The unnofficial official Vista thread

[Bioshock_FTW!]

So what do you folks make of Vista, those of you who have it and use it (what kind of PC's are you using?), and those who don't and why.

Just looking to get some constructive discussion on the upsides and downsides to Vista from personal experience (or lack thereof).

I myself do tech support for a living, for a small software company who licenses point of sale (POS) software to mobile audio/video (car stereo) type companies.
I've had a lot of rogue customers decide to upgrade their systems to Vista myself and have spent days with people trying to get even the most basic Vista workgroup set up properly. This new TCP/IP protocol that solid-Vista workgroups use is horrible and basically won't let anything run across the network with full access. It's horrible. And that's just the networking...

I installed it on my home machine on a 15 gig partition on my 30 gig WD Raptor, i first installed Ultimate which took up 14 of that 15 gigs and maxed out when I installed drivers on it. Everything in Vista is huge. Not just is the OS huge, but the drivers and software for it are too.

I just see more downsides that upsides right now unless you own a proprietary type PC (HP, Dell, any supported laptop), which tend to be fine since their manufacturers specifically worked on Vista drivers for them. Which is great...but what about the rest of us system builders?

It took me 4 reformats/reinstalls to get Vista installed properly due to BSOD's and a full partition. I don't use it because any time I actually try doing even the most basic things (installing a game for instance), it tends to freeze up and I have to hard reboot. Otherwise it runs great...once you can actually get into the true administrator account.

I look forward to buying a retail copy of Home Premium when SP1 is released, and has full DX10 support with limited or no bugs.

[jackinthebox]

please remove the edit on your own... otherwise people would ask themselves why i messed around with your post
i don't have vista and i don't plan to use it... can't think of any good reason.



edit:
np... you were also fast

http://www5.fh-ingolstadt.de/labore/...eil_runter.gif

[Bioshock_FTW!]

please remove the edit on your own... otherwise people would ask themselves why i messed around with your post
i don't have vista and i don't plan to use it... can't think of any good reason.

too late
good looking out, that was fast! Thanks

[Corgano]

Haven't heard anything good about it. Heard it's supposed to be more secure, but that in order to be able to do anything with it you have to turn off all of the security options. *shrugs* Don't plan on getting it unless I have to.

Peace,
Cor

[borgdrone89]

as some of the regulars know, I have home premium with the computer i built myself.

i really love vista. It has better implemented security, a completely rewritten network stack (windows firewall is a pain in the ass though, wont let other computers on the network see when im hosting a lan game), which is generally automated (again with windows firewall, talking to xp computers can be a pain in the ass, but its not "vista firewall", its "windows firewall", and we know what that means ). vista has a new look(aero colours are fully customisable), and while it uses more ram, it uses more ram IN A GOOD WAY (superfetch). I do think that a computer with less than a gig of ram will struggle, and 2 gig should be recommended, but 1 is fine at the moment (will get more for bioshock). basically i consider vista is better than xp.

which reminds me: does anyone know whether Hynix is a good brand for RAM?

[Bioshock_FTW!]

which reminds me: does anyone know whether Hynix is a good brand for RAM?

Hm...never heard of Hynix. I've got 3 gigs of G-Skill DDR2 800. G-Skill is pretty good for pretty cheap bux.

[borgdrone89]

hynix is a semiconductor brand that also sells ram modules (to gfx card producers such as sapphire), just wondering, because i found some hynix ram on ebay pretty cheap

[wsad]

I'm running Vista Ultimate 64 bit, And like it a lot! My other pc's are still running XP Pro and when using them, I miss a lot things Vista has!

Best advice I can give is, If your building a new rig and going with Vista or upgrading, Make SHURE all your hardware has beta Vista drivers out!

I put this os on my newest built rig I done 2 months ago. Very happy with it over all, But man the beta drivers have been crap! But with the newest release of the 158.19 Drivers from NVidia, It has fixed a lot of my problems. Just waiting on some better sound card drivers now.

My current new gaming rig.

Vista Ultimate 64 Bit

C2D E6700 (Clocked To 3.46 GHz).

Running a Zalman 9500 HSF.

eVGA 680i Mother Board.

Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 Ram (4 Gigs)

2x eVGA 8800 GTX KO's in SLI. 626 Core / 2,000 Memory.

2x Raptor 150 Gig 10K RPM Western Digital Hard Drives.

1x 500 Gig Western Digital Hard Drive (7200 RPM)

Creative X-Fi 7.1 Sound Card with I/O pannel.

