, forget xp. Remember what happened with DOS & WINDOWS? The same will happen with vista & xp.:hmm: Good Hunting.

Is this a joke? I have 10 copies of Vista. I have installed a total of 3. I am typing on one right now. It is slow, bloated, painfully stupid in places, and I still can't figure out what is eating 700 MB of memory for no reason when no apps are loaded. It has got to be the slowest pig of an operating system I have seen in my 30 years of using computers. To add insult to injury on this OS, A friend of mine used to be program manager on a portion of Vista (which will remain un-named) and even he can't stand it to the point where he transfered off the project.

For gaming, you are greeted with a nice 20% FPS drop over a similarly equipped XP box. DX10 - I still can't find anything visual to make the upgrade worth it either. So for Vista, you get slower game play with the same graphics. Nice.

An example of its quirks - Ever save a file to a spot and figure out that Vista forgot to make it show up in explorer? The work around is to type the exact name of the file, and then it will find it.

Ugghh! I'm stopping now before you get me worked up.

-S

silentrunner · 11-12-07, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorganThePirate

I have been using vista for the last three months. I love it.

Go with vista, forget xp. Remember what happened with DOS & WINDOWS? The same will happen with vista & xp.:hmm: Good Hunting.

Windows vista is wonderfull but I can't get SH3 installed on it

seafarer · 11-09-07, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Javelin

Is it worth it to purchase a new computer system with XP or go with Vista?

Sorry Javelin - as expected for this topic, your answers will likely be:

Yes

No

Yes

No

Both (dual boot)

Maybe :hmm:

...

Might have well asked if you should play SHIII or SHIV?

:rotfl:

CptCrunch · 11-09-07, 11:40 AM

Vista has huge overheads & requires 2x the amt of RAM to do the same job - thus have 2X the amt of ram with XP and 2X the performance. Vista is pretty - a rip off of Mac Os but its a pain in the ass - beware of any MS OS thats less than 18 months old - service pack , service pack, service pack. Drivers are a big issue - if you don't use a MS certified driver VISTA will imobilise the entire driver class eg. new vid card could disable all video drivers - useful eh? The problem is MS certification is avery expensive and very slow - so no one's waiting for it...

Beware ... better the devil we know

11-09-07, 07:32 AM	#1
Javelin Gunner Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New York city Posts: 98 Downloads: 211 Uploads: 0	Windows XP vs Vista Is it worth it to purchase a new computer system with XP or go with Vista? Will XP hold up for future gaming or is Vista the way to go (for the present time). Would like your thoughts

11-09-07, 07:50 AM	#2
AirborneTD Engineer Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Pennsylvania, USA Posts: 204 Downloads: 23 Uploads: 0	I've basically got the same question. I'm thinking of staying with XP for now. I just haven't heard great things about Vista. __________________ "You know, you might get surrounded." "We're paratroopers, Lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded." --Band of Brothers

11-09-07, 08:02 AM	#4
stabiz Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Norway Posts: 4,224 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	Yes, and the mighty reward of DX10 is enhancements you have to send to a lab to see, and half fps. Yay. __________________

