Which Vista version for a gamer?

Xenocide187

Member
Nov 10, 2002
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I'm planning to build a new rig when Vista comes out, but I'm uncertain as to which version of the OS to buy. I'm planning to create a gaming rig primarily used for gaming (obviously), basic email/internet browsing, connecting to my Xbox 360 and streaming media to it, and some other stuff us gamers do. I was leaning towards the Home Premium as it sounds to suite my needs, but does the Ultimate edition have something that I might need later on? It sounds to me like it has all the features I'm looking for, but with business features which I don't really care for (or should I?). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 

coolpurplefan

Golden Member
Mar 2, 2006
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Click on video on the xbitlabs website. They have an article on Vista gaming. You'll need 4GB of RAM and current games at the present time anyway will run slower on Vista.

Gee.
 

Xenocide187

Member
Nov 10, 2002
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Originally posted by: coolpurplefan
Click on video on the xbitlabs website. They have an article on Vista gaming. You'll need 4GB of RAM and current games at the present time anyway will run slower on Vista.

Gee.

I read it and it doesn't answer my question. Thanks though.
 

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
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Originally posted by: coolpurplefan
Click on video on the xbitlabs website. They have an article on Vista gaming. You'll need 4GB of RAM and current games at the present time anyway will run slower on Vista.

Gee.

Since the final version of Vista has yet to be released and most of the drivers are still not out of beta yet, I don't see how anyone can legitimately claim that games will suffer a performance hit. Granted, if history is any indicator, there may be a slight decrease in performance, but nothing can be confirmed or denied yet.
 

poohbear

Platinum Member
Mar 11, 2003
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Originally posted by: coolpurplefan
You'll need 4GB of RAM

i see, so MS is targeting 0.2% of the pc gaming market? where exactly do u get your information from? the dark recesses of your anus is not a good source for info, remember that when u try to reference it for an essay or something.
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
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Originally posted by: coolpurplefan
Click on video on the xbitlabs website. They have an article on Vista gaming. You'll need 4GB of RAM and current games at the present time anyway will run slower on Vista.

Gee.

Where do people come up with this crap? Why 4GBs? I am running Vista Ultimate right now on 1.5GBs and have zero problems gaming on beta drivers.

 

Cheex

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2006
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Originally posted by: Genx87
Where do people come up with this crap? Why 4GBs? I am running Vista Ultimate right now on 1.5GBs and have zero problems gaming on beta drivers.

What GFX card are you using?
 

meson2000

Senior member
Jul 18, 2001
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Originally posted by: coolpurplefan
Click on video on the xbitlabs website. They have an article on Vista gaming. You'll need 4GB of RAM and current games at the present time anyway will run slower on Vista.

Gee.

You can't make this statement. Video card drivers have more of an impact on performance than the OS. It will take Nvidia and ATI a few more months (even after RTM) to get their drivers in good enough shape were performance is on par with XP. Everyone said the same thing with Win98SE was the 'gaming' OS and Microsoft came out with XP. All the benchmarks showed that XP was a couple of percentage points behind Win98SE in performance at launch. Nothing noticable in actual gameplay. But it all eventually got straighted out.

Your 4gig of RAM statement is also unfounded. I personally run 2gigs and Vista runs like a top. I am sure the same can be said of people with just 1gig of RAM too...
 

Cheex

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2006
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I agree. I'm running only 1GB of RAM and Vista is still very responsive.
 

flexy

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
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Originally posted by: Cheex
I agree. I'm running only 1GB of RAM and Vista is still very responsive.


Vista itself w/ 1Gb is FINE. ALthough...started playing BF2 w/ 1gb under XP...and it gets SLOW....swapping on HD etc. Dont even want to think to use Vista and a high-end game like BF2 w/ only 1GB.

1.5Gb *possible* totally fine....2GB (IMHO) plenty.

4GB nonsense...except you want to waste 2GB or so which probably will never be used in a 4gb system. (Not that i say it would hurt....but it's just FAAAR out to say it needs 4GB)

 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
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Originally posted by: Cheex
Originally posted by: Genx87
Where do people come up with this crap? Why 4GBs? I am running Vista Ultimate right now on 1.5GBs and have zero problems gaming on beta drivers.

What GFX card are you using?

6800GT

One nice thing, the stuttering I get from anything newer than the 65.xx drivers in WinXP is gone in Vista with the 96.33 drivers that ship with RC2 :)

btw I was a bit misleading on zero problems. I do get flickering in CoH, so it isnt flawless. But the games I do play like CS:Source work fine.
 
Mar 19, 2003
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Originally posted by: Cheex
Are there any ATI drivers shipped with RC2?

Yes, although the date on them is slightly older than the latest ATI Vista (RC1) drivers posted on their website. I haven't done much comparative testing, but performance seems to be fine with either. Still no OpenGL support though.
 

Cheex

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2006
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I figured as much but which popular games are in OpenGL?
(specially concerned about FIFA)
 
Mar 19, 2003
18,289
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Originally posted by: Cheex
I figured as much but which popular games are in OpenGL?
(specially concerned about FIFA)

No clue about FIFA; but mostly the recent popular OpenGL games are those based on the Doom 3 engine (including Doom 3 itself of course, Quake 4, and most recently Prey). I can't really think of any others off the top of my head.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,405
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Originally posted by: Xenocide187
It's crazy how fast this got off topic because of one guy's misunderstanding of an article.


Lol, I can't really answer your question, but Vista is supposed to allow upgrading at any time(all versions are included on DVD). You could buy one of the lower versions, then if you find there's something your missing, upgrade almost instantly.
 

BladeVenom

Lifer
Jun 2, 2005
13,365
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Stick with XP until you have to have Vista for DirectX 10. Read the thread about Vista's new licensing terms. You will only be able to upgrade your PC once with Vista. Any more than that and you will have to buy a new copy. So wait as long as you can, and you might want to consider buying the cheapest version if you upgrade your PC often.
 

InlineFive

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2003
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Originally posted by: theheartofwinter
So what Vista version is for gaming? What about if you game and do .NET programming?

There is no version of Vista that is Best "for Gaming". :shocked:

Get whatever your heart desires. :thumbsup:

:sun:
 

Smilin

Diamond Member
Mar 4, 2002
7,357
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Originally posted by: InlineFive
Originally posted by: theheartofwinter
So what Vista version is for gaming? What about if you game and do .NET programming?

There is no version of Vista that is Best "for Gaming". :shocked:

Get whatever your heart desires. :thumbsup:

:sun:

:thumbsup:

The version has nothing to do with your gaming. Pick your version based on what *other* features you want.
 

Xenocide187

Member
Nov 10, 2002
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But none of you really answered my original question. I asked whether or not the Ultimate Edition has features that I'm overlooking that I might need for later. I mentioned that I was leaning towards the Home Premium Edition because it seems like it has all the features I want (gaming, multimedia, etc.). It seems to me that the Ultimate Edition has all the features the Home Premium has, but Microsoft added business features. So will the Home Premium Edition be good enough, or is there something the Ultimate Edition will have that I would probably want?