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late MBP, xp or vista 64 for bootcamp gaming?

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PAUL BRIAN

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 27, 2008
58
0
i plan on using parallels with XP for simple tasks. i'm considering whether i should get vista64 or XPSP2 for a dedicated gaming partition via bootcamp. the only new game i really want to play is Fallout 3, other than that I will probably just stick with Battlefield 2 and some older classics to get me by. i also plan on dedicating about maybe 24-32 GB to the partition. apparently vista64 sees all of the ram, but it is also a resource hog. i'm not overly amibitious with graphics i just want stability and consistency.

should i spend an extra $100 on vista? :confused:
 
I hate windows full stop :) but i personally think XP is the best. Vista is turd! :)

I will be running XP with my new MBP to enable me to play R&R3 etc...
 
If you have XPSP2 Use it.... I am currently using Vista SP1 (I know :eek: ) and am having no problems with Red Alert 3... However Using XP SP2 should be no problem at all for gaming..... (Through I would recommend upgrading to SP3 when you have the chance... )
 
In my personal opinion XP runs a lot smoother and quicker then vista for gaming and internet related things. So I would recommend at least 4GB of ram and XP.
 
Bleh, I think Vista's reputation will never recover with Apple's ads, Apple's user base, and general computer users who hear and spread all this negativity about Vista.

I've been using Vista Ultimate 64-bit for nearly a year and it's been absolute bliss; best Windows ever IMO. Runs like a dream on my Core 2 Quad desktop, my Lenovo tablet PC, and my sister's Dell XPS notebook. Rock-solid and all the software and devices I use work perfectly fine. And gaming feels no different from XP.

So if using all 4GB of RAM is important to you, get 64-bit Vista. If you just want a bearable Windows experience, Vista is ok too. Of course, your mileage may vary - if you have some really old software or hardware you might have a bumpy experience.

But if all you want to do is run games, it won't make much sense to pay for an upgrade from XP. XP for games only should be fine as you won't be installing other things that could bog down the installation.
 
Most "hardcore" PC gamers, including myself, use Vista 64 as their primary gaming OS these days. It works very well for me.
 
phobic99 said:
Most "hardcore" PC gamers, including myself, use Vista 64 as their primary gaming OS these days. It works very well for me.
Click to expand...

Vista 64 Ultimate > all windows versions imho..works best with new computers..

Singlecore/2gb ram users prefer XP but with new machines you need 64 Vista ultimate ;)
 
I think XP is the best route to go for gaming. It's a lot less of a computer hog and I've noticed from my own experience that games such as
-HL2 (+episodes)
-COD2 and 4
-Need for Speed Pro street

They all run much smoother without skips and jumps in XP compared to vista.

The only real thing that would sell me on Vista for gaming is DirectX10.

So stick with XP in my opinion :)
 
Hi,
I was also hesitating between Vista and XP. I finally chose Vista since XP 64bits is not supported so you can't use all the 4GB ram in XP. I wound be interested in knowing the 3D Mark score of someone who installed XP 32bits. My score is 5751 .

cheers,
Tex
 
Get an OEM copy of Vista 64 Home Premium on eBay for $110.

That's what I used on my MBP. It's 100% legal and activation worked out just fine. I think Home Premium is the best deal compared to the other options, especially since I have OSX already to do all my work on.

Vista isn't as bad as people make it out to be. In fact, on a MBP it runs really really smooth. I experience no performance lag within the UI, and As for gaming, DX10 is the way of the future.

How big is your hard drive? You might want to put more on your partition as I have found out it fills up pretty quickly. I have the stock 250GB and set 80 of it to the Vista partition so that it can run a good number of games.

But yeah, Vista is completely worth it.
 
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