Should I game on Vista 64-bit or XP 32-bit?

[quadomatic]

I have a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Retail edition left (had 4, sold 2, 1 currently on eBay). I'm wondering whether I should keep the last one.

People have said a lot of good things about Vista 64-bit. In order for me to use it, I'd most likely need 4GB of ram, so that'd be another expense for keeping the OS instead of selling it.

Wouldn't I get better performance in games on XP 32-Bit than Vista 64-bit? I don't have 4GB of ram already, so the Ram limitation on XP isn't a reason for me to upgrade. From the benchmarks I've seen, it looks like I would be better off with XP 32-bit, but a few people here have said otherwise.

What should I do? Keep my Vista Ultimate 64-bit, buy 4GB of ram, install it and be happy, or sell the Vista Ultimate?

 

[Qbah]

That 9600GSO isn't powerful enough to fully utilize DX10. So from a pure gaming perspective I'd say stick to XP. However, Vista works so much better for me and has those small things that you really miss when they're gone that from a general usage point of view I'd say go with Vista x64.

 

[quadomatic]

Really? It runs at about the same speed as an 8800GT would.

 

[ultimahwhat]

Originally posted by: quadomatic
Really? It runs at about the same speed as an 8800GT would.

it shouldn't...isn't the 9600GSO basically a refresh as the 8800GS? Same number of shaders, amount of RAM, and memory bandwidth. And the 8800GT is intended to be faster than the 8800GS. So...

 

[Nohr]

My 2GB RAM & overclocked 9600 GSO have been getting along just fine with Vista 64-bit.

 

[ultimahwhat]

I agree with Nohr; you can run Vista x64 with just 2 GB of RAM. I did for a while until I stumbled upon some funds and couldn't fight the upgrade bug.

 

[quadomatic]

Originally posted by: ultimahwhat

Originally posted by: quadomatic
Really? It runs at about the same speed as an 8800GT would.

it shouldn't...isn't the 9600GSO basically a refresh as the 8800GS? Same number of shaders, amount of RAM, and memory bandwidth. And the 8800GT is intended to be faster than the 8800GS. So...

9600GSO dual slot edition can overclock quite a bit.

Ugh...I'm about to do a reformat. Wouldn't I feel a considerable decline in gaming performance if I were to install Vista with only 2GB of ram?

 

[Nohr]

Nah, 2GB is fine. If you were building a new system I'd recommend just going ahead and getting 4GB cause there's not much point in not doing it. But I don't think it's a necessary upgrade (for gaming) when you already have 2GB. I probably won't upgrade to 4GB for a year or two.

 

[quadomatic]

Hmmm.....this is a very tough decision. I could either sell the Vista for at least $170 (which, in one respect, is $170 in my pocket, but in another respect I'm losing $160 on its actual value), or I could use it.

What to do, what to do.

I could just keep it....Alan Wake is gonna need Windows Vista anyways lol

 

[Zenoth]

Just do like I did, install both Vista x64 and XP x86 on two separate partitions (dual boot), and use the best game + OS combo. For instance in my case S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky runs noticeably better on XP x86, so I installed that one on my XP partition, and I noticed that Bioshock runs slightly better on Vista x64, so I installed that one there.

In my case about 70% of my games are on my XP partition, with only a few selects on Vista including Crysis and Warhead, and it's not because of DX10, I can't even run under DX10 with smooth frames, I still play on DX9 even on Vista, simply because it runs faster, and I prefer performance over image quality anytime... besides Crysis and Warhead look good enough even on medium settings.

 

[quadomatic]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Just do like I did, install both Vista x64 and XP x86 on two separate partitions (dual boot), and use the best game + OS combo. For instance in my case S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky runs noticeably better on XP x86, so I installed that one on my XP partition, and I noticed that Bioshock runs slightly better on Vista x64, so I installed that one there.

In my case about 70% of my games are on my XP partition, with only a few selects on Vista including Crysis and Warhead, and it's not because of DX10, I can't even run under DX10 with smooth frames, I still play on DX9 even on Vista, simply because it runs faster, and I prefer performance over image quality anytime... besides Crysis and Warhead look good enough even on medium settings.

