XP Vs. Vista

#1 Duck

#1 Duck

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I am getting a new PC once i recieve my GCSE results, my parents buy me a hefty gift, but I was wondering if I should continue to use XP or move onto vista, Overall I have heard that vista has its downsides but I don't know what they are if any. The PC is a gameing machine pretty much, I'm thinking of 8gb ram because it's very cheap nowadays, ?120 I believe so it will be very quick. Bit even still if Vista is alot slower compared to XP then XP is the way to go, however, is XP on its way out? Will games in the future require Vista?

Which would you recommend and why please?

Thanks in advance :)
 
#1 Duck said:
I am getting a new PC once i recieve my GCSE results, my parents buy me a hefty gift, but I was wondering if I should continue to use XP or move onto vista, Overall I have heard that vista has its downsides but I don't know what they are if any. The PC is a gameing machine pretty much, I'm thinking of 8gb ram because it's very cheap nowadays, ?120 I believe so it will be very quick. Bit even still if Vista is alot slower compared to XP then XP is the way to go, however, is XP on its way out? Will games in the future require Vista?

Which would you recommend and why please?

Thanks in advance :)
Click to expand...

Vista with 4gb or more ram is actually faster to me than XP ever was. And for future games all releases using dx10 or higher will not have full functionality on XP due to it only supporting dx9.

Your call on that.

I run vista 64 ultimate and linux, except for my work computers i see no need for xp anymore.
 
But are there any glitches or bugs which may put you off Vista? Is Vista easy to get use to and simple to use? Thanks for the replies :).
 
Vista. It looks nice, run fast (does for me), DX10, and has a lot of cool features. I haven't had any major problems with Vista after I installed Service Pack 1. It made the OS a lot more stable.
It might be a bit alien to you at first but you'll get use to it. If I where to go back to XP I'd feel lost.
 
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As long as you have 2Gigs of RAM or more you should be fine with Vista.

I have Windows Vista Ultimate since last October, I really haven't had much of a problem with it.

I remember having more trouble with XP than I have had with Vista so far.

Its now safe to go the Vista route imo. :)
 
I have Vista x64 Ultimate and I've had it for about 4-5 months now! No bugs no glitches. The only problem you'll have is it'll take about a day or 2 to download all the drivers for your stuff :) no biggy.
 
i love vista. It looks nice, runs smooth(since sp1), and has DX10. I love it 10 times more than XP.
 
Stay away from Creative SoundBlaster soundcards if you build a vista machine... stick with the realktek onboard or go a diff manuf. route...

SB+VISTA = FAIL
 
In the past, this debate usually took the form of better gui vs. efficiency. Windows Vista does look better and comes with a few extra features, but early on it typically performed worse than Windows XP. Tom's Hardware did an excellent benchmark here.

However, after about a YEAR AND A HALF, the performance of Vista has been improved (mostly by improving drivers) to about the same as XP (sometimes slightly better). If you can stand the ads on the page, extremetech did a benchmark of Vista sp1 vs. XP sp3 here.

As a sidenote, dx10 is available for Windows XP. GET YOUR MOUSE OFF THE REPLY BUTTON and let me explain :p Originally, the purpose behind restricting dx10 to Windows Vista was to force a new standard of GPU memory virtualisation that can't be done in XP. However, Nvidia had problems crafting drivers (ATI did it just fine) so Microsoft decided to make this requirement optional, removing the only barrier keeping dx10 from working on Windows XP. I'm not sure if I can post it on these forums, but the curious can search "dx10 on XP" and come up with some interesting results to learn more.

Overall, the only reasons to stay with XP are if you really like it and don't want to try anything new, really enjoy old apps not compatible with Vista, or run an older computer where every bit of system resources counts.

If you want a 64-bit OS the choice is even more clear, as Windows XP-64 bit is buggy and poorly supported. MS put it on the same development cycle as Server 2003 and has not indicated further development, leaving it with only sp2. 64-bit computing is about more than access to a larger pool of RAM, and I recommend reading an excellent article on the subject here.

