As of now... XP or Vista?

Right now my XP install has been giving me nothing but trouble for who knows why. And I was thinking about reinstalling Vista on my machine. My questions are;

Is Vista's gaming performance still subpar to XP?

Am I better of using 32bit or 64bit?

Will 2GB of ram suffice, and will 4GB of ram even make a difference when gaming?

I'm only seeking simple answers, I don't want to hear all this mumbo jumbo about things that I never asked to hear.

If Vista performs the same or better than XP I will make the switch back to Vista. If not I'll stick with XP.

I've just moved from XP to Vista 64-bit and its running great.

I can't really say its a fair comparison because XP was running on a 5yr old Athlon XP 3000+, and Vista is now on a Q6600 Quad Core and a DX10 gfx card but games are looking and running great.

You definitely want a good amount of RAM with Vista. On XP my system used around 500-550mb RAM when it was idling. On Vista I'm using 1200-1250mb while idle (new install 2 days ago so very few extra programs on). So if you want games to run well, having 4GB would make a difference since the systems hogs so much

I've heard people say they get better frame rates in XP. I've got no issues with frame rates in Vista. I'd take it over XP any day of the week. If you've only got 2GB of RAM Vista 64 bit is kind of pointless. If you upgrade to 4GB like you mention you may as well go with Vista 64 bit. 4GB of RAM on either 32 bit or 64 bit is going to feel better than 2GB. My personal experience with Vista is that on decent hardware (and I'd consider your hardware decent) it runs just as well as XP. I've had no issues with stability. It runs great on the 3 computers I run it on here. Also 1 thing to conisder is your specs say you are running XP Home, that's enough reason to upgrade to XP Pro or Vista right there.CellAnimation

Thanks man this helps a lot. What I'll do is buy 2 more gigs of RAM and reinstall Vista 64 bit SP1 and hope for the best.

EDIT: Forgot to mention; I won't switch over to Vista unless it allows my X-Fi extremegamer sound card to record from WAVE. That was the #1 thing that Vista pissed me off. I couldn't record anything playing through my computers speakers and couldn't get my voice to play through my speakers neither. Hopefully this new soundcard I have will enable that support, unlike my old Audigy SE.

^^ your aguement is solid... no wait, it's just some random rant with no basis in reality. :roll:CellAnimation

Exactly. The last time I used Vista, I definitely fell in love with it's sheer about of features. When I switched back to XP it just felt stripped and bland compared to Vista. So if Vista SP1 and XP SP3 perform virtually the same with decent hardware, I'll happily make that switch back to Vista.

I cannot believe people are still making topics like this.Deihmos

It's because I havn't heard much discussion about Vista vs XP in over a year. I was just wanting to know if things stand different now.

I cannot believe people are still making topics like this.Deihmos

I wouldn't recommend Vista. Recently, I had to reload my computer from XP Pro and I decided to put Vista Home Premium x64 back on it. It ran great for the first few days, but then the startup time kept getting slower and slower for no appearant reason. It may be because of the updates though, because it never did that before. Anyways, the gaming performance is pretty much the same as XP, but it's the general OS and the bugginess of it that will get you upset.

Stick with XP. Unfortunately with XP, you can't really go above 3GB of RAM because it's 32-bit.

^^ I've got a machine here that has been running the same install of Vista for over a year now. The only difference between the day I installed it and now is SP1 has fixed a few of the weird issues I had. If your computer is slowing down after you've been using it I'd suggest trying to find out what's going on rather than just saying it's an issue with the OS, everyone must have it.CellAnimation

Vista is really that much slower on startup.

XP is simply better if you don't care about DX10. There is a reason why the new OS is coming out within a year or two, some people fail to see that reason.

Vista - New skin+DX10+more ram used, does not mean a better OS when 32bit XP beats Vista 32bit. Vista 32 requires 2GB just to keep up with XP.

What does "Vista is really that mucher slower on startup" have to do with AIH_PSP saying the more he uses his computer the slower startup gets? If the computer is slowing down like this, something is causing it. Sure you can just write the OS off and then go back to XP. Or you could try and figure out what has happened. Because like I said I've been using the same install of Vista here on 1 machine for over a year and the start up time hasn't changed at all, sure sometimes I wait for updates to install but once they're on the machine it just boots at exactly the same speed it did before. At work I have to handle the day to day IT and people are always complaing their computers are slow. Every single time it has been user related issues.CellAnimation

Well, I was more commenting on the fact that XP has a faster startup then Vista.

