Vista or XP for gaming now

[chizow]

Originally posted by: arredondo
I've spent literally hours trying to solve the subwoofer problem but nothing works. I've tried the stuff you mentioned in varoious ways but still bass is weak when gaming. It is fine in other modes. Remember, I am going through my Home Theater audio setup, not a standard PC audio setup (where I'm sure it would work fine).

If you weren't happy with the Bass on the X-Fi then you probably won't be happy with anything in Vista. X-Fi offers a lot more control over Bass and settings than other solutions along with EAX support through OpenAL and ALchemy in games. Still, I think you either tried X-Fi before they got their drivers/consoles worked out in Vista or you're not setting the right options:

X-Fi Console and Settings
Bass Crossover Frequency makes the biggest difference. Pretty self-explanatory, bass below the frequency you set is routed to your subwoofer. This is particularly important for default settings that do not have a dedicated LFE signal. Pretty much everything in Vista defaults to PCM stereo so its kinda important to have a card that upmixes well (or completely bypasses it like OpenAL). Also notice that in those cases you may need to turn off "full range" for your surround satellites in order to get more bass routed to your woofer. I get bass to the woofer either way, but that may help you. There's also a few settings in Vista > properties that let you do some low-level bass/treble adjustments.

Edit: Btw I am using a 5.1 DD/DTS receiver via analog as well, and have been since the Audigy 1/2 on Win2k.

As for the process hang up, obviously Microsoft is aware of it since it even pops up a help box saying I need to close hl2.exe or reboot my system before it loads it up again (i.e. occassionally after a game of Team Fortress 2). It happens more often when browsing the internet via Firefox at various websites. No, nothing illegal or weird but normal sites, like Gamefaqs or the ESPN NBA page.

A great thing about Vista is that its much better about separating user-mode from kernel-mode apps, which basically means it'll run even when everything else comes crashing down around it. This should help you troubleshoot your problem and find the source of any incompatibility. When you kill a process it creates a dump log in your windows directory. You can view all of these and get an idea of what the problem is.

A lot of times it can be an incompatible driver from a piece of hardware (USB devices are prone to do this) you wouldn't suspect causing the problems. HL2 games are common so you shouldn't have problems and FF ofc as a browser shouldn't be giving you problems either. Just check the error logs for those programs and run a quick google search on the error string or device and you can probably find the root of the problem.

 

[brencat]

My new PC is a month old. I only have 1 game installed so far which is COD4, plus Itunes, Office, pictures, music, and all of my OCing utilities. Absolutely no problems at all using Vista 32 bit for anything. I downloaded all the essential hotfixes, disabled UAC, set updater to notify but not download unless I say, and I'm using AntiVir for antivirus. Also switched to classic folders view for greater familiarity because I don't like how Vista organizes menus. Everything has been great so far. And because the GPU is used regularly now, fonts look great, aero effects are slick, and everything seems to load quicker. Of course, I came from a 4yr old OCed XP-M 2400+ on an nforce2 platform & X800XL gfx so take that last sentence in context!

I decided to pass on Vista 64 at this time b/c I don't feel like bothering with driver signing or compatibility issues of any kind, regardless of the situation. I bought the retail version of Vista so I can always request the disks whenever I want later.

Yes, I had my doubts beforehand too. And I even had XP Pro SP2 in my cart at one point, but ultimately decided that looking forward was better than living in the past. Happy I did.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Still using XP for gaming due to slow nforce3 drivers on Vista (have to use the built in ones in Vista).

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Still using XP for gaming due to slow nforce3 drivers on Vista (have to use the built in ones in Vista).

I wonder if anybody has had great success with NF3 and Vista drivers,especially for gaming?

I'm very glad my NF4 board is well supported in Vista x68/64 .

 

[TheSlamma]

I'll go to Vista after they release SP1.... did the exact same thing with XP.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: TheSlamma
I'll go to Vista after they release SP1.... did the exact same thing with XP.

I jumped on XP very early as well when it was first released,however I would have to say Vista has matured faster then XP did in its first year.

 

[D13S3L]

Vista 64 Ultimate + 8800GT = Gaming Bliss.

Vista 64 ultimate runs all my games smooth as silk. I typically play COD4, Crysis, HL Ep 1 & 2, Company of Heroes and some casino game.

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: ja1484
This man wins. They're pretty much the same gaming wise.

That said - DX10 doesn't do a damn thing currently, so that's no reason to switch.

Also, considering Vista's draconian DRM and User Accounts implementations, I would say usability suffered some on the new OS.

Driver support isn't as well rounded as XP yet.


There's no real reason not to go to Vista right now, but there's no real reason to do so either, if you're already established on something else.

