System drive about to kick it...XP or Vista after replacement?

[PSUPef2k]

I have a 74GB Raptor HD that is beginning to show early signs of failure. I use this drive as my system drive, so when I get it replaced (under warranty hopefully), a reinstall is going to be necessary. The question here is, do I go with XP Pro SP2 or Vista Ultimate?

I ask because the primary use of my machine is gaming, so if I do go with Vista, I need to be sure that BF2142, and several games from STEAM (HL2, Orange Box, Bioshock) all work properly. Specs are in my signature. Yes I know I need to upgrade, but I will worry about all that when I do a new build in the next year or so.

Thoughts? Advice?

Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: PSUPef2k
I have a 74GB Raptor HD that is beginning to show early signs of failure. I use this drive as my system drive, so when I get it replaced (under warranty hopefully), a reinstall is going to be necessary. The question here is, do I go with XP Pro SP2 or Vista Ultimate?

I ask because the primary use of my machine is gaming, so if I do go with Vista, I need to be sure that BF2142, and several games from STEAM (HL2, Orange Box, Bioshock) all work properly. Specs are in my signature. Yes I know I need to upgrade, but I will worry about all that when I do a new build in the next year or so.

Thoughts? Advice?

Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I know for a fact that all of those games (Except Orange Box as I have read no reviews of it working on Vista.) work fine on Vista. The best way to know for certain if any of those games have issues on Vista is to go to the publishers web site and look it up. Most games do very well on Vista so you probably would have no problems switching to Vista. Bioshock has DX10 features that are only available on Vista as long as you have a DX10 card.

 

[PSUPef2k]

Originally posted by: soonerproud

Originally posted by: PSUPef2k
I have a 74GB Raptor HD that is beginning to show early signs of failure. I use this drive as my system drive, so when I get it replaced (under warranty hopefully), a reinstall is going to be necessary. The question here is, do I go with XP Pro SP2 or Vista Ultimate?

I ask because the primary use of my machine is gaming, so if I do go with Vista, I need to be sure that BF2142, and several games from STEAM (HL2, Orange Box, Bioshock) all work properly. Specs are in my signature. Yes I know I need to upgrade, but I will worry about all that when I do a new build in the next year or so.

Thoughts? Advice?

Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I know for a fact that all of those games (Except Orange Box as I have read no reviews of it working on Vista.) work fine on Vista. The best way to know for certain if any of those games have issues on Vista is to go to the publishers web site and look it up. Most games do very well on Vista so you probably would have no problems switching to Vista. Bioshock has DX10 features that are only available on Vista as long as you have a DX10 card.

I actually do not have a DX10 card anyway, and don't think I am going to upgrade at this point. However, with this development, I am actually considering buying a 150GB WD Raptor from newegg on sale this week for $164 shipped:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136012

This would prevent me from needing to go 2-3 weeks while waiting for the RMA, and I can split it into 2 partitions and actually dual boot XP and vista, just incase.

On the other hand, downtime would give me the opportunity to warranty my system board with ASUS that has capacitor issues that I have been working around for about 8 months rather then taking the time to send it in and get a replacement. Maybe even a better way to go would be to replace my A8R32-MVP as well. Any good socket 939 boards that would pair up w/ my Opteron 170 and vid card and memory found in my sig? for < $100?

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: PSUPef2k

Originally posted by: soonerproud

Originally posted by: PSUPef2k
I have a 74GB Raptor HD that is beginning to show early signs of failure. I use this drive as my system drive, so when I get it replaced (under warranty hopefully), a reinstall is going to be necessary. The question here is, do I go with XP Pro SP2 or Vista Ultimate?

I ask because the primary use of my machine is gaming, so if I do go with Vista, I need to be sure that BF2142, and several games from STEAM (HL2, Orange Box, Bioshock) all work properly. Specs are in my signature. Yes I know I need to upgrade, but I will worry about all that when I do a new build in the next year or so.

Thoughts? Advice?

Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I know for a fact that all of those games (Except Orange Box as I have read no reviews of it working on Vista.) work fine on Vista. The best way to know for certain if any of those games have issues on Vista is to go to the publishers web site and look it up. Most games do very well on Vista so you probably would have no problems switching to Vista. Bioshock has DX10 features that are only available on Vista as long as you have a DX10 card.

I actually do not have a DX10 card anyway, and don't think I am going to upgrade at this point. However, with this development, I am actually considering buying a 150GB WD Raptor from newegg on sale this week for $164 shipped:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136012

This would prevent me from needing to go 2-3 weeks while waiting for the RMA, and I can split it into 2 partitions and actually dual boot XP and vista, just incase.

On the other hand, downtime would give me the opportunity to warranty my system board with ASUS that has capacitor issues that I have been working around for about 8 months rather then taking the time to send it in and get a replacement. Maybe even a better way to go would be to replace my A8R32-MVP as well. Any good socket 939 boards that would pair up w/ my Opteron 170 and vid card and memory found in my sig? for < $100?

Yes those games will run fine,infact I'm using Vista x64 and all my 32 bit games(over 40 installed) run fine(Steam games like CS,HL2,DoD etc..,Bioshock ,KOTOR,Baldur's Gate,UT2004 etc..)

 

[soonerproud]

Your best bet for a good socket 939 board would be either newegg (if they still have them) or you might find one on Ebay.