EvaUnit02 on 17/9/2008 at 11:10
I've had an unused partition and an untouched copy of Vista x64 sitting here for eons now. Is it worth installing Vista (in multi-boot) solely for Clear Sky's DX10 mode?
My specs:-
XP x64 SP2 (primary OS) + XP x86 SP3
C2D E6400 @ 2.13GHz
8800GT 512MB @ stock
4GB RAM
Thanks in advance.
242 on 17/9/2008 at 11:18
I'd say no. The only additional features you get under DX10 are wet surfaces and volumetric smoke. + I don't think 8800GT is fast enough to play comfortably with all on high under DX10.
vurt on 17/9/2008 at 11:45
I use DX10 with a 8800GT and Opteron @ 2.9GHz, 2GB RAM, plays ok ~30FPS. Also, Vista is imo a better OS than XP (better search function, better memory handling, many small tweaks that are really usefull imo), so there's really no need to keep XP at all. Do not listen to people that claim it's buggy, they probably tried it when it was new. All new tests shows that Vista is just as fast as XP.
I also dual boot but i have never needed to use XP for the 1.5 years i have had this dual boot.
I'm on Vista32 btw, dont know if Vista 64 is more problematic.
The wet surfaces and dx10 smoke looks really cool btw, its the biggest update gfx wise for the game i'd say.
mothra on 17/9/2008 at 13:46
i tried it when it was new.
i tried it after SP1.
i tried it 1 week ago.
(i got 4pc + 1laptop)
vista works at last (maybe) if you turn off all the functions (like the better search, the new Aero) and revert it back to good old Win2000 ugliness.
suddenly all the better memory handling (Meaning that you should have 2GB AT LEAST) and other stuff (which other stuff ? the user management maybe ? that still totally sucks ?) seems to work now with the same speed and reliability than XP.
no more CTD ? that's right, but now you see the bug-trapper everytime instead of the blue-screen of death. ah, and Vista pre-installed on a laptop by my friend ? latest drivers ? - start InternetExplorer and see your PC freeze at the bug-trapper. L O L
to minimize your problems with Vista I recommend only the NEWEST PCs with enough resources. if you wanna just use it on everything you got (like you can do with XP or Linux) -> forget it.
I'm no xp fanboy but I'm also a realist. and atm it seems that maybe SP2 will bring the wanted stability across many platforms that should have been there from day1. I don't care if it's MS' or the 3rd party hardware providers' fault, it just does not work like it should.
vurt on 17/9/2008 at 14:28
What problems are you talking about then?
I haven't got the latest PC, it's an old Opteron and for me it works great, I have aero on, sidebar (which is extremely nice), i use the new search function
all the time.. I turned off UAC of course.
...and what's "bug trapper"?
I use my pc for many things, music (Cubase), drawing/painting (Painter IX).. The whole Vista partition is also secured with TrueCrypt which runs in the background, never any problems with anything.
I'd say in most cases Vista works great, but there are always those who can't get it to run and they will be (understandable) be very loud about it on forums etc.
Hidden_7 on 17/9/2008 at 18:49
Hey everyone, can we just agree that your Vista experience is not the same as everyone's Vista experience? I see this all the time, the topic of Vista is brought up, someone trashes it, someone says that they've had no problems with it and all the bad press isn't really accurate, then someone posts some actual bad experience they've had with Vista, etc. etc.
They can both be true! For some people Vista works fine, me for example. For others it works less well. The point is, people who are reporting an experience that differs signifigantly from your own are not lying, they aren't exaggerating, they aren't being Vista fanboys or Vista band-wagon haters, it's just a rather inconsistant OS.
Now, on to the topic at hand. I wouldn't personally reccomend it. I have Vista and I don't even use DX10, because it's buggier and slower, at least for me. I've got an 8800 GT as well, though with less memory than you. On the other hand I quite like the Vista experience as a whole, it works great for me, and it sounds like you've got quite a powerful computer, so you may want to consider checking out Vista just as an OS to have, and who knows maybe DX10 will work really well for you.
mothra on 17/9/2008 at 18:51
yes, i didn't get it to run at the same stability as win xp although I work with pcs all day long. from domain user control over print spool sharing to network sharing and issues with overlay priorities (you loose your desktop after switching overlay channels) I had many different bugs with different setups.
every problem I encountered I could find a partialy solution for but not via windows update or advisories but forums. I don't deny that I've seen vista setups running without problems but according to my experience the possibilities of error are still high enough to not warrant the few small new features and improvements I could see (and don't really need, e.g aero and the search or ie8)
