Vista, DX10, good move?

[coozie7]

Hi!
With memory prices tumbling and games needing ever more of the stuff
would a change to Vista 64-bit from Xp Home make sense? It Seems a pity
to have all the DX10 goodness of a HD4870 not to exploit it to the full, but I`m
not sure about switching to Vista (although dual-boot seems a good idea).
Any comments on Vista/gaming/DX10?
Full spec in the usual place

 

[skittle]

Q6600 @ 3ghz, 4GB DDRII800, Gigabyte P45, HD4850.

Vista X64. I will never go back to XP.

 

[Guest]

basically no...

even though there isn't any reason NOT to get vista... there isn't any reason to GET vista yet...

Stick with xp... you'll notice a performance hit by switching to vista... which isn't necessary... unless your building a new system... stick with XP

I for one... will see how windows 7 does on release... like how buggy it is and stuff before i get vista... i'm mostly skipping vista... despite the fact most of its flaws have been ironed out

EDIT: its a waste of a hundred bucks... as i said earlier... if your buying a new system and need an OS... get vista... but since you already have a working one that performs better... theres no reason to switch to vista

 

[megamanx00]

Well, looking at the config in your profile you only have 2GB of RAM. Should be fine for most games, but you will have to make sure to disable any services you don't want running to save memory. Vista will take up more RAM than XP, but with all the updates it is better at swapping out some of those services to the disk so that there is more memory for your games. You should be fine, but if you feel it lag a little you should throw another 2GB in there. I'm probably going to add more memory myself next month.

 

[krazyk12]

Stick with xp... you'll notice a performance hit by switching to vista... which isn't necessary... unless your building a new system... stick with XP

if you have a 4870, im guessing the rest of ur comp is pretty nice also.


the above statement, is basically false with the right hardware. I run Q6600 @ stock, 4GB OCZ 800, 550w psu, SLI 9600gt's honestly from switching to vista, i saw no drops worthy to mention, and at times, i see some improvements.

The only reason people complain about vista, is they are either 2 poor or 2 cheap to go buy a decent computer. I used to run Vista 32 and Vista 64 on a Dell xps 420, Pent d 2.8, 2GB ram. Of course it didnt run perfect, because that comp was absolute ****.

A simple and really cheap upgrade changed everything. Been running Vista 64 perfect since my upgrade, only problems i have had with my comp are from my 6 year old HD (im honestly surprised its not dead yet)

with RAM prices where they are 4GB of ram is nearing $100 and less. Which i recommend have at least 4 for a 64 bit system.

 

[MayDay94]

i built a new pc, had an old copy of xp pro so i used that. once i knew all hardware was working fine, i dropped $100 on vista 64 home premium oem and now i dual boot. now that i've had the system a few weeks, i rarely ever go to xp and do all my gaming in vista. make sure you have at least 4gig ram for vista though. i love it and figured i would wait for windows7, but now i'm glad i didn't.

 

[StevieD]

Do you "need" to upgrade? No.

Is there a reason to upgrade? Maybe. Most likely not, with the exception of DX10.

Is there cause to not upgrade? Absolutely not.

BTW, I find Vista to be more bug free/stable than XP. IF I had to buy Vista I might not upgrade. That said, if I had to buy an OS then I would buy Vista over XP.

Q6600, 8GB RAM, Vista64.

 

[modtech]

XP is totally stable. Your claim of vista being more stable is absolute ****. Course you have 8GB so you're only true choice is Vista64 but our friend here isn't. There's hardly anything gained from making the switch so just stick with the better OS (XP).

 

[coozie7]

Thank you all for the replies so far.
Please keep posting, I will keep reading.
But from recent developments it looks like Vista64 is about to get a new convert (albeit in dual boot) and someone is shortly about to sell me some memory!

 

[cjl]

Vista and XP are both quite stable. I wouldn't worry about the stability of either. Is it worth it? I can't really say. Is there any reason not to switch? Absolutely not.

 

[SoiledBottom]

Hey Hey

I switched from XP home to vista 64 on my box at home.
It took a couple of days to get used to it, but now if I had buy a new system it would be Vista all the way.
Myself personaly have had no driver issues or instability problems with any of my componants.

Soiled

 

[FeareX]

With that specs of your PC I would upgrade to Vista, it works very smooth (aero interface gives vista a nice feel, it makes it work smoother in some way )

I am using Vista Business x64 on my laptop (T8100 (2,1Ghz), 4GB ram, radeon mobility HD3470) and I can run FarCry 2 on medium, so for gaming it's fast enough

Only thing I would recommend you is... buy more ram... Vista loves RAM and you'll love vista more when it got more ram
My laptop with 4GB absolutely FLIES, feels allot faster then my desktop (XP, 3GB ram)

Good luck deciding

 

[KITH]

http://www.softwaremedia.com/product/2586.html?ovchn=FRO&ovcrn=66I-00003&ovtac=CMP&ovcpn=windows-vista-home-premium---upgrade-microsoft-66i-00003

vista home premium upgrade $75

of course for 64 bit you still need to pay, I think, another $10 to microsoft for the 64bit install media. unless of course, you have a friend with the media already.

