Vista 64 vs XP for gaming

[Akula971]

I've searched the forums and can't find anyone who has tried both. At the moment I reboot (via bootcamp) into windows XP for my gaming fix. I play mainly steam games and Silent Hunter, FarCry and Crysis. However XP does not see all my RAM (16GB), whilst I'm sure Vista 64 would. The question I have to ask is would it make any real difference to the games at all? I run a 2008 2.8GHz MacPro with an 8800 card. Does 64 bit make much of a difference or DX10 for that matter?

If you've tried both I'd be interested to know your thoughts.

Thank you

Derek

[m1stake]

Vista64. I finally got rid of my XP partition a few months ago because I never used it.

[MacRumorUser]

Download the 30 day trial of Vista 64 bit and compare it to your current XP experience.

If it's much improved spend the cash and buy a license. If not... delete....

[ayeying]

Since you have that much ram, go with Vista 64. The extra accessible memory would be beneficial.

[Akula971]

Download the 30 day trial of Vista 64 bit and compare it to your current XP experience.

If it's much improved spend the cash and buy a license. If not... delete....

Where is this free trial? I can't find it?

[odinsride]

Vista 64 is pretty decent for gaming (and that's about it ;))

I have a gaming rig with C2Q 9450, 8gb ram, a Velociraptor, and an 8800 gts, with Vista 64 bit Ultimate...games run so well on it

[Dorfdad]

Well I have to toss my hat in here, I used XP and than switched to Vista 32 bit for two reasons..


#1. Vista 64 Bit is not supported and I can not find anywhere to get the proper boot camp drivers to support 2007 Imacs 2.4 Gig with Radeon 2600 video card. If you know a link please email me from what I understand you need a copy from the newest MacPro laptops for these drivers.

#2. XP only supports 2 gigs of ram I believe, Vista 32 seems 4 but only uses 3.5 and if you have a 256 or 512 Video card you only have 3 gigs of ram left for gaming. with SP1 Vista 32 is a complete OS faster than XP and nicer!

I know people will say apple has the latest boot camp drivers on there site, but unless you have tried this your wrong. Those drivers are not for the iMAC's.. You need the MACPRO drivers from this year

if you can prove me otherwise please feel free to I would love to get Vista 64 working for full use of 4 GIGS of ram..

[themoonisdown09]

Download the 30 day trial of Vista 64 bit and compare it to your current XP experience.
Where is this free trial? I can't find it?

I've never heard of Windows having free trials of any of their operating systems for download.

[Dorfdad]

I've never heard of Windows having free trials of any of their operating systems for download.

They don't offer trials per say but they do allow 30 days before activation is required..

[sangosimo]

go with vista 64.

[Infrared]

I've never heard of Windows having free trials of any of their operating systems for download.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/trial-software.aspx

XP 64 was also available as a 360 day trial at one point.

Also, students can use some of Microsoft's software for free:

https://www.dreamspark.com/default.aspx

There are a couple of OS's in there.

Microsoft can be quite generous when it want to be.

[Infrared]

They don't offer trials per say but they do allow 30 days before activation is required..

The critical thing, compared to XP: you can use it in
evaluation mode without entering a serial number.

[Tex-Twil]

Hello,
I'm running Vista 64bits on my new MBP (see signature) and I'm actually considering instaling XP 32 bits because ... well I dont like Vista that much.

I would be interested in seeing someone's 3D Mark 06 score on XP with the same MBP. My score is 5751

cheers,
Tex

[Akula971]

Well I got the 64 bit ultimate version. It wouldn't install under boot camp, it got to the "which disk to install to" and said that there where no disks suitable or that the disk I selected was in "GPT" format or something or other. So I reformatted the drive in XP and just booted from the DVD when the machine restarted. It then installed OK. I then tried to run Silent Hunter III, which just gave a warning after it installed that it would only run on a XP,2000, ME, etc. Searched the net and found out it was the copy protection stuff DVD checker thingy. I installed a no CD crack and it ran fine. It loads quicker, runs the same. I do find the "confirm/allow" thing a bit annoying. Vista rates the machine as a 5.6 for HD performance and 5.6 for everything else. So far so good. There are so many things that I see in Vista that just make me think, Oh thats just like Tiger!

[Tex-Twil]

I do find the "confirm/allow" thing a bit annoying.
You can disable it in the Control Pannel, User Preferences

[thewright1]

This is some good info you all. I was stuck between which OS to install, so I think I'll go with Vista 64 SP1.

[drichards]

The product(RED) edition of Vista64 is on sale at Microsoft's super secret site for $65 as long as you have a .edu email, tru the end of December for US customers.

[Tex-Twil]

I tried both and I prefer XP 32 bits. See here the 3D Mark results (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=612393) ;)

[Archandy]

I'm also weighing up the advantages / cons of having Vista64 or XPSP3 for gaming / rendering

From what I've learned , Vista 64 now has drivers for most apps, and it's logical to use Vista64 seeing as it can use more RAM available to it. Plus its the future. Well, actually, maybe not......

In my hunt for reviews about Vista64 I found out about Windows 7.
Excuse my ignorance, but what the...Vista will be replaced already???

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/technology/business-computing/29soft.html

[drichards]

Windows 7 will be a good upgrade from Vista, use less resources, be able to perform better on low end machines, and it has alot of newer integrated apps. Its speculated that the os will drop legacy support entirely, which should piss off IT guys.

