Should I Vista?

Nickboxer7Nickboxer7 KC,MO
edited March 2008 in Science & Tech
I'm building a new budget computer, 4000+ X2 (OC hopefully), 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT, 2x160GB in RAID 0, and a decent board.

I was wondering if I should run Vista, since I have it already. I was going to run 64 bit Vista so that I could add 2gb more RAM later, but I was wondering how it would perform on my system? I do have XP 64 bit but I heard that didn't get as much support and drivers are harder to come by for it.

What are your guy's suggestions, because I have friends who love Vista (tech guys too) and other friends who can't stand it.

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    XP 64 is the better option, and hasn't had driver issues in ages.
  • Nickboxer7Nickboxer7 KC,MO
    edited March 2008
    There's not way to get the media center portion in the XP is there? I forgot I kind of wanted to do the whole tv tuner/pc/gaming thing. The Vista MC seems to work pretty well from what I've seen.

    I guess I could always dual boot, never even crossed my mind.

    What are you running?
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    Thrax wrote:
    XP 64 is the better option, and hasn't had driver issues in ages.

    i disagree with the driver issues. It's easy to find a driver for the major parts of a system (video, most of the onboard stuff), but I've yet to get the hp driver installer to work for my printer, the remote wonder driver to work, itunes gives me an error every time it loads. There are also random crashes that I never had with xp 32 or vista 32 business.

    vista x64 is supposed to have better driver support, though.

    it is a little leaner than vista, but I notice all that much.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    Vista x64 doesn't have driver issues anymore either.

    Either is fine. Might be a little slow if you really want Aero and all the glitz, but either's a solid pick and I run Vista Ultimate x64 with no issues. Enjoy your options.
  • m-oreillym-oreilly
    edited March 2008
    issues i have w/x64 vista is the driver signing (accurate third party app temp sensor/popular storage benchmarks), and the ugly drm gunk. vista is a hog re resources, and that's an obvious fact. i'd run xp x64 for a bit, if i was you, until the still glaring bugs (stupid "important" updates that disable some commonly used applications) have subsided, re a new and improved sp...
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited March 2008
    On our work machines that have shipped with vista. We are still experiencing some driver issues and some software incompatibility issues. In addition people generally feel it's clunkier to work with and it's noticeably slower.

    On the XP 64 vs XP 32 we've got some printer driver issues and some PDA compatibility issues. Futhermore your OS will run at 64bit but many programs are only running in 32big mode inside of a 64bit frame. So much of the time having a 64bit OS doesn't create that much of a difference. Programs that are designed to run in 64bit mode will be faster, those running in 32bit mode will have no benefit, some may run slower.
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited March 2008
    X64 has very few driver issues, Ive only seen a handful of printers that were incompatible and m-audio cards (SP2 for X64 broke support for their drivers)
  • Nickboxer7Nickboxer7 KC,MO
    edited March 2008
    GrayFox wrote:
    X64 has very few driver issues, Ive only seen a handful of printers that were incompatible and m-audio cards (SP2 for X64 broke support for their drivers)


    I've heard of some problems such as with DirectX sound with Vista. So either system sounds like it may have problems with drivers.

    Does anyone run Vista on specs similar to mine? I'm just curious as to how well it will run.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    My mom's system is somewhat like yours. A 6000+, 2 gigs ram, 7950GT. It runs very solid, doesn't feel slow to me (but maybe I've gotten used to it, as I've been using Vista for a long time).
  • Nickboxer7Nickboxer7 KC,MO
    edited March 2008
    That somewhat feels like an insult. My "MOM'S" computer is like yours LOL

    Is that the 6000+ X2? That sounds like a nice machine to me.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    Haha, didn't mean it that way. Yeah, it's the 6000+ X2. I think she scores like a... 4.9 on the benchmark? Her hard drives are the lowest value, so you should be fine.
  • Nickboxer7Nickboxer7 KC,MO
    edited March 2008
    the 6000+ runs a LOT faster than the 4000+, but I'm hoping to overclock near the 4800+ or so which narrows the gap somewhat.
  • WinfreyWinfrey waddafuh Missouri Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    Hey Nick! :wave:

    What exactly are you going to use this machine for Nick? Do you need the Vista glitz and glamor? I think I would try out XP64-bit first (I am assuming you want 64-bit because you want more than 3GB of ram).

    Good luck with your OC.
  • MehmetMehmet
    edited March 2008
    I have vista running in my laptop and I can't see any problems at all....working just fine, without any driver problems...
  • Nickboxer7Nickboxer7 KC,MO
    edited March 2008
    FreeC8675 wrote:
    Hey Nick! :wave:

    What exactly are you going to use this machine for Nick? Do you need the Vista glitz and glamor? I think I would try out XP64-bit first (I am assuming you want 64-bit because you want more than 3GB of ram).