 

[fergie]

I haven't had any problems with vista 64.

 

[coozie7]

Again, thanks for the replies.
Again, I`ll keep reading if you keep posting.
Again, looks like I`ll be buying some more RAM and an OEM licence of
64-bit Vista! (dual boot).

 

[coozie7]

And STEVIED...No, I`m old enough to be your twin brother.

 

[radguy]

I waited till sp1 for vista and I really wanted DX10 features. I made the right move. If your playing DX10 games your right about worring whether or not your getting the most out of your 4870. Without DX10 you aren't plain and simple.

 

[L1qu1d]

there is no performance hit from Vista, there were recent benchmarks done, and they've been 1 fps off for either Operating. The thing is that DX 10 gives a performance hit to Vista, but you could just run the game in DX 9 and have the option for DX 10 down the road.

So is there a point to going back to XP, well no, unless you have old hardware, or just generally a slower computer.

Vista you should have atleast 3 gigs to play it safe for gaming. And a decent processor.

Either way to each his own, not moving onto Vista right now is a waste. XP support is pretty much over...so get with the times

 

[coozie7]

@ STRANGESTRANGER, My question is not about performance, only if Vista can improve my experience with improved visuals in games with DX10 or as an OS.
Your post only reinforces those already made here; Get Vista, add memory, enjoy.
And I shall do all three.
Thank you all for your posts and time.
Tomorrow, I shall go shopping!

 

[L1qu1d]

Vista will have a bit more eye candy' in some games more than others. DX 10 does do a noticeably difference sometimes to pplz faces water, and enviroments.

You have to be picky to see em, honestly I played Crysis Warhead on Medium and forgot all about the graphics on my laptop.

 

[notherdude]

On a new system get Vista, it will serve you better over time. Don't listen to the Vista haters they probably never used it or used once or twice at the beginning. Vista 64 is the OS to get now. Works perfectly for me and I'm a gamer.

 

[emp]

there is no performance hit from Vista, there were recent benchmarks done, and they've been 1 fps off for either Operating. The thing is that DX 10 gives a performance hit to Vista, but you could just run the game in DX 9 and have the option for DX 10 down the road.

So is there a point to going back to XP, well no, unless you have old hardware, or just generally a slower computer.

Vista you should have atleast 3 gigs to play it safe for gaming. And a decent processor.

Either way to each his own, not moving onto Vista right now is a waste. XP support is pretty much over...so get with the times

Not true as far as Far cry 2 is concerned, I definitely saw a marked difference today when I ran the timedemo benchmark. I tried on very high DX9 4x AA, very high DX10 4x AA, Ultra high DX9 4x AA, and Ultra high DX10 4x AA, and the DX10 render path was without a doubt running smoother than DX9 could.

To the OP, check out this article. Using Vista DX9 render path is better for AA performance than using XP DX9 render path.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=1&artpage=3684&articID=869s

EDIT: I wouldn't say Vista will be an earth shattering difference or that is a great buy as an upgrade for an XP existing machine, but if you have the cash to spare it can't hurt.

 

[bf2gameplaya]

Vista, come for the DX10, stay for the DRM.

You are foolish if you think DX10 + Vista + (More internal DRM - hardware audio) > XP + DX9 + (hardware audio - less internal DRM).

Spend your money as you see fit.

 

[L1qu1d]

@ EMP

I've never had DX 10 run better in a game than DX 9...lol I mean really, there was always an increase in frames in DX9...All benchmarks show it as well, why would there be an option to run the game in DX9 if DX 10 has better frames? And don't say because the video card doesn't support DX 10 because there would be no choice then it would just be DX9.

Developers lets it to be run in DX9 vs DX 10 because ppl have a choice to sacrifice some eye candy for frames.

This has been the case for my 8800 GTSs 9600 GTs 9800 GX2s 260 GTXs, and 280s.

BTW, if you look @ benchmarks you posted Devil May CRY DX9 gets like 10 fps more...and 70 fps more with out AA in some cases(4870 X2)...

So DX9 will run with more frames than DX10 period, no arguement there...unless the game is an over the top demanding game, where the frame rate difference is very minimal (DX9 will still win for fps)

 

[jaguarskx]

Basically it all boils down to how much eye candy you want. DX10 offers better/more eye candy than DX9. However, more eye candy generally means a performance hit. So it is very possible that game X will give you 40 FPS in WinXP with maxed out graphics, but game X may only 35 FPS in Vista with maxed out graphics.

If you want the best performance possible then stick with XP.

If you want better looking graphics with a relatively small hit in performance then get Vista.

I am sure you can Google for some DX9 vs DX10 screenshot comparisons. I know I found a few several months ago. You got a Radeon HD 4870 so the question is do you want to fork out money for a new OS?