If you had written your post a year ago, you'd be receiving much different advice. However, as things stand now, Vista-64 bit is the way to go (premium or higher).

*I cannibalized my reply to basically the same question from someone else for this thread, editing it as needed.
 
Vista had the same problems as XP when XP was introduced, namely a lot of computer enthusiasts whining (not me). It did have compatability problems initially (especially with 64 bit), but if you're building a new rig with at least 2 gigs of ram Vista is the way to go period. Vista utilizes more while you idle to constantly defrag (among other things), but will release ram while you're under heavy loads.

IMO 4 gigs of ram is plenty, I run very complex FEA on vista with 4 gigs on my gaming machine at home and this is much more ram intensive then any games. This is just a pet peave of mine because gamers usually buy inferior motherboards, gpu, especially pcu (never skimp on power source), and throw in 8 gigs of ram for nothing.
 
Well this was the Rig I was planning on, I have to go with a small case because it goes into a cupboard and space is restricted, I was thinking about The Shuttle SX38P2 Pro (Prima Series) which is just over ?300, I know it's expensive but I can't really go for a bigger case without messing with the cupboard, my old rig was a shuttle and I had no problems with it, it runs smooth and quietly.

The Processor planned was a Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 which is 3.16GHz. Hard Disk/Drive is a Samsung HD753LJ 750GB which is more than amble, and fairly cheap for what it is at ?56.98. Graphics Card is a ATI Radeon HD 4850 at about ?150+ I think, I need to look around. Memory I was thinking at 8GB, but need to know if the spec of the rest of the PC is good enough.

Oh and it's looking like me buying Vista Home Premium at ?59.99. What do you think? The power supply is 450Watt and the requirement for the graphics card is 450Watt but they recommend 550, however I don't believe you can get a shuttle with more than 450Watt and i'm not sure if you can uprade or change it.
 
ur gonna need at least 2ghz or more, theres even updates for it already, like the
service pack 1...
 
Let me get this straight. You're looking to get the shuttle case and buy everything else seperate? If you're getting everything from Shuttle in a package then they must feel comfortable standing by their product with a 450W power source. Don't get me wrong, a good 450W can power the rig you plan on (don't overclock), but nowadays good 450s are hard to come by and a good pcu is not something skimp on.

That's a special motherboard they have in there and I haven't seen a specific picture of it, but I would try and make sure they don't have a specific Shuttle heatsink (doubt it) to fit that board or anything else like that. They have dimensions for the power supply and it is standard ATX, so if you wanted to that could be replaced with a better one.

Other than those thoughts (if you need specific help PM me), the cpu and gpu are the same I just got for my buddies computer and they are great price/ performance products that can be oc'ed heftily in the future if you are inclined.

Good luck.
 
Yeah i'm buying the barebone case shuttle, not from shuttle however but they manafacture the case (obviously) everything else will be bought from other sites and then installed. If you say the 450Watt will power the rigg then it should be fine, that was my main concern because the graphics card needs atleast 450watt and i wasn't sure if it would be enough.
 
I'm not saying a 450W can power that, I'm saying a GOOD 450W can power that. Some crappy pcu's are rated for 450W peak which would be poor for your setup. If it is a pcu that comes with the case it is more than likely not a good 450.

You can take your chances, but at somepoint a bad, overloaded pcu will give you problems and can pop taking other components with it. I've seen it often.
 
you're really going to want a more powerful PSU most likely. Even in a smaller machine, it's much safer to go with a 550, 600 or 650 watt PSU. I wouldn't worry about overclocking...with your computer being in a "cabinet," you're going to have enough heat problems anyway, so overclocking is probably not a good idea. Even if you go with watercooling, you still need airflow around the machine (for the parts that aren't watercooled, as well as getting air to the radiator.

anyway, josey wales is right - get a better PSU...
 
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