Windows XP to Die Off at 'Some Point'

[Kougar]

Both of those points are very true. But when you try three installations of Vista and things go from kosher to crappy with all three, it's not a peculiarity with the specific install. Especially when using very mainstream hardware. Some of those game hotpatches actually broke more than they fixed, which isn't cool when the game install gives you a popup telling you to install the hotpatch.

I could rant about the DRM MS uses to ensure their customers are using legit installs of Vista, but suffice to say draconian is every bit as deserved as most sites love to claim. Try cleaning the CMOS on a computer without a network connection (Or that requires standalone drivers before Vista can use the ethernet jack), then installing Vista with the CMOS clock set wrong. If things are still working after the install finishes and you've rebooted twice, then you will be in for a rough ride later.

As far as who gets some of the blame, I think Nvidia certainly gets some. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...t-paints-picture-of-buggy-nvidia-drivers.html Taking months to release a Vista driver, then many more months before they release a non-beta version of their 8800 series driver was just inexcusable considering the length of time they had to develop drivers before Vista's official release.

 

[Merlin]

Rather than to keep the whole quote from Kougar......

I've had Vista Ultimate on the last two builds Vista OEM.
Installed both times with new formatted drives....
Not a problem as yet....
So I'm wondering why all the problems others are having?
Did they just upgrade? installed over XP ?
Or some other quirk?

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

 

[Rob Williams]

I think there is an overall FPS decrease in Vista (well, I know this), but I don't think it's major, but rather something like 5%. If I can find time, I'd like to follow-up our old "Vista vs. XP" with our current fleet of games and on identical hardware (both ATI and NVIDIA) and then get some real answers.

It's an article I've been wanting to do for a while, so I need to find time to do it.

 

[Kougar]

I know that in-place upgrades from XP to Vista are a big mistake, things were so bad at first with the driver soup that resulted from it that some users found themselves with useless machines and had to install from a clean slate. All of my installs were clean installs and kept updated. Vista Ultimate 32bit OEM.

The problem with Vista vs XP game performance reviews is to many of them use DX10 settings... obviously it is going to skew the results for XP. I'd be more curious if Nvidia/Microsoft were able to fix the lower MIN framerates rather than the lower AVG framerates... the general lag and freezes seen under Vista were the problem, I could care less about the actual FPS as long as it was smooth and didn't affect the game.

 

[Rob Williams]

The problem with Vista vs XP game performance reviews is to many of them use DX10 settings... obviously it is going to skew the results for XP.

That's something I would take into consideration. Some games, as far as I know, force DX10 mode while in Vista, but I could be wrong. I know whenever I launch Crysis, the window notes DX10, and I don't see an option to force DX9 mode.

I know both Lost Planet and Call of Juarez allow you to choose either or though, so those would be two titles I'd be using.

As for the lags and freezes... I can agree. I haven't experienced too much of that lately though, but it could be because I haven't gamed that much lately.