I'm sure Bill Gates would like us to spend the money and jump on board. I have two "decent" computers at home but getting a little long in the tooth by AT standards. I bought an extra stick of memory for my Dell to bring it up to 2 Gb but otherwise I don't see any reason to pay Billy boy when XP is doing me just fine. I'll certainly wait another year or two before jumping on that band wagon, at least.

 

[arredondo]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: arredondo
I've spent literally hours trying to solve the subwoofer problem but nothing works. I've tried the stuff you mentioned in varoious ways but still bass is weak when gaming. It is fine in other modes. Remember, I am going through my Home Theater audio setup, not a standard PC audio setup (where I'm sure it would work fine).

If you weren't happy with the Bass on the X-Fi then you probably won't be happy with anything in Vista. X-Fi offers a lot more control over Bass and settings than other solutions along with EAX support through OpenAL and ALchemy in games. Still, I think you either tried X-Fi before they got their drivers/consoles worked out in Vista or you're not setting the right options:

X-Fi Console and Settings
Bass Crossover Frequency makes the biggest difference. Pretty self-explanatory, bass below the frequency you set is routed to your subwoofer. This is particularly important for default settings that do not have a dedicated LFE signal. Pretty much everything in Vista defaults to PCM stereo so its kinda important to have a card that upmixes well (or completely bypasses it like OpenAL). Also notice that in those cases you may need to turn off "full range" for your surround satellites in order to get more bass routed to your woofer. I get bass to the woofer either way, but that may help you. There's also a few settings in Vista > properties that let you do some low-level bass/treble adjustments.

Edit: Btw I am using a 5.1 DD/DTS receiver via analog as well, and have been since the Audigy 1/2 on Win2k.

As for the process hang up, obviously Microsoft is aware of it since it even pops up a help box saying I need to close hl2.exe or reboot my system before it loads it up again (i.e. occassionally after a game of Team Fortress 2). It happens more often when browsing the internet via Firefox at various websites. No, nothing illegal or weird but normal sites, like Gamefaqs or the ESPN NBA page.

A great thing about Vista is that its much better about separating user-mode from kernel-mode apps, which basically means it'll run even when everything else comes crashing down around it. This should help you troubleshoot your problem and find the source of any incompatibility. When you kill a process it creates a dump log in your windows directory. You can view all of these and get an idea of what the problem is.

A lot of times it can be an incompatible driver from a piece of hardware (USB devices are prone to do this) you wouldn't suspect causing the problems. HL2 games are common so you shouldn't have problems and FF ofc as a browser shouldn't be giving you problems either. Just check the error logs for those programs and run a quick google search on the error string or device and you can probably find the root of the problem.

OK, so we are on the exact same page... you get full bass response through a Home Theater AV receiver via six analog cables using Vista while playing games? Because my problems revolve solely around that setup... I get bass just fine in music, video or DVD playback. The audio tests deliver a weak bass response using Creative's Audio Center for the Audigy SE and X-Fi card. The bass test sounds fine when I use the standard Window's audio program.

I have tweaked all of the settings you mention and more maybe 100+ times (no exaggeration) and I have tested multiple cards. Trust me when I say you aren't telling me anything new. It isn't that I am merely unsatisfied with the bass, it is absolutely pitiful. If generally good bass (in games) is an 8 on a scale from 1-10, in games my bass is a 2 at best.

Look at this audio guide... the author helped me first setup my connections over the net but even he admitted that bass response in games is a reported issue. He to this day has had no solution to the problem.

If you are saying that with Vista and an actual AV home theater receiver your bass works well in games, I literally would copy everything you have to replicate it for my system. I have not seen a confirmation anywhere else that it is possible, and I've looked everywhere I could think of on this topic.

 

[phios]

I play Vanguard SOH and made the move from XP to Vista.

This was a mistake on my part. I cannot turn the sound on in game. If I do, the game will crash within 10 minutes of play. This occurs on both my desktop and my laptop. With XP, I had no sound issues at all. Also, I noticed an increase in a frame rate drops when I'm running across the world. If I had the energy to reinstall XP I would, but since that is such a PITA I'll just live with no in-game sound and crappy performance.

Obviously not everyone has gaming issues with Vista, and for the most part Vista plays games as good as XP. But for some of us, Vista is crap compared to XP. No, I'm not anti-vista, I'd just like to turn the sound on occasionally when I play my video game.

Is that too much to ask?

Oh, and BTW, I've tried using both the built-in realtek audio and a creative X-fi card. Both setups had serious issues in Vista.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: phios
I play Vanguard SOH and made the move from XP to Vista.