    Good luck with your OC.

    Yeah, mainly for the RAM. After seeing some issues with my cousins 64 bit Vista, I'm thinking about just running the 32 bit. Some of his programs are struggling with it and he couldn't even get drivers for his wireless card. I only have 2 gigs right now so I can always change it later. I really do like a lot about Vista, but hate other things. I don't feel like it is any slower from the multiple machines I've tried, except laptops with built in video. It runs very well on my cousins machine, but he has 4 gigs compared to mine going to be 2.

    I get my parts in this week so I think I will start out with the 32 Vista, just because I like the glamour :)
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70076

    Man, don't go to vista. Please. You're hobbling yourself.
  • VicarVicar Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    I am running 64 bit vista, if you google you should be able to find what you want drivers wise.
  • rapturerapture
    edited March 2008
    Only thing that would make me run Vista on my main machine would be a new graphics card and couple of amazing directx 10 games.

    I have it on a laptop and quite like some features but I hate the way microsoft feel the need to rename and move features that have been a part of windows forever just to make them seem new.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited March 2008
    4gigs of ram over 3 gigs of ram isn't a significant benefit in most cases. You'll only really notice a difference if you are running lots of virtual software or serious crunching graphics software working with huge files. 3 gigs of ram is almost always more then sufficient.
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited March 2008
    Hi Nickboxer - I was in the same two minds myself when I built my box a few months back and came up with the following solution.

    Split your drive into two partitions allocating as much space as you want for XP and the remainder for Vista. Install XP first choosing the partition you want it installed onto. Now install Vista. During the installation process it will give you the option of installing to the second partition. You will now have dual boot options for both O/S's. This allows you to use XP for all the reasons we love it but also have a play with Vista. It's the best of both worlds. Also means if you want to get rid of one of the operating systems later it is easy to transfer your data and just format the partition.

    If you want to rename what appears on the dual boot screen, simply boot up XP and run "msconfig". In the BOOT.INI tab you can change the wording between the "inverted commas" and that is what will appear on the dual boot screen.

    If you need software to do any of the above let us know and myself or someone else here should be able to point you in the right direction. Also if you need more indepth instructions let me know.......cheers.
  • Nickboxer7Nickboxer7 KC,MO
    edited March 2008
    No, I know how to do that. I already installed vista on my temporary drive and love it. It runs smoothly and I've only had two problems, one program wont work and UT3 gives me a runtime error, which I don't think is solely on Vista.

    I got my new drive in yesterday so I might just make 2 partitions for OS and 1 large one for storage.

    One question though. Can Vista be the first OS or does XP have to be. I know 95-98 had to be first if I remember correctly.

    Byron172 wrote:
    Hi Nickboxer - I was in the same two minds myself when I built my box a few months back and came up with the following solution.

    Split your drive into two partitions allocating as much space as you want for XP and the remainder for Vista. Install XP first choosing the partition you want it installed onto. Now install Vista. During the installation process it will give you the option of installing to the second partition. You will now have dual boot options for both O/S's. This allows you to use XP for all the reasons we love it but also have a play with Vista. It's the best of both worlds. Also means if you want to get rid of one of the operating systems later it is easy to transfer your data and just format the partition.

    If you want to rename what appears on the dual boot screen, simply boot up XP and run "msconfig". In the BOOT.INI tab you can change the wording between the "inverted commas" and that is what will appear on the dual boot screen.

    If you need software to do any of the above let us know and myself or someone else here should be able to point you in the right direction. Also if you need more indepth instructions let me know.......cheers.
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited March 2008
    It's a lot simpler to do if XP is installed first and then Vista. But there are some online tutorials for doing it the other way round.

    http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

    :)
  • x_ternax_terna
    edited March 2008
    Hello all.

    Im new to this forums. =D.

    Well Im also debating on whethere to go with V64bit.

    my comp I have has:

    AMD Phenom 9500 Agena
    NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT
    4gbs of RAM
    250gbs HDD.

    Im going to use this computer for Modeling Projects, and I'm trying to see if V64bit is good, but then Most of the programs I have don't really support V64 yet. =/. So Im stuck.

    whats the best solution?
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    Vista 64 will certainly run nice and solid on that hardware, and you don't have to have 64-bit programs to run them on a 64-bit OS - x64 Vista will run x86 programs just fine, they even get their own Program Files folder.

    If you have other incompatibilities with some special hardware you need for your modeling projects, then go with x86, but you'll be able to run x64 just fine.
  • x_ternax_terna
    edited March 2008
    oh ok, thanks.
Sign In or Register to comment.