Windows Gaming: Vista or XP?

[answer348]

According to the guide at the top of the forum:

"As it stands right now Nov07, Windows XP is the better choice for running Windows games under Boot Camp. Vista has higher overhead and the Windows community is still trying to get the driver issue corrected. In other words, Vista drivers tend to be slower. The primary appeal of Vista is Direct X 10 which has a higher graphics quality than DX9. However it could be argued that if you have to run your game on low settings what's the point?"

Has this opinion changed in the last 1.5 years?

 

[0098386]

XP still has better performance, they can't drastically alter Vista to the degree it runs as well as XP through minor patches and updates. It is only a minor performance drop using Vista, so its just water off a ducks back on more powerful systems (this is why I'm sticking with XP on my 2ghz iMac and Macbook. I'd like to get as much performance as I can from my systems).

 

[Huntn]

I'm running Vista on my MBP and it ran Crysis in the 15-24 fps range. If it was worth the hassle, I'd consider installing XP and see what the difference is, (but it's not). I read at some point that if you have over 2BG RAM, the Vista overhead disadvantage is neutralized plus I've got aero, or what ever it's called (Vista's fancy display scheme) turned off.

 

[Consultant]

Crysis is one of the few games runs faster in vista.

 

[aznguyen316]

According to the guide at the top of the forum:

"As it stands right now Nov07, Windows XP is the better choice for running Windows games under Boot Camp. Vista has higher overhead and the Windows community is still trying to get the driver issue corrected. In other words, Vista drivers tend to be slower. The primary appeal of Vista is Direct X 10 which has a higher graphics quality than DX9. However it could be argued that if you have to run your game on low settings what's the point?"

Has this opinion changed in the last 1.5 years?

after testing both Vista64 and XP32, it hasn't changed for the most part. I'm still using XP and happy with it.

 

[MattZani]

XP, its a much more enjoyable OS to use.

 

[Consultant]

32bit vs 64bit
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/64-bit-vista-gaming,2250.html

does not compare xp to vista though xp 32 should have slightly better performance than vista 32.

 

[Plutonius]

According to the guide at the top of the forum:

"As it stands right now Nov07, Windows XP is the better choice for running Windows games under Boot Camp. Vista has higher overhead and the Windows community is still trying to get the driver issue corrected. In other words, Vista drivers tend to be slower. The primary appeal of Vista is Direct X 10 which has a higher graphics quality than DX9. However it could be argued that if you have to run your game on low settings what's the point?"

Has this opinion changed in the last 1.5 years?

Depends on what your Mac is. For a higher end system, you will not see much of a difference and newer games will start to require Direct X 10.

For lower end systems, you will not be able to run well the newer Direct X 10 games and you need all the help you can get running the older games

 

[MattZani]

Oh, and no GPU Can run DX10 well, and the notice is still minimal, so Choosing Vista for DX10 is pointless.

 

[Huntn]

Oh, and no GPU Can run DX10 well, and the notice is still minimal, so Choosing Vista for DX10 is pointless.

At one point in time when I was watching those side by side DX10/DX9 Crysis comparisions, I really wanted Vista and I have Vista. But I think for what it provides and it's overhead, XP is a better choice at this point in time.

 

[aznguyen316]

At one point in time when I was watching those side by side DX10/DX9 Crysis comparisions, I really wanted Vista and I have Vista. But I think for what it provides and it's overhead, XP is a better choice at this point in time.

there's something you can d/l to allow dx9 to have some dx10 features in crysis.