As for slowing more with every reboot... sounds like someone needs a defrag... it also happens with XP.

There is a reason why the new OS is coming out within a year or twozaku101

Vista is an awesome OS....but it does have its cons and one of them is that it eats up your ram.But if you get 1 gig more you`ill be on equal preformance level with XP.OVerall Vista is nice,gives you DX10 !

Vista is an awesome OS....but it does have its cons and one of them is that it eats up your ram.But if you get 1 gig more you`ill be on equal preformance level with XP.OVerall Vista is nice,gives you DX10 !

devil_han

It doesn't "eat up" RAM, it just pre-loads commonly used applications into your RAM so they can launch faster. Yes, more RAM is used, but at least it's used reasonably well. Sure, implementation could be better, but it's not the OS just sucking down your memory for no reason other than Aero.

I had so many problems with XP Pro, it was unbelievable.  Got Vista 64 and couldn't be happier.  Nuff said

Vista 64 with 4GB of RAM. /threadX360PS3AMD05

I play every game with 2gig /thread!

 

I had so many problems with XP Pro, it was unbelievable.  Got Vista 64 and couldn't be happier.  Nuff said

machine_B

XP 64 had poor driver support... 

[QUOTE="CellAnimation"]^^ your aguement is solid... no wait, it's just some random rant with no basis in reality. :roll:RawTechnique

Exactly. The last time I used Vista, I definitely fell in love with it's sheer about of features. When I switched back to XP it just felt stripped and bland compared to Vista. So if Vista SP1 and XP SP3 perform virtually the same with decent hardware, I'll happily make that switch back to Vista.

[QUOTE="devil_han"]

Vista is an awesome OS....but it does have its cons and one of them is that it eats up your ram.But if you get 1 gig more you`ill be on equal preformance level with XP.OVerall Vista is nice,gives you DX10 !

RayvinAzn

It doesn't "eat up" RAM, it just pre-loads commonly used applications into your RAM so they can launch faster. Yes, more RAM is used, but at least it's used reasonably well. Sure, implementation could be better, but it's not the OS just sucking down your memory for no reason other than Aero.

Yup same thing.In other words you would require more ram to run games on Vista properly.

i dont make a habit of saying this but VISTA isnt an OS its a piece of **** formatted onto a microsoft DVD and secured by a cd key. other than directx10 there is no reason to have vista whatsoever. meybe when direct x11 hits us id start second guessing my faith in XP. but as of right now vista is about a wise decision as picking a fight with a cop in a police station. just gonna get yourself dropped like a bad habit. as nothing it does cant be done on an XP machine. vista also happens to be a whole lot harder to navigate in the guts of. you ever tried editing user permissions on vista? dont if you havent. also its program search menu is very blocky to me. i prefer the old menu's thank you.aura_enchanted

Vista is not the way to go if you dont have the right hardware to run with. i have a 8600 256MB, Duo Core 2.0GHz. 3GB of RAM. Asuse mobo P5B-VM DO and a 250GB C drive and a 350GB I external harddrive.

and my PC actually runs faster now. rather then when i had XP pro.

Vista on my PC runs all the games that were made only for 95-XP and the new next gen games and they all run like notthing. and actully it makes the games look a little better.

Vista now is the best way to go MS already made the updates to fix the propblems it had. or if you want wait for Windows 7.

but yeah if you ask me i will say upgrade to Vista anytime just make sure you got the right PC hard ware to do it with, and thats not a bad thing cuz if you want it for gaming then getting a really super PC is not a thing to worry about.

one thing for you to take notice here. dont listten to anyone that says "oh you can get a version called Windows Dark, XP dark, or XP black." that is a hack that is not againts the law to do, its a theme you can download and what it does it makes XP look like Vista and have a Vista interface.

it sounds cool and all but dont try it. it will slow down your PC really bad and do you have a chance to make you PC act wierd. so if you want to make XP look like Vista, then just get teh actuall Vista program

trust me Vista is not all that bad as people say it is. 

