Poll: Windows Vista for gaming

[Sib]

I'm getting a new PC for christmas and it will primarily be used for gaming and maybe some flash animations (as well as the basic Internet and Word stuff), but getting to the point.

It comes with windows Vista, how good is vista for gaming? Because ive heard alot of stuff about compatability issues and buggy framerate and that it sucks your RAM to an insane degree, this new computer im getting is by no means bad, it kicks all ass! 4gig RAM, 2 Quad cores and a beasty graphics card.

So, escapist what do you think about Vista?

 

[TheHound]

I use Vista 64bit, I play Crysis, use 3D max, everything i would do with my old pc with no problems.

 

[Zombie Badger]

The problem with vista is that you need more RAM to run a game than you do with XP. Also, a lot of games don't run very well on Vista, and DirectX 10 graphics are almost the same as Direct X 9 graphics.

 

[TheHound]

It is slower but when your throwing so much computing power at it its barely noticeable, a 5fps frame drop at most. I.e. i use vista and run hl2:episode 2 at 1600x1200 16AA 16AA everything max and im getting like 100+fps
yeah in xp it might be 105+ but who cares? Though I didnt notice the dx10 bioshock was much improved over the dx9.

 

[rawlight]

Boo Vista.

If you know what you are doing and you need/want to use older non-vista compatible programs or games, I suggest you install XP.

Two points for Vista 64bit is the ability to use 4 GB of RAM (XP and 32-bit Vista can't do it properly) and DX10. Neither of which really make up for the bugs and incompatibilities that it has. It's garbage but you have 4 gigs of RAM so who's counting at that point?

To me running Vista on that monster computer of yours is like buying a Ferrari and then pouring sugar in the gas tank.

 

[Axulciex]

If your curious about vista, I suggest installing XP32 and Vista64 on dual boot.
People who outright upgrade to vista and cant go back without a format end up getting used to it, eventually kidding themselves that its better.
Truth is its still rather dodgy, when you have a dual boot you can make real comparisons; It's slightly slower for games with some perks due to the use of 4gb and 64bit. Its also far too unstable for work; make a mistake installing a driver and it could all be over.

Microsoft really got away with murder here, they basically charged the pc community $400 a pop to beta test their product; then held the gaming community ransom with dx10 exclusivity.

 

[Heathen92]

The problem I have with vista is it's security. Which is something I didn't think "too much of a good thing" applied to. Well I was wrong. Vista thinks everything is a security risk, even itself. this leads to compatibility issues and plain old frustration whether gaming or not, and if I could do so a little easier I would switch back to XP.

Oh well, they'll fix all this eventually.

 

[TheHound]

Out of interest has anyone having a go a vista here used it for more than a period of 3 months? I have and its really not that bad. People were making the same accusations about XP after 98 when it came out. People just dont like change. Once you get used to it Vista is just as good as XP and certainly better in some regards.

 

[McMo0^]

There are a few games that don't run on vista, and it does have some compatibily issues. It does however support dx10 which in bioshock made a few shadows crisper, but it was the first to poke dx10 really. Since then dx10 has come on leaps and bounds, if you wanna play crysis, i saw the difference between 9 and 10 very clearly.

Once x-mas is out of the way i'm stickin xp on my second hdd and having a dual booting jobber, with vista used purely for dx10 gaming and xp for everything else cos of the stronger compatibilty, but i say give vista till the end of the year and there will be no problems

 

[Sib]

thanks for the info guys, its just there has been so much bad press for vista and my friends computer is reportedly trying to beat itself to death i was worried.

 

[raankh]

Honestly, I have no idea whether Vista sux0rz or no.

I decided a few years ago to stop pirating operating systems. Prior to that I hadn't used a legal copy of any Microsoft OS since ... well, forever. I opted in for a discount deal for an XP Pro license, that I'm still using for gaming and some other applications that I've invested in (music). I also use Microsoft's Express editions of Visual Studio.

So ... is Vista worth the price, suddenly becomes the question. XP works great for my needs. If I want flashy interfaces and advanced features, well, Vista doesn't have a chance against Ubuntu or any other feature rich, up-to-date GNU system. As for gaming, I'm really wondering if Vista will do anything for my games; I have to use Dosbox for many of them anyways (in which case Linux works just fine) so adding a few more to the list I won't boot into Windows to play makes little difference. Better performance? Nope. Better graphics? Maybe in the future when I upgrade my graphics card. More stable? I doubt it, since my XP installation never acts up as I use it only for the few applications and games I have installed.

Ultimate would be the only choice, being a discriminating hacker and all. I can get a 8800 GTS 512MB for the same price, even a bit cheaper. I would be much better off buying a new graphics card than the ridiculously overpriced Vista, I think.

 

[LordOmnit]

I dunno if anyone has been said, but I've tried playing Team Fortress 2 and Portal on a very new Vista computer and failed miserably. The game would load up, but when I either entered the first portal or the game would start on TF2 Vista would come up and shut it down. Then, when I would be playing HL:2, it slows down (pretty badly sometimes) when I look in a particular direction. Now, I know that my computer should AT LEAST be able to play HL:2 with it's specs, so I know that that isn't the problem; I blame Vista. Also it will randomly seize up for about thirty seconds and come up and later (once I finished playing for the moment) down in the lower right and say that the display driver stopped working and recovered.

 

[AnGeL.SLayer]

I hated vista when i first got it too. i fear change. But its auctally a lot like XP in many aspects. you can if you really wanted to have everything look exactly like XP and function just about the same. the only big thing i notice is 'my computer' is just now 'computer' which is slightly depressing for some odd reason. Yeah the allow/deny for any move on vista is annyoing but you can turn that off for simple things. My games all run fine and yeah i could still benifit from a new graphics card and some more ram but thats because i couldnt afford the upgraded new computer to start with. and besides when will anyone be content with what they have to start with, new or not. Sometimes my games crash or i have to find some new update for one because i do have vista but it honestly dosent bother me in the long run. But most of the time when my games crash its more Steams fault than my OS. I dont recall my games ever crashing because of my OS..it was all steam messing up on me. Like it always tends to do.

 

[Deaf_Skull]

if you turn of aero or whatever it is it runs as good as XP so the option is there if you look in the CP...ive turned half of it off and im yet to not be able to play a game, except super powers 2, which was glitchy anyway on all OSes

 

[Sib]

down in the lower right and say that the display driver stopped working and recovered.

since i got my vista pc while playing crysis it started doing this every 2mins until i restarted the computer, not sure what caused it at all, thought it was just my new comp being a bastage.

other than that the only thing i hate about vista is that it takes half a gig of RAM right off the bat grrrrrr

 

[shadow skill]

Whats the point of getting Vista if you have to turn everything off and run it like XP? I'd just stick with XP, I would want Vista to run like Vista when I am using it but that is just me.

 

[Chiggins]

Vista isn't a horrible operating system. If you have enough computing muscle - it can do everything XP does, and do it very well. But not *quite* as well.

Unfortunately, if all you're concerned about is gaming XP is still faster - according to any benchmark site anywhere for every game. Also, the new "DX 10 effects" are currently suspect. For example, it's possible to make DX9 Crysis look like DX10 Crysis, with XP.

So I would have to recommend XP still. I bought Vista, had it installed awhile, but yanked it off later because I just couldn't stand my beloved familiar games running just a tiny fraction slower.