I don't think I have the drive space to pull that off. I have a 160GB hard drive, but about 30 GB is devoted to Linux, and I usually have a lot of files on my system too (music, video etc.)

 

[FalseChristian]

There's a topic in here about some guy with 400+ games installed and running in Vista 64 including golden oldies like GLQuake and Doom. Just stick with Vista Ultimate 64.:thumbsup:

 

[Fistandantilis]

I am not too sure hardware wise how you video card is going to hold up under the DX 10 side of things, I do know that with the exception of Crysis I have had no troubles whatsoever going from XP to Vista 64, I am very pleased with Vista 64 on the gaming aspect of things.
I know that this post is prolly useless as it offers zero help on the hardware side of the question but I must say that Vista 64 is a great operating system, I for one will never go back to a 32 bit OS.

 

[mharr7]

XP

 

[Frodolives]

Originally posted by: quadomatic

I could just keep it....Alan Wake is gonna need Windows Vista anyways lol

Yes, but don't hold your breath

 

[quadomatic]

So, I decided to screw it, and I installed Vista Ultimate x64. Aside from it trashing my partition table and causing me to have a panic attack since one of the partitions held the drafts to my college essays, the install went fine (I used testdisk to restore the partition table...open source software FTW!). I tried Assassin's Creed just now, and it runs a LOT better in Vista than it did on XP. Not sure if that's just because I reformatted, but whatever.

Regardless, it might be good that I didn't sell this Vista. When I opened it, I noticed some sizable cracks which may have made someone believe that it had been broken or opened before.

 

[ibex333]

XP off course! No question about it. No matter what people will tell you, Vista is a "bad" operating system. It's fate is decided. It will end up like Win Me. Microsoft is currently working on a new OS and it's just a matter of time before Vista is replaced. As for that 64bit stuff, I haven't noticed any reason why a gamer would absolutely have to have a 64bit OS. In fact there's pretty much none. The 64bit architecture wasn't taken advantage of when I had my AMD3200+ 6 years ago, and it still haven't been taken advantage of now. It's the same thing as with DX10... All marketing BS.

Some people are extra stubborn like my friend. He keeps using Vista despite admitting that it has a ton of problems. He likes his stupid little toys like aero, and animated desktop... He just MUST have them. He likes the "added security" despite the fact that it protects his PC more from him more than it protects it from others.... And he is willing to put up with lower FPS, and a host of other problems with various games, because he WANTS to use Vista... I keep laughing at him because every time we need to use a new program, or play a game he has issues.. It's always something.. A driver, or a network issue, or some other BS. But hey, to each his own, no?
Those who like Vista can have it. I'll keep using XP until Microsoft comes out with something new that also happens to be good for a change.


And because you only have 2gigs RAM, it's even more reason to go for XP. And as for better performance on Vista, that's nonsense. I haven't seen ANYONE, not a SINGLE PERSON who would have better gaming performance on Vista as opposed to XP. (Unless off course they had better hardware) Even after the update, Vista was still tested to be lagging behind XP in games according to gamespot and several other websites. So go for XP, and don't listen to Vista fanboys. You wont regret it.

 

[quadomatic]

Originally posted by: ibex333
XP off course! No question about it. No matter what people will tell you, Vista is a "bad" operating system. It's fate is decided. It will end up like Win Me. Microsoft is currently working on a new OS and it's just a matter of time before Vista is replaced. As for that 64bit stuff, I haven't noticed any reason why a gamer would absolutely have to have a 64bit OS. In fact there's pretty much none. The 64bit architecture wasn't taken advantage of when I had my AMD3200+ 6 years ago, and it still haven't been taken advantage of now. It's the same thing as with DX10... All marketing BS.

Some people are extra stubborn like my friend. He keeps using Vista despite admitting that it has a ton of problems. He likes his stupid little toys like aero, and animated desktop... He just MUST have them. He likes the "added security" despite the fact that it protects his PC more from him more than it protects it from others.... And he is willing to put up with lower FPS, and a host of other problems with various games, because he WANTS to use Vista... I keep laughing at him because every time we need to use a new program, or play a game he has issues.. It's always something.. A driver, or a network issue, or some other BS. But hey, to each his own, no?
Those who like Vista can have it. I'll keep using XP until Microsoft comes out with something new that also happens to be good for a change.


