Which Vista version to get for a 2.8Ghz Quad Core Mac Pro

[snipersix]

I just ordered a 2.8Ghz quad core Mac pro, which currently being shipped. And I want to buy vista just for games. Thats the only sole purpose of me getting windows.

Now, my question is, which version of Vista do I get. Cause I heard not all the versions of windows support quad core.

I also read about people using vista 64 bit on their mac pro, but I don't know if the drivers for that are complete.

Any in sites please?

Here is the full spec of my Mac Pro:

One 2.8GHZ Quad-Core Intel Xeon
2GB (2x1GB)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb
500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb
One 16x SuperDrive

 

[The Flashing Fi]

Now, my question is, which version of Vista do I get. Cause I heard not all the versions of windows support quad core.

Yes they do. The only support problem you would run into is if you bought a Mac Pro with more than one physical CPU. Since you bought a Mac Pro with one physical CPU with 4 cores on it, you'll be fine with any version you buy.

I also read about people using vista 64 bit on their mac pro, but I don't know if the drivers for that are complete.

You'll be fine. If you have a really old printer or something like that, you'll have problems with the 32-bit version of Vista as well. Before Apple released 64-bit drivers for the Mac Pro, pretty much the only company who didn't make drivers available for Vista 64-bit for about a year was Apple.

Since Vista uses a new driver model, that means XP drivers and earlier wouldn't work, meaning whole new development on drivers had to begin. And while they had to rewrite drivers anyhow, pretty much all of the companies decided they might as well do 64-bit drivers anyway.

As for what version of Vista. I would go with Vista Home Premium. Ultimate is a waste IMO, and you don't need the networking features of Business (that are also in Ultimate). Vista Home Premium has Aero, Media Center, and a few other little stuff over Vista Home Basic (which lacks the previously mentioned features). Home Basic is only like 30 bucks cheaper. For 30 bucks, why not get Vista Home Premium? Performance in games will be the same (aero is disabled when you go full screen). Since screen rendering is off loaded to the video card vs the CPU (like in XP), it frees up some CPU resources.

 

[Stridder44]

I just ordered a 2.8Ghz quad core Mac pro, which currently being shipped. And I want to buy vista just for games. Thats the only sole purpose of me getting windows.

Now, my question is, which version of Vista do I get. Cause I heard not all the versions of windows support quad core.

I also read about people using vista 64 bit on their mac pro, but I don't know if the drivers for that are complete.

Any in sites please?

Here is the full spec of my Mac Pro:

One 2.8GHZ Quad-Core Intel Xeon
2GB (2x1GB)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb
500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb
One 16x SuperDrive

Vista 64 is awesome. And no, drivers are not an issue at all. Just pop in the Leopard DVD when you have Vista up and boom. That easy. Any gamer should have 64-bit. You're going to want more than 2 GB of RAM one day (I guarantee it), and when that day comes you'll be happy to not have to worry about only being able to use 3 - 3.5 GB of RAM (which is a limitation of 32-bit). Trust me on this one. All games work fine with Vista 64 also. I've ran a wide variety (Sim City 4, Civ. 4, Age of Conan, CS: Source, WoW, etc.). Even Oregon Trail worked fine. You will be very pleased with it.

 

[snipersix]

Vista 64 is awesome. And no, drivers are not an issue at all. Just pop in the Leopard DVD when you have Vista up and boom. That easy. Any gamer should have 64-bit. You're going to want more than 2 GB of RAM one day (I guarantee it), and when that day comes you'll be happy to not have to worry about only being able to use 3 - 3.5 GB of RAM (which is a limitation of 32-bit). Trust me on this one. All games work fine with Vista 64 also. I've ran a wide variety (Sim City 4, Civ. 4, Age of Conan, CS: Source, WoW, etc.). Even Oregon Trail worked fine. You will be very pleased with it.

Another thing is that I usually do a bit of programming and database work for school. I run programs like Oracle and Netbeans. Do you guys think this will be a problem for the 64 bit version?

And doesn't the 32 bit version support 4gigs of ram, with SP1 installed? Cause my old pc has 4gbs of ram it recognized it, so shouldn't 64bit version do the same as well?

One more question about running SLI, does OSX support SLI? If not will i have to physically disconnect my other graphics card everytime I boot up OSX, or will it only recognize 1 card automatically?

 

[Stridder44]

Another thing is that I usually do a bit of programming and database work for school. I run programs like Oracle and Netbeans. Do you guys think this will be a problem for the 64 bit version?

And doesn't the 32 bit version support 4gigs of ram, with SP1 installed? Cause my old pc has 4gbs of ram it recognized it, so shouldn't 64bit version do the same as well?

One more question about running SLI, does OSX support SLI? If not will i have to physically disconnect my other graphics card everytime I boot up OSX, or will it only recognize 1 card automatically?

Doesn't matter how much it "shows", it'll never use more than 3.5 because it's an bandwidth addressing limitation of a 32-bit OS. Some people actually "hack" it to show 4 GB, which makes no sense at all. You could probably "hack" it to show 8 if you really wanted to, but it would still only ever be able to use (at most) 3.5.

As far as Oracle and Netbeans, I'm not entirely sure, but I don't see why not. It can run any 32-bit app.

 

[Eidorian]

I haven't had a single problem with 64-bit Vista as well. You might as well get it now and not limit yourself to 32-bit addressing.

 

[mpshay]

I agree. at some point in the future you will want to use > 4 GB of memory. Go with 64 bit version. Most of its early problems have been resolved

 

[snipersix]

k i will get the 64 bit version then, thanks for the insight guys

 

[dotdotdot]

You mentioned SLI before.

I don't think OS X supports it or has a use for it. And I know that OS X will only boot up with the video card Apple supports, which I assume is the non-SLI 8800GT 512.

If you are interested in adding new video cards I highly suggest you search around for this topic. I don't know the answer, but if I wanted to have SLI in my Mac Pro I would definitely look for information regarding booting and such.