[Tex-Twil]

Excuse my ignorance, but what the...Vista will be replaced already???


Well it is far from being ready but yes, Microsoft is working on it and I think that a first public beta should be available soon.

Based on my own experience, I really prefer XP 32bits rather that Vista 64bits for gaming. I got a better 3D Mark score but I also find XP just faster even if it uses only 3GB out of the 4 that my MBP has.

[drichards]

In XP, an individual program can only access 2GB of ram, it wouldn't make much of a difference then even if the OS could see 4GB.

[Stridder44]

I tried both and I prefer XP 32 bits. See here the 3D Mark results (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=612393) ;)


Let's see some real-world test. Benchmarks are useless.

[Joker2206]

I used All of Vista and XP versions. It means 4 versions.
So.... XP 32 definetly if you want fast OS and better for gaming than Vista.

There are many topics on the internet that say Vista sucks for gaming if you use Super prefetch, but if you disable it then your OS boots very slow and every application you start takes more time.
Of course, if you use at least 2 HD's in Raid, you get vista to good performance (considering you have bunch of ram already).

Vista 64 should be future, but most of applications don't use 64-bit code, so only advantage of 64-bit OS is it can take more memory, but even then you can use 64 XP which is more stable and faster then 64 Vista.

You can try all of this by yourself. I'm using 2 computers, 1 uses raid, 1 not and the one that doesn't use vista speed simply can be called vista slow.

XP 32 bit can accept up to 3.5 Gb of ram, Vista 32 up to 4 I think, but any 64 version has much greater limit.

So, If you have less then 4 Gb stick to 32 XP, otherwise you can try XP or 64 Vista, depending you want nice and fancy-resource-hungry looking vista or great working XP. Vista has some advantages, but for now, still XP.

I switched back to XP and will never come back to Vista...Maybe windows 7 if it gets good optimization.

I must mention, i get blue screen on Vista without reason. Nothing was working, just desktop standing (this was 32-bit Vista).

[Trip.Tucker]

Since you have that much ram, go with Vista 64. The extra accessible memory would be beneficial.

For what? Not for games, they are 32 bit. The only benefit will be running a database engine or a 64 bit coded cad program.

[Trip.Tucker]

In XP, an individual program can only access 2GB of ram, it wouldn't make much of a difference then even if the OS could see 4GB.

Correct answer. For games or most programs, 64 bit is pointless on your workstation.

[Tex-Twil]

Benchmarks are useless.
oh really ???!!

In computing, a benchmark is the act of running a computer program, a set of programs, or other operations, in order to assess the relative performance of an object, normally by running a number of standard tests and trials against it.


If they are useless why there are so many of them ? Why in any hardware test people uses (useless) benchmarks to have an overall idea of its performance ?

[Joker2206]

For what? Not for games, they are 32 bit. The only benefit will be running a database engine or a 64 bit coded cad program.

+1

[Winni]

Go with 64-Bit Vista. Even STALKER runs great on it - and that's saying a lot, because it runs like crap on 32-Bit Vista.

Whether we like it or not, XP is now a legacy platform. It doesn't make sense to invest in it anymore.

[Winni]

Correct answer. For games or most programs, 64 bit is pointless on your workstation.

Ähem, unlike in the Mac world, the Windows world already has several applications that have been ported to 64-Bit. Photoshop CS4 being the most famous one.

And Far Cry and Crysis also come as fully optimized 64-Bit versions with a more detailed game world than their 32-Bit clients.

Sure, most of the stuff out there is still in the 32-Bit world. But that doesn't change the fact that the 64-Bit versions of Windows run much better than the 32-Bit editions and that more and more software currently is being ported to 64-Bit.

And the good news is that Vista users are licensed to use either version; the same license key is valid for both the 32-Bit and the 64-Bit edition, no matter whether you purchased the expensive retail or the cheaper OEM/SystemBuilder version. If you do not have the installation medium, it can be ordered for a small handling fee from the Microsoft website. I 'only' had a 32-Bit Systembuilder version of Vista Ultimate Edition and could order the 64-Bit DVD from Microsoft for 24 Euros including tax and shipping.

[Winni]

I've never heard of Windows having free trials of any of their operating systems for download.

As a matter of fact, you can download 120 days trials of everything that sails under the Microsoft BackOffice flag - which means Windows Server, SQL Server, Sharepoint Portal Server and the like.

[Winni]

Microsoft can be quite generous when it want to be.

That's actually the main difference between Microsoft and Apple...

[nick9191]

Yeah they are pretty generous to students. I can get Office 08 standard edition (not student), for about £35 ($55) from them.

[Infrared]

For what? Not for games, they are 32 bit.

Crysis is both 32 and 64 bit. There are two executables.
I believe that Far Cry 2 also has a 64-bit version. If you
knew anything about the gaming scene, you'd know there
is quite some movement to 64-bit now and the games
will come that support that.

http://forums.slizone.com/index.php?showtopic=30224

As you can see, Far Cry 2 is about 15% faster when
running on Vista x64 in DX 10 than it is running on
XP Pro 32-bit [...]

Other benchmarks may differ, of course. Do your research.

ps

There are other benefits to 64-bit Vista. It is more secure
than either 32-bit Vista or 32-bit XP (e.g., mandatory driver
signing and sandboxed IE).