And because you only have 2gigs RAM, it's even more reason to go for XP. And as for better performance on Vista, that's nonsense. I haven't seen ANYONE, not a SINGLE PERSON who would have better gaming performance on Vista as opposed to XP. (Unless off course they had better hardware) Even after the update, Vista was still tested to be lagging behind XP in games according to gamespot and several other websites. So go for XP, and don't listen to Vista fanboys. You wont regret it.

As I said in my last post (and I am the author of this thread), I did upgrade, and saw a considerable improvement in performance in Assassin's Creed. I'll try Crysis tomorrow. The Steam backup of it is still in the process of restoring. So far, I'm enjoying the switch, but I imagine that Crysis is going to feel the burn with the 2GB of ram.

I was afraid that the lack of cache on my CPU was causing issues in AC, but maybe 64-bit optimizations made up for it? Perhaps? Probably not...

 

[BobW]

OK:

So here I am with a choice of both XP Pro X64 & Vista Ultimate X64.

I am of the opinion that my games of favor (Forgotton Air Battles) will perform better on
XP Pro X64; that is unless someone tells me different.

& Yes, I would like to hear back as to anyone else's experiences and or recommedations?

Thanks.

BobW
Senior Systems Engineer
MCP; CNE

 

[LS8]

You will not need 4GB of ram for Vista 32 or 64. I ran with 2GB for a long time with no problems.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: ibex333
XP off course! No question about it. No matter what people will tell you, Vista is a "bad" operating system. It's fate is decided. It will end up like Win Me. Microsoft is currently working on a new OS and it's just a matter of time before Vista is replaced. As for that 64bit stuff, I haven't noticed any reason why a gamer would absolutely have to have a 64bit OS. In fact there's pretty much none. The 64bit architecture wasn't taken advantage of when I had my AMD3200+ 6 years ago, and it still haven't been taken advantage of now. It's the same thing as with DX10... All marketing BS.

Some people are extra stubborn like my friend. He keeps using Vista despite admitting that it has a ton of problems. He likes his stupid little toys like aero, and animated desktop... He just MUST have them. He likes the "added security" despite the fact that it protects his PC more from him more than it protects it from others.... And he is willing to put up with lower FPS, and a host of other problems with various games, because he WANTS to use Vista... I keep laughing at him because every time we need to use a new program, or play a game he has issues.. It's always something.. A driver, or a network issue, or some other BS. But hey, to each his own, no?
Those who like Vista can have it. I'll keep using XP until Microsoft comes out with something new that also happens to be good for a change.


And because you only have 2gigs RAM, it's even more reason to go for XP. And as for better performance on Vista, that's nonsense. I haven't seen ANYONE, not a SINGLE PERSON who would have better gaming performance on Vista as opposed to XP. (Unless off course they had better hardware) Even after the update, Vista was still tested to be lagging behind XP in games according to gamespot and several other websites. So go for XP, and don't listen to Vista fanboys. You wont regret it.

People like you spread so much FUD its so sad!.......You forget to meantion XP is very much at the end of its life,as to Vista its still got a lot of years left,Windows 7 is only a minor update on Vista,every OS is replaced sooner or later thats nothing new,Vista has been out for awhile and has matured into probably the best Windows OS so far IMHO,last count was 98 games installed all running great,DX11 is not as far off as people think.


I'm a hardcore gamer and my main OS is now Vista x64(yes after using XP for 7 years),I like the extra security ,looks better,rock stable and does everything I want, got a problem with that?... tough luck.

I suggest you look at the latest benchmarks on the net you'll find Vista is right up there with XP,please stop spreading pure FUD,people like you don't have a clue what they are talking about.

You're a gamer and can't figure out why 4GB would be beneficial?..that says it all,as to DX10 well try Stalker Clear SKy in DX10 mode and tell me it does not look better then in DX9.


Windows Vista SP1 vs. XP SP3 .

