Windows Vista Gaming Performance Reports

[Unregistered]

Thanks for this. I have a new computer in the works, and was asked about what OS I wanted. I went with XP, because to me, it seems like each new OS diminishes functionality - removes features I like.

It's nice to see this article and know that I was right.

Joe.

 

[Unregistered]

Great Review!!

Great Review,


but, You should add a test with Radeon X1900 cards


It would be interesting to see if a game made for Vista is faster on Radeons.



Thanks

 

[Unregistered]

ATI drivers are much better (at this stage)

I wouldn't plan on installing Vista if you have an Nvidia card - their drivers are very poor at the moment although I believe that they are close to releasing a new version.

ATI/AMD's drivers latest driver (7.1, I think) is in much better shape and even includes Crossfire although their completely re-written OpenGL code is a few versions from being worthwhile.

Bottom-line is that if you have an ATI card and play D3D games (not OpenGL like Quake, Doom 3, etc.) then the drop in performance will, generally, be hardly noticeable and as the drivers improve, Vista will actually run better than XP.

Check this article out for more information: http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/windows_vista_performance_amd_catalyst_7.1/default.asp

 

[Donshyoku]

I had a quick question... were these results done with the 3D Aero interace on? To what level (transparency on, off, or middleways)?

Should we expect a bit better performance with that not running in the background or using a program made in the "Exclusive mode" of DirectX?

Thanks, everyone!

 

[Atomic_Kidd]

Windows Vista Per Gaming

Gee, Vista. Catch everyone with the sheets up and covered. Vista in my opinion is only WinXP done different. Different in the sense all the 3rd party software apps MS was able to steal and or concepts to steal and implement. Dress it up with many cover's. Force tell everyone they have to go the way of the dodo bird. Is well " Humbug hogwash ". Everyone gets hooked on the glitter. Will it run any faster. Doubt that. Were is the Games Tailored version of Vista. Hell 6 versions off the Ultra disk to install. Where's the enhanced tweaked kernel that will run only the services I need for gaming - Video speed and system access speed. Ops lost to kernel hooks now taking 10x the mouse clicks to do same thing on 1 click in XP. Only flavour MS has for now is running games. Want to do something productive - load Suse linux or 80x other flavours of linux. Heck Sun's Solaris_10 x86 with star office - open office work just the same and crashes are less or limited. These oss don't have black hole dudes writing viri to keep you patch crazy as much. Games OS = MS ' Production OS = Linux/Free Yeah!

 

[Rob Williams]

Didn't Microsoft claim that even DX9 games would run better on Vista? While I'm sure DX10 will bring along some improvements, it'll be a while till there are DX10 games around. Makes Vista pretty useless for me until then.

Yeah, I agree. I think that's how a lot of people feel.

I very much appreciate the article, but please, for heaven's sake, proof-read it before you post it on the internet. For the linguistically inclined, it's a burden to read at points.

I agree, I can't write. I admit it quicker than anyone. The article was proof read, I didn't realize it was -that- bad.

Yeah...I only wish the P5N-E SLI included TPM, but it doesn't really have a use. I'd just like to have it, lol!

I agree, but even then, I feel BitLocker is a waste of time. Way more of a pain in the butt than it should be.

Thanks for this. I have a new computer in the works, and was asked about what OS I wanted. I went with XP, because to me, it seems like each new OS diminishes functionality - removes features I like.

Thanks, glad it helped!

You should add a test with Radeon X1900 cards

I did not have a single ATI card on hand, sadly. The follow-up to this article will include one though.

I wouldn't plan on installing Vista if you have an Nvidia card - their drivers are very poor at the moment although I believe that they are close to releasing a new version.

I don't think installing Vista with any GPU is worth it at this point ;-) Good points though, hopefully the ATI drivers are indeed better. I don't expect it to take NVIDIA too long to get better drivers out as well.

I had a quick question... were these results done with the 3D Aero interace on? To what level (transparency on, off, or middleways)?

Yes, everything was left at default. When I did comparative testing using Beta 2 last summer, there was absolutely no difference in performance when turning off the Aero interface. Vista in general is a system hog... I don't think Aero has much to do with it though.

Gee, Vista. Catch everyone with the sheets up and covered. Vista in my opinion is only WinXP done different. Different in the sense all the 3rd party software apps MS was able to steal and or concepts to steal and implement. Dress it up with many cover's. Force tell everyone they have to go the way of the dodo bird. Is well " Humbug hogwash ". Everyone gets hooked on the glitter. Will it run any faster. Doubt that. Were is the Games Tailored version of Vista. Hell 6 versions off the Ultra disk to install. Where's the enhanced tweaked kernel that will run only the services I need for gaming - Video speed and system access speed. Ops lost to kernel hooks now taking 10x the mouse clicks to do same thing on 1 click in XP. Only flavour MS has for now is running games. Want to do something productive - load Suse linux or 80x other flavours of linux. Heck Sun's Solaris_10 x86 with star office - open office work just the same and crashes are less or limited. These oss don't have black hole dudes writing viri to keep you patch crazy as much. Games OS = MS ' Production OS = Linux/Free Yeah!

