It's that time again. (Format/OS Reload) Which to install?

[phaxmohdem]

I'm really don't know what to do in this situation. My current rig (see signature) is presently running Windows XP 3Pro 2 bit, however it has reached that point where it is doing some stupid stuff annoying stuff, and I just need to reload it, and install only the apps I need one again.

The conundrum: Which OS? I have legit copies of basically every windows. to choose from for this install. Windows XP Pro 32 or 64 bit, and a copy of Vista Ultimate 32 or 64 bit.

I'm leaning towards a 64 bit install... just for the fact that I may want to upgrade to 8GB RAM in the future. I'm happy with XP now... It is fast, familiar, and does what I need it too. I don't know if there would be any value for me in upgrading to Vista at all.

Here is what I do on my main PC:

• Video/Photo Editing (Adobe CS3 Premiere/AFX/PhotoShop)

• 3D Modeling (Lightwave 9)

• Internet/Email (Firefox)

• Basic Office stuff (Office 2003)

• Media playback/encoding (Divx/Mp3 mostly)

• Gaming (COD4, Crysis, HL2, Quake4, Doom3, AOE3, C&C 3/Generals, GTA-SA)

Suggestions?

 

[Aberforth]

Vista Ultimate 64 bit

 

[AMDZen]

I just made the switch from XP 32 to Vista 64 with the intention of dual booting XP as well. I don't think I'm going to be dual booting XP now that I've gotten the hang of vista, its just......better, all around.

That should give you an indication of what I recommend

 

[nikosm]

Since all your programms run fine with XP, stick with it.!
Just for the ram upgrade case, you can set up Vista Ultimate 64b (at a different HDD) and test everything over and over again..... just to get used to it.... and wait for any upcoming service packs

 

[ChronoReverse]

AFAIK, the apps you've listed work in Vista64. Might be worth switching since you're reformatting anyways and you won't have to do it again when you upgrade your RAM.

 

[Griffinhart]

If you are re-installing anyway, Vista 64.

 

[phaxmohdem]

Thanks for the feedback. I am presently backing up all my files, and downloading the necessary 64 bit drivers for my hardware. I'll wipe it tonight, throw Vista x64 on it and pray 🙂

 

[anotherdude]

You won't be sorry. Vista 64 seems to run great and you can run a lot of RAM.

 

[phaxmohdem]

So far so... good I think.

It took over an hour to get Vista to start installing to any drive at all... kept saying they didn't meet requirements. I finally had to unplug all drives that weren't going to be the boot drive, and destroy the RAID array for my backup drive to get it to install on the boot raid array (The two Raptors). (REALLY annoying... I really prefer Ubuntu's installer to this crap)

Anyways, I finally have it loaded, and all my apps are working well so far. CS3 and Visual Studio 2008 are loaded and running great. No driver issues thus far. I'm pretty excited. Definitely looks prettier than XP... though I'm already pissed at the big red "hibernate" button that I click out of instinct every time I want to reboot, or do anything BUT hibernate.

Looks like I'll be spending lots of time trying to disable those annoying pop ups that double check and make sure I really want to press each keystroke 🙂

One big positive out of this, is I realized that my HDD's were formerly in JBOD RAID mode, and not STRIPE as they should be. Definitely much faster now.

 

[Aberforth]

Just so you know VS 2008 design view won't work properly after you run Windows Update, to fix this- insert vs 2008 disc and install .NET 3.0 for x64 (not 3.5) from the prerequisite folder.

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: phaxmohdem
So far so... good I think.

It took over an hour to get Vista to start installing to any drive at all... kept saying they didn't meet requirements. I finally had to unplug all drives that weren't going to be the boot drive, and destroy the RAID array for my backup drive to get it to install on the boot raid array (The two Raptors). (REALLY annoying... I really prefer Ubuntu's installer to this crap)

Anyways, I finally have it loaded, and all my apps are working well so far. CS3 and Visual Studio 2008 are loaded and running great. No driver issues thus far. I'm pretty excited. Definitely looks prettier than XP... though I'm already pissed at the big red "hibernate" button that I click out of instinct every time I want to reboot, or do anything BUT hibernate.

Looks like I'll be spending lots of time trying to disable those annoying pop ups that double check and make sure I really want to press each keystroke 🙂

One big positive out of this, is I realized that my HDD's were formerly in JBOD RAID mode, and not STRIPE as they should be. Definitely much faster now.

I usually turn off UAC until I have all my apps installed. Once the system is built and good to go, turn it on. it shouldn't be too bad.

If you like it so far, it gets better. After about a week or so of daily use it will be even better once it learns your usage patterns.

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Just so you know VS 2008 design view won't work properly after you run Windows Update, to fix this- insert vs 2008 disc and install .NET 3.0 for x64 (not 3.5) from the prerequisite folder.

I never had this problem with Vista x64.

 

[phaxmohdem]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Just so you know VS 2008 design view won't work properly after you run Windows Update, to fix this- insert vs 2008 disc and install .NET 3.0 for x64 (not 3.5) from the prerequisite folder.

I haven't seen anything wrong yet but I"ll definately keep an eye out. Like your sig BTW 🙂

 

[Aberforth]

Originally posted by: George P Burdell

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Just so you know VS 2008 design view won't work properly after you run Windows Update, to fix this- insert vs 2008 disc and install .NET 3.0 for x64 (not 3.5) from the prerequisite folder.

I never had this problem with Vista x64.

Originally posted by: phaxmohdem

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Just so you know VS 2008 design view won't work properly after you run Windows Update, to fix this- insert vs 2008 disc and install .NET 3.0 for x64 (not 3.5) from the prerequisite folder.

I haven't seen anything wrong yet but I"ll definately keep an eye out. Like your sig BTW 🙂

Maybe this problem occurs if you upgrade to SP1 via Windows update. I finally fixed it so there is no problem.

 

[SilentRunning]

Originally posted by: phaxmohdem
So far so... good I think.

... Definitely looks prettier than XP... though I'm already pissed at the big red "hibernate" button that I click out of instinct every time I want to reboot, or do anything BUT hibernate...

Change it:

Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>Power Options>Change Plan Settings (for selected plan)>Change Advanced Power Settings>Power Buttons and Lid> Start Menu Power Button (Sleep/Hibernate/SHUTDOWN)

While there under Power Buttons and Lid>Power Button Action you can also change the case power button to Do Nothing/Sleep/Hibernate/Shutdown

 

[Countryman]

Hi,

I am running Vista Home Premium 64bit (newly purchased from a major outlet hclarkjr!) and Adobe Premiere CS3 is not running at all well. I get a lot of distortion in the preview window and applied Transisions keep disappearing in projects. I am quite cross about this as I originally had Premiere 6.0 which came with my Matrox RT2500 capture card. It all ran extremely well on my previous machine under Windows 2000 but last year the Tyan motherboard packed up so a new machine was required. Because, like you, I do a lot of video work I went for 4GB of RAM so Vista64 was required. Neither the Matrox card or Premiere 6.0 work under Vista (Matrox support don?t want to know...) so I downloaded the CS3 trial. I am now between a rock and a hardplace as Premiere 6.0 doesn?t work and I am loath to purchase CS3 if it also doesn?t work. I contacted Adobe to say that the cost of CS3 was a lot to spend on something that might work sometime in the future but all I got back was ?we don?t support Vista?. Sorry for the long post but I don?t want you to have the same experience as me! Perhaps it is a 64 vs 32 problem ? dunno.

Cheers.