Final Thoughts
If you were expecting a huge drop in performance as your eyes scanned from the XP to the Vista results, well, surprise! As many a tech analyst predicted, Windows Vista's gaming performance conundrum has largely been solved, and it was mainly due to early graphics drivers.

In fact, I'd been planning to run a few other gaming tests, but the results from these were so uninteresting that further work didn't seem merited. Love it or hate it, Vista is performing far better than it used to.

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: ibex333
XP off course! No question about it. No matter what people will tell you, Vista is a "bad" operating system. It's fate is decided. It will end up like Win Me. Microsoft is currently working on a new OS and it's just a matter of time before Vista is replaced. As for that 64bit stuff, I haven't noticed any reason why a gamer would absolutely have to have a 64bit OS. In fact there's pretty much none. The 64bit architecture wasn't taken advantage of when I had my AMD3200+ 6 years ago, and it still haven't been taken advantage of now. It's the same thing as with DX10... All marketing BS.

Some people are extra stubborn like my friend. He keeps using Vista despite admitting that it has a ton of problems. He likes his stupid little toys like aero, and animated desktop... He just MUST have them. He likes the "added security" despite the fact that it protects his PC more from him more than it protects it from others.... And he is willing to put up with lower FPS, and a host of other problems with various games, because he WANTS to use Vista... I keep laughing at him because every time we need to use a new program, or play a game he has issues.. It's always something.. A driver, or a network issue, or some other BS. But hey, to each his own, no?
Those who like Vista can have it. I'll keep using XP until Microsoft comes out with something new that also happens to be good for a change.


And because you only have 2gigs RAM, it's even more reason to go for XP. And as for better performance on Vista, that's nonsense. I haven't seen ANYONE, not a SINGLE PERSON who would have better gaming performance on Vista as opposed to XP. (Unless off course they had better hardware) Even after the update, Vista was still tested to be lagging behind XP in games according to gamespot and several other websites. So go for XP, and don't listen to Vista fanboys. You wont regret it.

I laugh at both people like you and your friend, him because he is a moron,, and you because you think you know more then him simply because you use 8-year old established software that was patched over 1000 times (literally).

By no means am I personally attacking you. As a matter of fact I admit I used to be pro-XP just a while ago. Fact is that Vista post-SP1, is just as great of an OS actually even better.

There are only a few things you have to understand if you are going to use Vista:

1) Vista x86 was an accident, it should have never seen the light of day.
2) I've seen the 32 bit executable of Crysis Warhead hit almost 80% ram usage together with the rest of the processes on my machine, I don't know how you'd get by with 2GB...
3) You need to learn how to use a program called vLite before you embrace Vista.

Follow 1-2-3 and you wont have any trouble with Vista.

 

[quadomatic]

Yeah, so I just tried Crysis, and while in general it does seem to run about as well as it did in XP, there's a fair bit of stuttering going on. I'm going to need another GB of ram, so I'll either buy a 2GB stick or a pack for 4GB, but I don't think I want to drop all that coin for 4GB, since I've been spending money like mad lately.

Anybody got a used 2GB stick they'd sell me?

BTW: thanks for the tips JAG87, but I don't think I'll be reinstalling Vista x64 at this point. Any tools like vLite that work after you've installed?

 

[Xavier434]

I have heard of much better feedback regarding Vista 64 than 32. This is coming from users that moved from 32 to 64. I am not sure about the details, but I am certain there are many reasons why this was the case for them.

 

[Maximilian]

I think ibex was the same guy spreading crap about starcraft II if i remember correctly....

Vista isnt bad, its not great either IMO but you should definately keep 1 ultimate edition as XP-64 is a dead end and eventually you may need more than 4GB of ram. Ive been using vista x64 for games for ages now, its worked out fine. I actually played giants: citizen kabuto yesterday on it, it worked without a patch or anything, i was surprised. So yeah vista is fine.

Originally posted by: ibex333
XP off course! No question about it. No matter what people will tell you, Vista is a "bad" operating system. It's fate is decided. It will end up like Win Me. Microsoft is currently working on a new OS and it's just a matter of time before Vista is replaced.

Oh also the "new OS" is windows 7 and it is basically the same as vista with a few little changes.