Haha, I agree for the most part. I use Linux as my primary desktop and the Windows rig for Photoshop/Gaming. Vista reassured me why I use Linux to be honest... it's far too bloated for my liking.

 

[madstork91]

I very much appreciate the article, but please, for heaven's sake, proof-read it before you post it on the internet. For the linguistically inclined, it's a burden to read at points.

My own grammar not with standing, I am an educated man who is decently well read. While Rob's article may not have been poetry, or Pulitzer Prize winning by any definition, it was well laid out and written in my opinion. If your desires were for award worthy journalism then I would suggest that you contact the times record news or a note worthy print publication that handles technology and software to do a more fair and balanced article with superior grammar. If you are too lazy a person to do so then I would think that Rob's article would best be suited to you, as not only is it written well enough for a person as educated as me, but has also recently had top billing when the BBC did an Internet article with links.

-stork. (not all birds are that of divination.)

 

[Unregistered]

What is your opinion of the willfully damaged DRM that polls your hardware every 30 milli seconds regardless of what you are actually doing, just in case you are ripping "premium content" whilst playing Doom 3 or whatever ?

 

[Rob Williams]

What is your opinion of the willfully damaged DRM that polls your hardware every 30 milli seconds regardless of what you are actually doing, just in case you are ripping "premium content" whilst playing Doom 3 or whatever ?

Good question. To be honest I had completely forgot about this, but it wasn't something I noticed. Of course, it may play a part in why most games run -slower- than on XP, but it wasn't something that stood out to me.

My personal thoughts is that it's ridiculous though. I look forward to a working patch that rids all forms of DRM on there.

 

[Unregistered]

1 word...... BETA

Thanks for dropping by! The P5N-E SLI includes BETA Vista drivers, which were used during testing. I forgot to make mention of this, but it's more fun to receive comments like yours this way.

 

[Rob Williams]

1 word...... BETA

Heh, Vista just came out today. What isn't beta?

 

[Kilamon]

I will likely follow-up to this article next month, when drivers in general have become a little more refined and common. In that article I will take Flight Sim, WoW and 32/64-Bit editions into consideration.

Thanks for the comments

Ok, Rob, you can't do the dual core Intel without an AMD in there to kick it's ass. And who cares about that cartoon game 'WoW' anyways? It always makes me think of the CompuServe WoW project with it's dumbed down interface, the cartoony movements, the tens of thousands of children playing it... no, put in EQ2 as a benchmark. That game will really tax the system. Or what about the latest Dawn of War Demo? It has an opening movie, and the game has some good resolution settings for an RTS. The full version has some great fog effects.

 

[ha1237]

Windows Vista RTM Performance

I have tried 2 MMORPG games and 2 racing game. (Rose Online and Mu Online), (Need For Speed Carbon and Need For Speed Most Wanted)
Indeed i did see a huge diffrence in performance with my ati graphics card. I only have a 256mg ddr ati 9550 agp. When comparing on how fast the game loads and performances. I seen vista perform twice as fast. By the way i am using ati finalized graphics drives. They are out of beta and everything works great.

 

[madstork91]

Ok, Rob, you can't do the dual core Intel without an AMD in there to kick it's ass. And who cares about that cartoon game 'WoW' anyways? It always makes me think of the CompuServe WoW project with it's dumbed down interface, the cartoony movements, the tens of thousands of children playing it... no, put in EQ2 as a benchmark. That game will really tax the system. Or what about the latest Dawn of War Demo? It has an opening movie, and the game has some good resolution settings for an RTS. The full version has some great fog effects.

Blizzard is known for the amount of things they put into a single screen at one time. EQ2 while not being "cartoon" in nature is horrible. And not -that- much an improvement, imo, over EQ. It is true that you need a higher functioning pc to run EQ2 at max though. The reason? EQ2 is a bloated program with twice as many strings needed to perform even the most basic of gaming functions.

In summation: WoW = more actual objects in your area of the game physics wise being proc.

EQ2 = twice as much being run for a single object with less objects overall.

I await my bash for this statement. It is none the less factual though.

 

[Jakal]

/bash

 

[Unregistered]

100.54 is not supported for G70. Those are the G80 drivers.

Can't do a valid benchmark like that, get your stuff right

 

[Rob Williams]

100.54 is not supported for G70. Those are the G80 drivers.

Can't do a valid benchmark like that, get your stuff right

I can't quote, but this driver is meant for the 6, 7 and 8 series of GPUs. It may not reflect that on their site, but that's how it is ;-)

If it was an incompatible driver, you would have seen -far- worse scores than what was there.

 

[baka.neko]

I obtain 30% increase in fps with "old" 97.xx drivers. 100.xx is crap for my 7950GT

 

[Rob Williams]

You are lucky there. The old 97.xx drivers were far worse for my 7900GT.

 

[[1stHssr]Gubber]

Thanks

I was actually considering buying vista myself untill i read this article, i had seen the beta on a laptop during my work experience and it it looked quite nice, however, i was having doubts about the gaming side of things i hadnt heard much and most was negative, this article confirms that doubt.

Thanks
Gubber