Thinking of switching OS's

[Whisper]

Ok, so here's the deal--I'm currently running XP Professional 32-bit, and it's been working fine for the past two or three years. However, I recently upgraded my computer, and now, since I have to format anyway, i was thinking of switching things up a bit. These are my options at the moment (all downloadable for free thanks to my school's licensing agreement with microsoft):

1) Stick with XP 32-bit
2) Switch to XP 64-bit
3) Switch to Vista Ultimate or Enterprise 32-bit
4) Switch to Vista Ultimate or Enterprise 64-bit

My system specs are as follows:

Core2Duo E8400 (Not OC'd at the moment)
4gb RAM
Gigabyte mobo
Geforce 8800GT
150gb Raptor HDD

I'm basically trying to decide if switching to 64-bit would be a good decision, and/or if changing from XP to Vista would be wise. This is on my desktop, which is generally used for gaming; all work that I do on it can generally be handled with a combination of Word, Endnote, and SPSS, so no huge program/resource requirements there.

Any and all thoughts/suggestions would be welcome. Thank ya.

 

[Aberforth]

Go for Vista 64bit, with your current configuration you are unlikely to have any driver issues. Make sure you do the clean install as you cannot upgrade from xp 32bit, also your 150 gb raptor will be filled with Shadow copy and System restore files with Vista so you better disable it and have an external drive for backup.

 

[Chiropteran]

Vista 64 enterprise.

 

[Whisper]

Thanks for the input. Given that I've never even seen Vista for more than maybe 5 minutes, is the disabling of those processes easily accomplished?

Edit: I should mention that the Vista downloads offered by my school appear to be upgrade-only, but I'm guessing that so long as Vista detects a legit previous installation of XP 32-bit, it will let me do a clean install of the 64-bit OS?

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: Chiropteran
Vista 64 enterprise.

So I'm guessing the "Ultimate" in Vista Ultimate is more bloat-ware than anything overly helpful?

 

[Aberforth]

I wouldn't call Vista as bloat-ware. There are good features in Ultimate like BitLocker Drive encryption which is handy for notebook pc's.

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
I wouldn't call Vista as bloat-ware. There are good features in Ultimate like BitLocker Drive encryption which is handy for notebook pc's.

Oh, I didn't mean Vista as a whole, I just meant the comparison between Enterprise and Ultimate. I'll probably swing by microsoft's site in a bit myself to compare the two versions, I just wasn't sure if anyone had direct experience with/knowledge of both.

 

[Chiropteran]

Originally posted by: Whisper

Originally posted by: Chiropteran
Vista 64 enterprise.

So I'm guessing the "Ultimate" in Vista Ultimate is more bloat-ware than anything overly helpful?

My understanding was that ultimate and enterprise were identical, except enterprise didn't require activation from Microsoft. Am I wrong? I use ultimate because I can't get a copy of enterprise, nothing wrong with it other than the hassle of activating.

 

[Oil]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
I wouldn't call Vista as bloat-ware. There are good features in Ultimate like BitLocker Drive encryption which is handy for notebook pc's.

Enterprise includes BitLocker.

Originally posted by: Chiropteran

Originally posted by: Whisper

Originally posted by: Chiropteran
Vista 64 enterprise.

So I'm guessing the "Ultimate" in Vista Ultimate is more bloat-ware than anything overly helpful?

My understanding was that ultimate and enterprise were identical, except enterprise didn't require activation from Microsoft. Am I wrong? I use ultimate because I can't get a copy of enterprise, nothing wrong with it other than the hassle of activating.

Enterprise is Business with BitLocker. Also, you do have to activate it just like any other Vista edition.

My opinion is if you need the Home Premium functionality (media center) or Ultimate "extras" (which are crap IMO) get Ultimate, otherwise stick with Enterprise. Right now I have Ultimate but will go down to Enterprise on my next reformat

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Whisper
Thanks for the input. Given that I've never even seen Vista for more than maybe 5 minutes, is the disabling of those processes easily accomplished?

Edit: I should mention that the Vista downloads offered by my school appear to be upgrade-only, but I'm guessing that so long as Vista detects a legit previous installation of XP 32-bit, it will let me do a clean install of the 64-bit OS?

Yes they are, but I don't recommend it unless you have another backup and disk imaging solution.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: soonerproud

Originally posted by: Whisper
Thanks for the input. Given that I've never even seen Vista for more than maybe 5 minutes, is the disabling of those processes easily accomplished?

Edit: I should mention that the Vista downloads offered by my school appear to be upgrade-only, but I'm guessing that so long as Vista detects a legit previous installation of XP 32-bit, it will let me do a clean install of the 64-bit OS?

Yes they are, but I don't recommend it unless you have another backup and disk imaging solution.

Unless they've changed things with newer images including SP1, you can always do the trick where you can do a clean install right from the upgrade disk by installing vista and then 'upgrading' it from that installation.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Go for Vista 64bit, with your current configuration you are unlikely to have any driver issues. Make sure you do the clean install as you cannot upgrade from xp 32bit, also your 150 gb raptor will be filled with Shadow copy and System restore files with Vista so you better disable it and have an external drive for backup.

Shadow Copies are pretty sweet though. It may not be needed much, but it could really save your ass one day.

 

[Pabster]

Given that configuration, Vista x64. No questions asked.

 

[Aberforth]

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Go for Vista 64bit, with your current configuration you are unlikely to have any driver issues. Make sure you do the clean install as you cannot upgrade from xp 32bit, also your 150 gb raptor will be filled with Shadow copy and System restore files with Vista so you better disable it and have an external drive for backup.

Shadow Copies are pretty sweet though. It may not be needed much, but it could really save your ass one day.

I know that but given his HDD size I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: Whisper

Originally posted by: Chiropteran
Vista 64 enterprise.

So I'm guessing the "Ultimate" in Vista Ultimate is more bloat-ware than anything overly helpful?

Not really. It's simply a version of windows with all of the features of the business edition such as shadow copy and previous versions and all the the Home Premium features such as the media center application.

 

[Whisper]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Looks like Vista x64 it is. Now if I could just get the download to finish successfully, I'd be all set.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: Whisper
1) Stick with XP 32-bit
2) Switch to XP 64-bit
3) Switch to Vista Ultimate or Enterprise 32-bit
4) Switch to Vista Ultimate or Enterprise 64-bit

1) Stick with XP 32-bit throught the use of Vitual PC
2) XP64 - Wonderful OS, but frustrating since there is not development for it.
3,4) Forget Vista, goto Ebay and look for server 2008. There are people listing NFR versions for around $100 (not supposed to but they do). You can run 32 bit and still see more than 4 gb. A lot less fluff than vista. The NFR version has both 32 bit and 64 bit. Takes a little time to configure initially, but its a very good OS. And since it is the same kernel as Vista SP1, you can just use Vista drivers for all your devices. The Nvidia Vista drivers work great.

 

[sourceninja]

Gaming? I'd stay with XP. Why, some of those stupid copy protection drivers are still not 64bit and xp is just fine. When there are more dx10 games, then it is worth the switch.