Thread: New Gaming Computer - Vista Ultimate Or Xp Pro?

I am getting a new computer for gaming only, I will also be watching movies and surfing the web
, I have configured all my computer components but I am still un sure about the operating system to go with.

My Configuration:

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650
BFG GeForce 8800Ultra OC
4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333Mhz
Asus P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP
Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W
WD Raptor X 150GB, 10K RPM, 16MB Cache
Hitachi Ultrastar A7K1000 750GB, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache


Vista Ultimate Vs. Xp Professional


Now it comes to choosing the right operating system, I've heard, and read that Vista gives "restrictions" if its not the correct copy? Or if you’re downloading? Is DX10 really needed? I Love the appearance that vista gives, but performace is much more important to me.
Please tell me which operating system would work best for me, My needs in this computer are mainly gaming, I would like to download music but I fear Vista will "restrict me" and if i use games thats are already one 1 computer will it allow me to play multiplayer? "Restrictions" is a problem for me because I think it won’t allow me to play my games, help please? Also I fear does Vista invade my privacy? Knows what Iam doing, tracks me?


I know my new gaming computer can support vista, but all the cons with vista is it really worth it? How much of a difference is DX9 to DX10? Also Another reason I'd like Vista is for Halo2, but I Halo2 is not a primary game, I mainly play battlefield2, and all my games don’t require Vista only Halo2.


Help would be much appreciated, please I need advice.


Thank You.

I will vouch for vista and say that I’ve had nothing but good luck. My rig is pretty similar to yours. The nice thing is it recognizes multiple cores and resultantly runs super fast on quad systems. I was also a good little system builder and did my research to ensure driver compatibility.

What specific kinds of restrictions are you talking about?

Now all those nice things said first of all, I’m not very knowledgeable about software, i am much more of a hardware enthusiast. Second, it seems that for every fan of vista there are multiple people who loathe it. I chose it just for my rig to be a little more 'future proof,' as it seems xp is getting a bit old at this point in time.

XP Pro! It will beat and batch slap Vista in performance any day! Your hardware is more than enough to handle vista but for pure game performance, go for xp pro. Look at getting a slipstreamed copy of the XP sp3 when it comes out to do a fresh install and you'll see a huge performance increase compared to vista. An only thing vista has is DX10 and halo2, dx10 is overrated and worthless right now, and halo2 is better on Xbox and just a trick by MS to get you to upgrade to vista.

XP Pro all the way, but remember, XP and Vista 32 can only see 3gigs of that RAM, unless you go 64 bit, but that's a whole other story with drivers and weirdness. I've had nothing but issues with the 64 bit XP, and vista 64 may be faster than normal vista, but still not as fast as XP Pro with 3gigs of ram. No one needs any more than 2 gigs anyway.

That machine is going to cost you a fortune, stay away from bleeding edge, go down one step and save yourself about 1/2 of what you are going to spend, the performance drop will only be about 10-15%.

Stay away from Vista and slow response time LCD's or you are going to get owned in gaming.

A recent UK magazine did a test with two computers, one an expensive High end Vista Rig built for Direct X 10 gaming and the other a cheap lower spec AMD XP system, with a last generation ATI card. The older lower Spec computer running DX9 under XP managed to outperform the expensive Rig playing the same games under DX10. Then they compared the difference in quality, but come to the conclusion the difference was small, not enough to warrant the expensive costs.

I have had first hand experience with Vista and DX10 and I can say with confidence the quality difference between DX9 and DX10 is minimal. I have played Crysis, Call of Juarez, World in conflict and Bios hock and I was hard pressed to tell the difference.

I have now removed Vista because of the stability problems it was causing and the fact that gaming is slower than XP even in DX9 mode. I now have XP running again and my games run as they should. XP gets the Jobs done quicker and more efficient despite its age. XP is still very capable and many system manufacturers are still offering XP, which shows that system buyers still want XP over Vista.

There is one advice I can give you, go 64 no matter what because you have 4GB of RAM.

One thing for sure, you have a great powerful machine. I would tell you to go Vista but XP is still the best for gaming today, but for how long?

I am using Vista 64 and playing games (my card is an ATI AIWX1900) and work fine. The problems I had was more of my unstable overclocking.

I was part of the few who jumped on XP once available and the gamer was all against it. Look at today, same story. Vista will be king and SP1 should help it too.

Why don't you install Vista Ultimate 64 trial and test it for a month? You will never know if you don't try it. That my best advice I can give you.