Scopes said:
hey all,
basically i need some advice. I am purchasing a new gaming machine and i
need to know which OS to choose, i have experienced XP Pro and know that
near
enough all games work on it.
However, can anyone give some advice and information as to what Windows
Vista is like?
-Is it better for games?
Is there any difference?
-Any bugs invloved with gaming and Vista?
-Which is ther better choice?
thanks guys, any info would be appreciated
=] ~sc0pes//
Opinions about Vista run the gambit from it sucks to it's not too bad.
Here's what I say, meh.
I dropped Vista on a machine because I got a freebie from a MS rep, it's
good. I use it as my main gaming machine, but there are things about it that
I occasionally wonder why I put up with it.
Games, for the most part, run just fine. I dropped the OS on a dual core
system, where I had a single core under XP before, so obivously, for me
games ran better on my new system.
I got Halo 2 and Shadowrun going, because I could, returned Halo 2, and
Shadowrun is not played too often (RIP FASA, we'll miss your
Battletech/Shadowrun licenses). So far these are the only 2 Vista Only
games, so game selection is not going to enter into the equation for you.
Some older games have compatibility issues in Vista, but they are few, and
usually a little tweaking fixes the problem.
Other stuff I'm noticeing like Video playback is kindda messed up, and
Vista's Audio driver support and I suppose Video card are kind of bad. Vista
drivers don't run at Kernal level anymore, they run at User level. so I get
audio popping that annoys me and i'm pretty sure it's because some program
is effecting my audio drivers.
Cost, Vista costs the same as XP more or less. If you get XP, get XP Home,
no reason to get Pro unless you need to connect to a domain server. For
Vista, go with Home Premium, no reason to get Ultimate really.
64-bit support in Vista is getting rave reviews, and while it has problems,
lots of people have reported great success using it. Games like Crysis will
ship with a 64-bit version, how cool is that, 64-bit is finally starting to
push into the main stream. If you get Vista Ultimate it comes with the
32/64bit version. if you get Home Premium Retail you can send away for
64-bit DVDs, and if you get OEM/Systembuilder, you can choose which version
you want.
Not sure if you're going to build your system, if not most systems come with
Vista, but if you really want an XP box, just ask, Best Buy for instance can
order XP systems for you, takes like a week to get them in.
Bugs, well every game that ships has bugs, ask any software developer. Games
are WAY too complicated not to have bugs. Vista itself is LOADED with bugs,
but so is Windows XP, but both have been patched decently, but that's not to
say you won't encounter problems with either.
IMO, If you can't wait for some of the new games coming out, get Vista, give
yourself some time to learn the OS before the Vista only stuff comes out
that you really want. SP1 is supposed to be out next year, preliminary
reports are saying it's looking good.
If you aren't looking towards the future, but more towards that huge closet
of great games you want to get out and play again, get XP.
-a