Microsoft Urges Against Integrated Graphics for Vista

5 Aug, 2005 at 7:35pm ET Article published in Tech

Microsoft is recommending to those who plan to install Windows Vista, when released, to get a standalone graphics card due to their higher performance when rendering the graphics user interface of the upcoming operating system.

“The new graphics capabilities in Windows Vista will require a powerful graphics engine if you want to take full advantage of all the new and cool stuff, such as the new Aero Glass look. You probably want to avoid the low-end of the current GPU range and make sure you get a GPU that supports DirectX 9 and has at least 64MB of graphics memory,” a special article by Microsoft dedicated to hardware requirements of Windows Vista explains.

Source: Xbitlabs

Comments

5 Aug 2005 ~ 7:39pm NiGHTS What will this mean for framerates in games? ...if anything.
5 Aug 2005 ~ 8:16pm profdlp

NiGHTS wrote:

What will this mean for framerates in games? ...if anything.

If they're suggesting a minimum of 64MB of RAM and DX9 compatible it won't mean much. Anything less than that and your framerate is going to bite, anyway.
5 Aug 2005 ~ 8:52pm NiGHTS Well, I mean with all that pretty goodness in the background, ...it won't give my games a hard time? Trying to run GUI extras in the background always seemed to cause some slowdown, that's what I'm trying to get at.
5 Aug 2005 ~ 9:37pm Jengo dude, microsoft sucks, they should adapt to hardware not hardware adapt to it.

if you think about that for a minute, you will get what i mean, its not just about Graphics Ram and DX9, think about....
5 Aug 2005 ~ 9:44pm profdlp I think that MS just doesn't want to be in the position of simultaneously touting all their new eye-candy, then having to tell people to turn it off if they want to game on mediocre hardware. I would be astonished if there isn't a way to do that with Vista just as easily as you can with WinXP.

But let's be real, does anyone game with DX7 and onboard video sharing 16MB of RAM?
6 Aug 2005 ~ 8:53am drasnor Oh wow... think about the implications... for OEMs. Microsoft is essentially saying integrated graphics are out, discrete graphics are in. Think about what that means for the thousands of "information appliance" PC's being sold in RadioShacks, Best Buys, Office Depots, et al. across the world today.

-drasnor
8 Aug 2005 ~ 10:44am Garg This will probably just encourage the use of better chips for integrated video.
8 Aug 2005 ~ 6:12pm airbornflght yeah well i was hearing that 2 gb of ram was being RECOMENDED!!! wtf??? i dont need it to look pretty, i want it to be fast, solid and secure...pretty is only an extra.
8 Aug 2005 ~ 7:24pm profdlp

airbornflght wrote:

yeah well i was hearing that 2 gb of ram was being RECOMENDED!!! wtf???

Where did you hear that?

MS is famous for understating the hardware requirements of each new OS they unveil. If they were to actually say something like that then Vista would sell like hotcakes. Three-year-old moldy stale hotcakes.

I'm guessing, but I bet we'll see 128MB listed as a minimum, with 256MB recommended. Remember, WinXP is only 64/128 - and we all know what a joke that is.

i dont need it to look pretty, i want it to be fast, solid and secure...pretty is only an extra.

100% agreed.