Switching from Vista to XP.

[Noah]

I just quit a Company of Heroes session where to game were horrible in both dx10 and dx9 performance. So I just started to think about the experienced I've had with Vista after 6-7 months of heavy use.

I've noticed the following cons:
*Max RAM limit is around 3,5gig, XP is 4gig.
*Everything about the computer feels slower, including booting.
*Dx10 never working without fps problems, if at all.
*The basic Windows interface sucks.
*The Office for Vista is one of the worst programs I've seen.
*GAMES NOT WORKING!
*Not that reliable performance.

Pros:
*I can use the Dx10 support of my card, when a game that can handle it well finally arrives.
*The networking in Vista is actually quite nifty.

Some of the cons are pretty shitty, having games not working, and problems enabling some features for games. Semi-old games may not run at all, or if it does run, it can have some weird graphical issues due to Vista. I expected that this would happen, so I kept having Vista with the eyes on the future and Dx10. When I started to get to use Dx10 I just got one disappointment after another. It never seemed to work properly, mostly because the games that used it weren't using it right. Games like Hellgate:London were unplayable with Dx10 for almost everyone with Vista.

So I'm pretty much fucked with both new, and old games. The only thing that has been keeping me on Vista so long is that I've expected improvement. The games aren't addressing the issue, and the Vista Service Pack never seems to come out. It sucks to lose out Dx10 which I payed more for when I bought my graphics card, but when I have to sacrifice so much for so little it's just not worth it.

I'll add my computer specs, I bought it about half a year ago, and spent a good amount on it.

I'm making this post in hope that some can either give me some valuable info that I've missed, or that it can help those who are in the same shoes as me. Have any of you guys made the switch even with a Dx10 card?

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 3/2/2008, 01:12:08
       Machine name: KONGEPC
   Operating System: Windows Vista™ Business (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_gdr.071023-1545)
           Language: Norwegian (Bokmål) (Regional Setting: Norwegian (Bokmål))
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
       System Model: System Product Name
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 07/27/07 14:39:39 Ver: 08.00.12
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E6850  @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
             Memory: 3326MB RAM Note: I have 4K MB RAM. This is just Vista not using all.
          Page File: 1375MB used, 5454MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 10

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce 8800 GTS
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&SUBSYS_82341043&REV_A2
   Display Memory: 2011 MB
 Dedicated Memory: 604 MB
    Shared Memory: 1407 MB
     Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: SyncMaster 226CW,SyncMaster Magic CX226CW(Digital)
      Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
   Driver Version: 7.15.0011.6901 (English)
      DDI Version: 9Ex

[PUNK rock]

I just quit a Company of Heroes session where to game were horrible in both dx10 and dx9 performance. So I just started to think about the experienced I've had with Vista after 6-7 months of heavy use.

I've noticed the following cons:
*Max RAM limit is around 3,5gig, XP is 4gig.
*Everything about the computer feels slower, including booting.
*Dx10 never working without fps problems, if at all.
*The basic Windows interface sucks.
*The Office for Vista is one of the worst programs I've seen.
*GAMES NOT WORKING!
*Not that reliable performance.

Pros:
*I can use the Dx10 support of my card, when a game that can handle it well finally arrives.
*The networking in Vista is actually quite nifty.

The memory is an issue with 32-bit operating systems, not Vista. Neither XP nor Vista 32-bit versions can use all 4GB of RAM.

With the speed...have you gone through and turned off unnecessary Windows services, especially user account control, and any programs you may not use at startup? While I may have more things running at startup than I did with XP, I was able to have about 37 processes running at Vista startup.

I have an 8800GT and have only noticed greatly improved performance in games. Make sure you have the newest driver from nvidia.

Service pack 1 is available as a standalone install from Microsoft's site, as it won't be a critical update till later this month. You will notice some performance improvement, especially in file transfers.

As for the issue with games, have you tried running them in compatibility with XP? It's in the properties area of the .exe file.

Hope that helps you out, most of my experience is with the Home Premium version. I doubt it's that much different from the Business edition.

[Noah]

The memory is an issue with 32-bit operating systems, not Vista. Neither XP nor Vista 32-bit versions can use all 4GB of RAM.

Yeah, that's true about the RAM. For some reason I had forgotten about that when I made this thread. I could get the 64-bit version if I decide to format though.

With the speed...have you gone through and turned off unnecessary Windows services, especially user account control, and any programs you may not use at startup? While I may have more things running at startup than I did with XP, I was able to have about 37 processes running at Vista startup.

This is one of those things I'm actually good at. I've always turned off shit from the OS that hogs performance.

I have an 8800GT and have only noticed greatly improved performance in games. Make sure you have the newest driver from nvidia.

Yup, I have all the newest drivers.

Service pack 1 is available as a standalone install from Microsoft's site, as it won't be a critical update till later this month. You will notice some performance improvement, especially in file transfers.

I doubt this is enough to fix many of the issues I have with Vista, but it's worth a try. Thanks for the heads up.

As for the issue with games, have you tried running them in compatibility with XP? It's in the properties area of the .exe file.

The compatibility mode has always been useless. I can't remember seeing a difference on anything after I set it to XP.

There's also other problems even if I can launch the games. I couldn't access a private Starcraft server because the DEP in Vista is known to fuck up connections. I had to spend lots of time googling around to find out what this was, and how to fix it, while XP users has no problem with this.

Hope that helps you out, most of my experience is with the Home Premium version. I doubt it's that much different from the Business edition.

I doubt that there is a big difference for users like you and me, most of the additional shit that comes with a more expensive Vista is stuff I'd never need.

Thanks for the input.

[death row]

Yeah, I didn't have a good experience with Vista myself. Just fixed my old pc and will continue to go with XP.