This was a mistake on my part. I cannot turn the sound on in game. If I do, the game will crash within 10 minutes of play. This occurs on both my desktop and my laptop. With XP, I had no sound issues at all. Also, I noticed an increase in a frame rate drops when I'm running across the world. If I had the energy to reinstall XP I would, but since that is such a PITA I'll just live with no in-game sound and crappy performance.

Obviously not everyone has gaming issues with Vista, and for the most part Vista plays games as good as XP. But for some of us, Vista is crap compared to XP. No, I'm not anti-vista, I'd just like to turn the sound on occasionally when I play my video game.

Is that too much to ask?

Oh, and BTW, I've tried using both the built-in realtek audio and a creative X-fi card. Both setups had serious issues in Vista.

I have been playing Vanguard for the last two weeks on Vista x64,no sound or crash problems at all even with my other games,I'm using Audigy 4 sound card.

Maybe its a realtek/Creative driver conflict on your PC?

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: TheSlamma
I'll go to Vista after they release SP1.... did the exact same thing with XP.

but WHY? I've heard so many people say that but no one has a reason, no one knows what they want out of SP1. The bottom line is Vista doesn't currently have any serious flaws that need a SP, people just say that because everyone else does.

 

[King Nothing]

First post!!

I am currently using Vista for light gaming but I have never had any gaming issues.

Crysis runs like a dream

 

[emilyek]

I've had dual boot for a year and see no reason to use Vista for gaming. Or for anything.

If it's a question of upgrading to Vista, the answer is no. For any reason.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: emilyek
I've had dual boot for a year and see no reason to use Vista for gaming. Or for anything.

If it's a question of upgrading to Vista, the answer is no. For any reason.

not even DX10 ?

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: arredondo

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: arredondo
I've spent literally hours trying to solve the subwoofer problem but nothing works. I've tried the stuff you mentioned in varoious ways but still bass is weak when gaming. It is fine in other modes. Remember, I am going through my Home Theater audio setup, not a standard PC audio setup (where I'm sure it would work fine).

If you weren't happy with the Bass on the X-Fi then you probably won't be happy with anything in Vista. X-Fi offers a lot more control over Bass and settings than other solutions along with EAX support through OpenAL and ALchemy in games. Still, I think you either tried X-Fi before they got their drivers/consoles worked out in Vista or you're not setting the right options:

X-Fi Console and Settings
Bass Crossover Frequency makes the biggest difference. Pretty self-explanatory, bass below the frequency you set is routed to your subwoofer. This is particularly important for default settings that do not have a dedicated LFE signal. Pretty much everything in Vista defaults to PCM stereo so its kinda important to have a card that upmixes well (or completely bypasses it like OpenAL). Also notice that in those cases you may need to turn off "full range" for your surround satellites in order to get more bass routed to your woofer. I get bass to the woofer either way, but that may help you. There's also a few settings in Vista > properties that let you do some low-level bass/treble adjustments.

Edit: Btw I am using a 5.1 DD/DTS receiver via analog as well, and have been since the Audigy 1/2 on Win2k.

As for the process hang up, obviously Microsoft is aware of it since it even pops up a help box saying I need to close hl2.exe or reboot my system before it loads it up again (i.e. occassionally after a game of Team Fortress 2). It happens more often when browsing the internet via Firefox at various websites. No, nothing illegal or weird but normal sites, like Gamefaqs or the ESPN NBA page.

A great thing about Vista is that its much better about separating user-mode from kernel-mode apps, which basically means it'll run even when everything else comes crashing down around it. This should help you troubleshoot your problem and find the source of any incompatibility. When you kill a process it creates a dump log in your windows directory. You can view all of these and get an idea of what the problem is.

A lot of times it can be an incompatible driver from a piece of hardware (USB devices are prone to do this) you wouldn't suspect causing the problems. HL2 games are common so you shouldn't have problems and FF ofc as a browser shouldn't be giving you problems either. Just check the error logs for those programs and run a quick google search on the error string or device and you can probably find the root of the problem.

OK, so we are on the exact same page... you get full bass response through a Home Theater AV receiver via six analog cables using Vista while playing games? Because my problems revolve solely around that setup... I get bass just fine in music, video or DVD playback. The audio tests deliver a weak bass response using Creative's Audio Center for the Audigy SE and X-Fi card. The bass test sounds fine when I use the standard Window's audio program.

I have tweaked all of the settings you mention and more maybe 100+ times (no exaggeration) and I have tested multiple cards. Trust me when I say you aren't telling me anything new. It isn't that I am merely unsatisfied with the bass, it is absolutely pitiful. If generally good bass (in games) is an 8 on a scale from 1-10, in games my bass is a 2 at best.