11-09-07, 08:08 AM	#7
seafarer Commodore Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 622 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	DirectX 10 will be a windows Vista only feature, so unless game coders specifically code for both DX 9 AND 10, newer games will inevitably NOT work on XP. That's the only longer term downside to staying with XP I see now. That said, I moved to Vista just beacuse it came with my new box so I figured I'd give it a try - most of the games I cannot get to run on it were typically also unplayable in XP S2. Some exceptions do exist - like Janes USAF, but that's a graphics software issue (and I experienced the same kind of thing going from Win98 to WinXP, so, it happens). Oddly enough, other old games work fine - eg. Janes WWII Fighters. My only real complaints with Vista are the UAC and file/registry virtualization features - just because IMO, they are extremely poorly implemented - so much so that they offer almost nothing positive and a great deal of negatives. These "features" are easily worked around though, once you understand them (which in turn begs the question of why have them, if they are so easily bypassed). That, and Vista's file indexing is phenomenally slow and recurrently disk intensive - I have disabled all indexing on my machine. Also, since I only ever use my windows box for games, I have gone into system performance settings and set everything for max. performance, min. eye candy and effects. Vista does have some very nice visual features, especially on big wide screen monitors, but the default system settings also take up a lot of RAM and CPU cycles. In terms of SHIII and SHIV specifically, they both run absolutely fine on my machine. -- AMD Athlon 64X2 4800+, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 400GB SATA HD PNY GeForce 8500GT 512Mb video Samsung 216BW LCD monitor SHIII, GWX 1.03, SHCommander SHIV 1.3, NSM 3.3 classic, LBO/ROW __________________ My Father's ship, HMCS Waskesiu (K330), sank U257 on 02/24/1944 running SHIII-1.4 with GWX2.1 and SHIV-1.5 with TMO/RSRDC/PE3.3 under MS Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP1 ACER AMD Athlon 64x2 4800+, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 400GB SATA HD Antec TruePower Trio 650watt PSU BFG GeForce 8800GT/OC 512MB VRAM, Samsung 216BW widescreen (1680x1050) LCD

11-09-07, 10:13 AM	#9
Konovalov Ocean Warrior Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: High Wycombe, Bucks, UK Posts: 2,811 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Again I share Skybird's sentiments on Windows Pista Vista. I certainly have no intention of migrating from XP to Vista within the next year and longer if I can do so. I'm happy and if it ain't broke don't fix it. __________________ "In a Christian context, sexuality is traditionally seen as a consequence of the Fall, but for Muslims, it is an anticipation of paradise. So I can say, I think, that I was validly converted to Islam by a teenage French Jewish nudist." Sheikh Abdul-Hakim Murad (Timothy Winter)

11-09-07, 07:56 AM	#3
TDK1044 Ocean Warrior Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Georgia, USA Posts: 2,674 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	With any new Microsoft OS, it takes about a year to build a service pack to get the bugs out of it. If I were you, I would purchase a computer with the Vista OS and put up with a few short term issues in order to get long term gains. From a gaming point of view, the new generation of video cards are designed with Vista and DX10 in mind.

11-09-07, 08:09 AM	#5
TDK1044 Ocean Warrior Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Georgia, USA Posts: 2,674 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	Up until now, games have been designed for XP and have been made to be Vista compatible. Going forward, the opposite will be true.

11-09-07, 08:22 AM	#6
antikristuseke Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Estland Posts: 4,330 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Buying Vista right now is a waste of money, though it will become worth it eventualy, maybe in a year or two.

11-09-07, 10:20 AM	#10
SUBMAN1 Rear Admiral Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 11,866 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Don't even get me started... __________________

11-09-07, 10:30 AM	#11
MorganThePirate Mate Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: On battle stations in sunny AZ Posts: 54 Downloads: 12 Uploads: 0	VISTA I have been using vista for the last three months. I love it. Go with vista, forget xp. Remember what happened with DOS & WINDOWS? The same will happen with vista & xp.:hmm: Good Hunting.

11-09-07, 11:40 AM	#15
CptCrunch Seaman Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Wales Posts: 31 Downloads: 65 Uploads: 0	Stick with XP Vista has huge overheads & requires 2x the amt of RAM to do the same job - thus have 2X the amt of ram with XP and 2X the performance. Vista is pretty - a rip off of Mac Os but its a pain in the ass - beware of any MS OS thats less than 18 months old - service pack , service pack, service pack. Drivers are a big issue - if you don't use a MS certified driver VISTA will imobilise the entire driver class eg. new vid card could disable all video drivers - useful eh? The problem is MS certification is avery expensive and very slow - so no one's waiting for it... Beware ... better the devil we know