ThermalTake 850 Watt Power Supply.

2x DVD R/RW Burners (16 x 18)

AeroCool GateWatch2

Gigabyte 3D Aurora Case.

2x Samsung 20 inch WideScreen 204BW monitors.

Logitech G7

Saitek Eclipse keyboard that is back lit red as well!

5.1 Surround Sound Logitech Speakers.

Vista is a ram hog... Without Aero I'll idle at 500+ MB, With Aero on like I keep, I'll idle at about 750 - 850 MB.
Over all my time using Vista and learning all the things bout it, I had very little problems with it... Install was different though, I often thought it had locked up! Very weird.

The only reason I went with Vista was because of DX10, With the new games coming this year I can't wait to try. I hope my troubles, although small amount have been worth it!

[vrap]

Yikes, that's a monster!

[Bioshock_FTW!]

C2D E6700 (Clocked To 3.46 GHz).

Running a Zalman 9500 HSF.

holy crap, how are you able to gain such a boost with air cooling? Must be pretty cool ambient temps to get from 2.66 to 3.46 on a zalman. What are your load temps like?

[wsad]

Really VERY cool. Idle about 48 - 52 C, Load around 59 - 62 C. I had it up to 3.66 Ghz but had to reset bios, And just haven't clocked it back up to that again.

http://a274.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...53ed550771.jpg

3.8 GHz has been the highest really I've seen with air cooling, But they was using the Scythe SCNJ-1000 Ninja.

I would have went with the Zelman 9700, But they was all LED, And none came in red. So it didn't match my look I wanted.

[Bioshock_FTW!]

Its just crazy, especially with the 8800's and air cooling. They take up so much room in mid-size ATX cases that it restricts airflow like a mofo and prohibits good air cooling. I have that problem with my Lian Li right now.

I gotta get my hands on something with better air flow, like their cube case. I think most of my problems revolve around the rear fan...it's just an 82mm and the front is a 120. It practically bottlenecks the air flow out the back. Sucks ass. You've got two 120's in the rear so that explains a lot.

Haha it's funny, we have one of the reps from Intel here doing business with our president...i wanna walk in there and beg him for a Core2 Duo damnit!

Overall, i'm an AMD fan and it's hard for me to admit that Intel is SLAMMING them right now...but I think in time, the tide will turn. I'm glad to see their competitor to the E6600 (the X2 6000+) has dropped in price by almost 50%! W00t.

[wsad]

I was ALWAYS into AMD's as well. But when I built my last gaming rig, The P4's wasn't doing bad, Nor price wise either. So I went with that... Since then I knew for a fact I wanted a C2D in this new build.
And with the price drop Intel just done, My 512$ E6700 I paid for, Is now what 337$? Still worth it though.

Even more of a price drop later this year maybe... I'd like to go with the Q6600, Since they are suppose to drop down to 280$...

Yes, The GTX's run HOT, Even these KO models I got with the ACS3 cooling unit's on them, I'll run around 160 - 200 F on load. Since I still have NO fan control yet.

But over all the case temps tend to do fine. My Gate Watch 2 I have set up, Ranges from 79 F - 93 F... But it can get pretty hot in the studio.

Cooling is a huge factor when selecting a case. I went with this one, Cause of the three 12 CM fans, Also that I replaced with new ones, That pull around 78 CFM (Plus I wanted red led ones.) And then the option for water cooling, Which I plan to do at least for my CPU, Since I wanna wait and see what these 8900's do.

This case is a full tower, So I have more then enough room for my GTX's, And all my goodies. Also the model I went with, I can take off the side window and put on a mesh black grill as well, For added cooling if needed.

[lotkrotan]

I enjoy vista, but I'm wondering if the RAM in my laptop is upgradable. I know that iBook RAM is easily upgraded, but not sure about my HP Pavilion dv2000

I only have 1g, and I want to get another gig before playing some games on it.

[Bioshock_FTW!]

I enjoy vista, but I'm wondering if the RAM in my laptop is upgradable. I know that iBook RAM is easily upgraded, but not sure about my HP Pavilion dv2000

I only have 1g, and I want to get another gig before playing some games on it.

http://www.memorygiant.com/index.cfm...-79881&pid=408

it's upgradeable to 2GB. Do it up!

[Silent Film]

I have Home Premium 64. It wasn't my intention to buy it so soon but seeing it was only £62, the same price as XP, I figured it's not really going to get much cheaper than that.