Look at this audio guide... the author helped me first setup my connections over the net but even he admitted that bass response in games is a reported issue. He to this day has had no solution to the problem.

If you are saying that with Vista and an actual AV home theater receiver your bass works well in games, I literally would copy everything you have to replicate it for my system. I have not seen a confirmation anywhere else that it is possible, and I've looked everywhere I could think of on this topic.

Yes, you can absolutely get room-shaking levels of bass in games in Vista with the X-Fi through a home theater receiver connected via analog (3 x mini to 6 x RCA plugs). Some games are better than others by default but again, if you tweak settings like Bass Cross-over frequency and Full-range speakers you can get powerful Bass through your subwoofer even in games that do not support EAX or OpenAL.

An example is World in Conflict where I do have to un-check full-range speakers in the Windows speaker set-up to get strong bass through the subwoofer. If I leave full-range speakers checked, I get very little bass through the sub. Most other games don't however, especially OpenAL or ALchemy supported games where the X-Fi's DSP takes care of that.

Not sure of a good way to show you, but make sure you are using the newest downloaded console on Creative's site (its new and updated, only a few months old) along with the newest 11/05 driver for Vista. Before the updated console w/ cross-over frequency control I did get really weak bass in any games, but I knew that getting a working console would fix that. If you want more proof or can't get it working right, PM me and maybe we can set up a sound test or something.

 

[stevty2889]

I've been using Vista 64bit for a while myself(mainly because my XP drive died, so I had no choice but to switch back). A lot of driver improvements have been made, and most games perform on par in Vista vs. XP in DX-9 mode. I still can't get bioshock to run anymore, and M-audio has yet to come out with a single 64 bit vista driver for anything let alone my revolution 7.1 so I'm stuck with onboard audio as well, but other than that, it's been fine for gaming.

 

[mageslayer]

vista + c2d e6400+ 4gb ram+ 7950 gt @ 600/1600+ 500 gb harddrive= no complaints
vista>xp

If you have a modern day rig, you should be fine, don't try to run vista on a p4 512mb ram machine, you will cry

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Originally posted by: Fraggable

Originally posted by: TheSlamma
I'll go to Vista after they release SP1.... did the exact same thing with XP.

but WHY? I've heard so many people say that but no one has a reason...

I'm personally for SP1 for two reasons:
1. I'll (hopefully) have enough money around that time.
2. SP1 might come out with some kick ass new feature (like SP2 did for XP).

 

[TheSlamma]

Originally posted by: Fraggable

Originally posted by: TheSlamma
I'll go to Vista after they release SP1.... did the exact same thing with XP.

but WHY? I've heard so many people say that but no one has a reason, no one knows what they want out of SP1. The bottom line is Vista doesn't currently have any serious flaws that need a SP, people just say that because everyone else does.

I have had the Vista repair tool fail on me 4/4 times now in our test environment at work. I think they still have some work to do.

Besides that I look at the test machines and see no real point, everything seems downgraded, especially the disk tools and the network properties.

 

[AdamK47]

This screenshot should answer the question.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: AdamK47
This screenshot should answer the question.

Nice collection! :thumbsup:

I remember coming across that SS but couldn't remember where. Anyways, there's a thread going on in Video regarding driver/OS support for games. There seems to be specific problems with a few games on NV hardware that maybe you could share your experiences with, I think System Shock 2 and Thief were mentioned:

NV vs. ATI legacy support

 

[King Nothing]

That's one serious collection of games!

 

[hooflung]

I have XP 32 on my C2D/3850 512/4g box and VistaU64 on my X2 3800/7800GT/2g and I have to admit there are some things I like about Vista and some things I hate. I haven't done much gaming, other than using my vista box as a second EVE-Online: Trinity DX9 second client but it does seem as good as XP and for some reason XP32 gets bogged down and takes forever to boot into these days. Once I fully get used to living in Vista I'll upgrade because is an MSDN copy which I get with the subscription =)

So, meh. Use what you want and try not to look like an internet hero.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: Fraggable

Originally posted by: TheSlamma
I'll go to Vista after they release SP1.... did the exact same thing with XP.

but WHY? I've heard so many people say that but no one has a reason, no one knows what they want out of SP1. The bottom line is Vista doesn't currently have any serious flaws that need a SP, people just say that because everyone else does.

No, it does need a SP. I know that XP used to be in some state like this, back before SP1, but at least 2K was the exact same without the graphical upgrade. With Vista though, theres not enough gain from DX 10 at the moment to make me jump to upgrade, which I have to do, and that Vista feels like the current ME.