Windows for gaming

[Macnoviz]

Hi, my brother ordered a base model MBP today, but we still need to decide which version of windows.
He will use boot camp for serious gaming, so we'll probably also upgrade to 4GB (I didn't order it directly because they charge like 360 euros for 4GB).

My question is: which version of windows should we use? The guy at the store gave a confusing explanation. But what I understand is:

XP will only recognise 3 of the 4 GB RAM
Vista 32-bit will only recognise 3 of the 4 GB RAM
Vista 64-bit is crappy with a lot of USB and video driver issues, but will recognise all the RAM

Plus, vista uses more Ram to run, but offers DirectX10

to complicate things further, there are a lot of vista versions, but does any of those offer an advantage for gaming over the home basic version?

Since it won't be actually used as an OS (rather as a platform to play great games) the bells and whistles aren't important.

 

[Eidorian]

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3034

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3044&p=1

I'd stick with XP.

 

[Macnoviz]

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3034

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3044&p=1

I'd stick with XP.

I've read the articles (more or less) although I find it pretty hard to understand completely.

Is there a big difference in performance when using 4GB and the +3GB XP uses?

 

[DrBunsenHoneyde]

I would stick with XP, you will get a much better performance out of games, and a macbook pro would not be able to handle DX10 games at full graphics any way. Using 3 out of 4GB of the ram will also be un noticable on a system of that spec.

The macbook pro will run alot of games awesomely but to notice the different between a dx9 and dx10 graphics you need to have a system much higher spec and mainly desktop.

Again stick with XP much better choice on a laptop when its only for gaming.

 

[JEB229]

My vote is for XP also. I ran vista for awhile on my macbook pro and uninstalled it for XP.

 

[stainlessliquid]

Vista and XP performance are the same in games now, or extremely close to the same. Get Vista 64, its future proof with dx10 and games that will have 64bit versions like Crysis does. You will be using the OS for a minimum of 3 years until a new Windows comes out, XP isnt going to be compatible with games for that long, infact by the end of this year there should be games that require Vista to run.

 

[Eidorian]

http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/03/25/windows_vista_sp1_gaming_performance/1

Vista SP1 benchmarks.

 

[Macnoviz]

http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/03/25/windows_vista_sp1_gaming_performance/1

Vista SP1 benchmarks.

those are all tests with very high-end video cards. Will this be similar for the more modesst 8600M GT?

 

[chrono1081]

Vista and XP performance are the same in games now, or extremely close to the same. Get Vista 64, its future proof with dx10 and games that will have 64bit versions like Crysis does. You will be using the OS for a minimum of 3 years until a new Windows comes out, XP isnt going to be compatible with games for that long, infact by the end of this year there should be games that require Vista to run.

I have to sorta disagree on this. XP is not as gone as people think it is, infact Microsoft has it back out on the market to buy because of the amount of issues vista has. Most businesses cant even run vista because of the problems so they stick with xp.

Not to mention there are still plenty of games that still are compatible with windows 98. I would say stick with xp you will get A LOT better performance because vista is a resource hog and there is a noticable performance increase with xp over vista. For example, the machine in the office beside me is a 12k gaming rig. (We have a lot of gamers where I work). There is a noticable difference in speed / performance when the machine is booted into vista/ verses xp (XP wins every time). Yes Vista has direct x 10 but honestly you cant really tell the difference in the effects. I cant take video of any part of that office or else I would gladly post a demo. Try it though if you have xp and vista, dual boot your machine and test a game on it. Your results may vary from mine.

 

[stainlessliquid]

I would say stick with xp you will get A LOT better performance because vista is a resource hog and there is a noticable performance increase with xp over vista.

Most games are the same. There was a big difference in performance back when Vista came out but its been more than a year since then and benchmarks have proven they are pretty much identical in performance. There are also regular non-gaming benchmarks that prove vista is not slower than XP.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_nvidia_windows_vista_driver_performance_update/default.asp that is dated in sept and Vista has the same FPS with most video cards as XP. You can bet that drivers have gotten even better since then so those cards that might have been 2-5fps slower have caught up.