Love it so far. It runs fast and cleanly. Gaming wise I've only tried three game - RE4 and Pemumbra run fine, Stalker has some issues but the devs are working to fix it.

[lotkrotan]

http://www.memorygiant.com/index.cfm...-79881&pid=408

it's upgradeable to 2GB. Do it up!

hmm... now I need to do some research. I need to figure out how to install the RAM. Why can't it be easy like macs . I don't see an easy release buttons. I also need to do some market research, see if I can beat that price. It's not bad though. 1 gig for $55

[borgdrone89]

1 gig is enough for me to run my games... MAN! i love my 7600GT, its one of the greatest cards ever designed IMO, and its cheap!!!
8800s are like 900AU off ebay

just put the ruler to my case... if im gunna get an 8800 GTX (~$880AU for the palit one from my favourite store in the city), i definitely need a bigger case. and i should get a better PSU (mine's a 480watt PSU that came with my case).

ok so: things to do for my computer...

-buy 2 x 1GB DDRII 800Mhz RAM
-buy a quality PSU
-buy a large case
-get an 8800GTX (just one, not SLI)

i've heard that nvidia will be releasing some 8600s sometime too,
and 8800 GTSes are half the price of GTXes! do they suck or something?

[lotkrotan]

crap, instead of 1 gig of memory in one slot, they put 2 512s in my laptop, that means to get my 2 gig max, I need to get 2 new RAM sticks..... that's over $100 at least. blah, I'm still contemplating downgrading so I can play Undying again.

[Bioshock_FTW!]

i've heard that nvidia will be releasing some 8600s sometime too,
and 8800 GTSes are half the price of GTXes! do they suck or something?

They definitely don't suck, I had one to start off with but got a free upgrade to a GTX so I took it.
Only difference is in core clock and memory speeds, and amount of memory

GTS = 550 MHz core clock / 640 MB DDR3 1600 MHz memory clock
GTX = 600 MHz core clock / 768 MB DDR3 1800 MHz memory clock

by default, that is. There are special editions out there that boast other specs but have their ups and downsides.
They are both definitely overclockable with the default configuration and the GTS has been acclaimed to be able to get up to stock GTX speeds.
But GTX speeds have been able to get over 700+ MHz core clock and 2000+ MHz memory. Works even better with the eVGA GTX with the special fancy-pants cooling unit on it. I think wsad has two of those.

crap, instead of 1 gig of memory in one slot, they put 2 512s in my laptop, that means to get my 2 gig max, I need to get 2 new RAM sticks..... that's over $100 at least. blah, I'm still contemplating downgrading so I can play Undying again.

Oh no. Thats horrible. Happened to my gf's laptop too. Just doesn't seem worth it. If you can manage to sell both sticks (eBay or something), that might help. It seems worth it in the long run...

[wsad]

The 8600 has been released, Newegg has them for sell.

The GTS is FAR from a bad card. The biggest noted difference is the fact that the 8800 GTS has 96 Stream Processors... And the GTX has 128.

[borgdrone89]

They definitely don't suck, I had one to start off with but got a free upgrade to a GTX so I took it.
Only difference is in core clock and memory speeds, and amount of memory

GTS = 550 MHz core clock / 640 MB DDR3 1600 MHz memory clock
GTX = 600 MHz core clock / 768 MB DDR3 1800 MHz memory clock

by default, that is. There are special editions out there that boast other specs but have their ups and downsides.
They are both definitely overclockable with the default configuration and the GTS has been acclaimed to be able to get up to stock GTX speeds.
But GTX speeds have been able to get over 700+ MHz core clock and 2000+ MHz memory. Works even better with the eVGA GTX with the special fancy-pants cooling unit on it. I think wsad has two of those.

wow! there's not much difference between the GTS and the GTX, except about $450AU. that's pretty good.

would you say palit is a good brand?

just found the specs page for the GeForce 8 series : here

the 8600 GTS has better clock speeds than the 8800GTX, but has less memory, and less processing capability than the 8800 GTX. what's up with that?

[Bioshock_FTW!]

would you say palit is a good brand?

Never heard of Palit o_O

the 8600 GTS has better clock speeds than the 8800GTX, but has less memory, and less processing capability than the 8800 GTX. what's up with that?

Not sure. Maybe the lower clock speed of the same chipset creates less heat so they turned up the voltage on the VRAM cause the HSF could handle it. Makes sense.

[One0Shot]

I love the look and interface of vista but obviously needs work with drivers ect. In a year or two it will be awesome.