also to find out how muah RAM vista is going to use. just do this simple math. cut half of what ever RAM you have. for exsample half of 2GB of RAM is 1 RAM so you will have 1GB RAM and Vista will have 1GB = 2GBRAM. i know i might be wrong but it is one way to see how much RAM you will have so if you get 4GB of RAM you will have 2GB of RAM for you and 2GB of RAM for Vista im trying to get 5 GB of RAM. i dont know the limit of RAM Vista can read. i know XP will only read up 3GB and anything more then 3GB with XP will be a waste of money. i know my mobo can read up to 8GB of RAM.  

[EDIT]: I got a 32 bit Vista Ultament  looking to get 4 more Gig or 2 more Gigs and get 64 bit Vista :D.

[QUOTE="zaku101"]There is a reason why the new OS is coming out within a year or twoCellAnimation

You'll notice that you've stuck server OSes with personal computer OSesskapunkclarence

[QUOTE="skapunkclarence"]You'll notice that you've stuck server OSes with personal computer OSesCellAnimation

I would stick with XP...unless when you say your xp install you mean when you try to install it..then maybe try vista to avoid even more hassle

 xp uses less memory, is faster in general..cant stand vista personally..tried it for about 30 days and i saw absolutely no reason to continue using it..as much as the pro-vista fanboys rant and rant i just dont see the benefit

I recently changed from XP 32 to Vista Ultimate 64.

The system runs great, but I can't really compare my performance between because I changed to new hardware.

What I can say is that Vista improved "task manager" and application control a lot, and a system hang or application crash can be handled much better in vista than XP. It seems to make better use of multi cores and all 4gb of ram.

Has given no problems so far and everything runs as it should. 

how do you know when to get the 64 bit vista or not. what's the difference?RubixQb

you get the 64 bit version once you have at least 4Gb of RAM.

I run Vista x64 and it's great :D it's nvidia's lousy drivers that really p**s me off

178.13 Crash

178.24 Still Crash

180.42 Useless

180.43 STILL random crashes

Seems nvidia drivers cannot render 1080p res properly which in the age of HD is a bit stupid

I also have the latest MOBO Bios and drivers ran memtest scanned HDD for errors and reset to stock clock speeds and still the display driver stops working :(

I run Vista x64 and it's great :D it's nvidia's lousy drivers that really p**s me off

178.13 Crash

178.24 Still Crash

180.42 Useless

180.43 STILL random crashes

Seems nvidia drivers cannot render 1080p res properly which in the age of HD is a bit stupid

 

I also have the latest MOBO Bios and drivers ran memtest scanned HDD for errors and reset to stock clock speeds and still the display driver stops working :(

Rainbow_Lion

What mobo do you have?

XFX 680i LT

No BSOD and it only crashes during games, it must have something to do with playing it on my big tv because if I run in windowed mode say 1600x1200 then it seems fine :cry: the GPU temp is fine so it can't be heat

600w PSU so not that either :P I did suspect it could be my RAM but memtest cleared that one up, maybe it's the graphics card RAM? Is there a program that specifically test this?

Apart from this issue though (which I'll continue to blame nvidia for lol) Vista is much better than XP as I'm running 64-bit and XP64 had terrible support for it :)

What's your graphics card?Sordidus

8800GTS 320Mb

 

XFX 680i LT

No BSOD and it only crashes during games, it must have something to do with playing it on my big tv because if I run in windowed mode say 1600x1200 then it seems fine :cry: the GPU temp is fine so it can't be heat

600w PSU so not that either :P I did suspect it could be my RAM but memtest cleared that one up, maybe it's the graphics card RAM? Is there a program that specifically test this?

Apart from this issue though (which I'll continue to blame nvidia for lol) Vista is much better than XP as I'm running 64-bit and XP64 had terrible support for it :)

Rainbow_Lion

I had a 780i mobo, and it froze for no reason while gaming, listening to music and movie, surfing the net, writing e-mail... I suspect the probleme was Nvidia chipset driver or the mobo it self. So ever since I got a intel chipset mobo, it hasn't crash.

Maybe, it's your PSU?