Windows Vista Upgrade

djkest · Post by **djkest** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:17 pm

Question for all you Vista users out there.

Going to college I can get a free Upgrade to Vista Buisiness or Vista Buisiness 64 edition.

This would be on my gaming PC so I can run DirectX 10.

For gaming, is it advisable to go 64 bit? Would you steer me away from making the jump to Vista?

System specs are in my sig, getting a new dx10 card in a few weeks.

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 6:11 am

A free upgrade, or free license in general? If just a free license in general, get a new HDD and take one. No upgrade to worry about.

If it is an actual upgrade license, and you're running XP (likely, but you don't say), I'd stick it out for awhile; unless you're going to need to be running Vista soon (like if the whole campus will be running it within a year or so--you may as well follow), or if you plan to run Vista of some sort very soon.

Since you mention DX10, I take it to mean you have a Vista move already planned. If that's the case, Vista Business is a good choice. You only lose MCE stuff, and gain system backups and remote desktop.

Between 32-bit and 64-bit, I haven't the slightest idea.

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 7:31 am

You may, and most likely will, encounter software incompatibilities with 64-bit. Most apps I've tried on Vista Home Premium 32-bit have worked flawlessly but my AV software for example doesn't have a 64-bit version yet, despite being from a "Vista Launch Partner". Hardware is generally well-supported, usually the issues are more driver-related(as in software). There's no practical advantage to going 64 for gaming, except for the removal of the 4 GB RAM limit and similar tweaks. Drivers are now pretty good and performance is better in some rigs and worse in others.

If you just play games with that particular computer, might as well go Vista and 64-bit. Dual-boot is nice, but the world will hardly end if some game glitches, usually there'll be a hack or patch soon enough. If it was a machine you needed to do work on, I'd hang on to XP.

Upgrades in general are evil, mostly due to harmful residue from the old installation. I opted for a laptop with 32-bit Home Premium pre-installed(pre-installs are evil too) and then bought 64-bit Business for my desktop. Haven't looked back since, office software and all my games work perfectly - except for the AV in 64-bit.

djkest · Post by **djkest** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:24 pm

To clarify:
They give me the 2.3GB ISO file, which I burned to DVD. I'd do a clean install. I currently run XP pro SP2. I wonder also if they would ever consider bringing dx10 to XP, perhaps with SP3?

The license they give me only allows for 1 install, doh!

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:55 pm

Then, install clean on a new HDD, and use something, to make a backup (Ghost, True Image, etc.) as soon as you get drivers working and updates installed! Keep a copy on the XP HDD, and have a DVD copy in a drawer or closet somewhere. That one install can then survive a HDD crash, your hosing it up, etc..

I'm coming to you from Vista Business, and am now finally making the Linux switch (there is a causal relationship, there). Such is the salt to drop a pinch of on my posts.

beoba · Post by **beoba** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:25 pm

As a quick example, ETQW has these bits in their minimum requirements:

Intel Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz or Athlon XP 2800 processor (3Ghz or higher for Windows Vista)
512MB RAM (768MB for Windows Vista)

Just going by that, I find it doubtful that an OS that requires additional system resources would be the best choice for gaming.

Additionally, running games in DX10 mode on current hardware tends to hurt your FPS.

So I'd recommend holding off at least until things aren't so crappy.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 5:10 am

I wonder if 2GB is enough RAM for Vista + games?

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:09 am

Some people claim higher FPS in Vista for some games, but this isn't something I could verify to you. I just took their word for it, and I can personally play Battlefield 2142 and Warcraft 3 without a hitch.

Vista does make good use of the extra resources it requires. It is able to better utilise caching and on-the-fly processing, so it doesn't dig into static files as much, which should result in better performance. The devil is in the details, numbers aren't everything.

2GB of fast RAM is enough, but 4GB is better.

djkest · Post by **djkest** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:06 am

Okay, so vista is up and running. Not running perfectly though.

Bioshock and Dawn of war run fine, even with default video card drivers. Bioshock is very very picky and likes to crash if the minutest detail is wrong.

Oddly, I was going for a clean install but it doesn't seem like one. It kept my old files in a chunk of the hard drive. So all my old files and apps are there, but not quite as accessable.

The eye candy is nice, I guess. The permission thing reminds me a lot of my brief stint w/ Ubuntu.

The downsides:
Cannot get FLAC files to play, all codecs crash when trying to install them. Need to research this more.

Have to reinstall all my software even though it is still on my hard drive.

Hard to figure out the new interfact at first.

At least it looks pretty!

Aero Glass is supposed to improve productivity, but you have to contort your hand and hit 3 buttons to get it to work.

Mousing over programs on your taskbar shows a popup of the window image, and alt-tab does the same. Kind of slick.

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:30 am

UAC is horrible, first thing to turn off when you get Vista running.

Codecs are just a software issue, it'll get fixed, if isn't already.

I love the new interface. All the little tweaks and added functions do improve my productivity with it. Especially love the wider window buttons and proper highlights that you can actually see. The pic preview is just pure genious, and so's the larger alt+tab menu window. All the bars and buttons seem to mesh better with their surroundings but are still easier to use than before.

sjoukew · Post by **sjoukew** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:55 am

Vista 64bit ran fine on my pc, games did even run faster under 64 bit than under 32bit

No issues whatsoever with any kind of software. I should go for the 64bit version