Is Vista worth it yet?

So I'm going to reformat, and my question is, is vista worth installing?

I've always liked XP, but now since I have 3gb of ram, is it worth installing vista to implement it? As well as 64-bit processor?

The only thing that I use windows for is for gaming, so pretty much thats all I need to know, is if there will be a performance increase, jumping to vista.

I'm hoping that SP1 fixed a lot of the issues, but I figured I'd ask to see what people's comments are.

Thanks a lot.

[edit]If theres already threads or discussions about it, I'd appreciate it if someone linked me to them, or just a simple answer[/edit]

 

For gaming? NO.
Stick with XP, listen to somebody who`s tried them both face to face.
Gaming wise, XP is MUCH better (5-10fps in Crysis TESTED).

For anything else THAN gaming, Vista rules.

 

I love it myself. The performance different is a bit slower but nothing big

EDIT: Well yeah Eleron had problems with it. Depends on people. Don't have any myself of my laptop

 

I am using Vista and I find it suitable for my needs, and I game on a regular basis. The difference in gaming performance depends on your hardware, I don't know what gfx card eleron911 has, but 5-10 fps in Crysis is a pretty big improvement. As for my 8600m GT DDR2, I can only notice a good 3-5 fps increase in my games, which imo is not worth the hassle of reinstalling an OS (for my laptop with Vista Ultimate).

 

I have used them both and theirs isnt in a big differnce if you got good hardware.

 

I think that really depends on the user. For example, the software you might want to run, and the external hardware you want to have hooked up might simply work better with XP, or may have compatibility issues with vista.

Then there's also your personal preference. Do you want eyecandy or do you want an OS that uses minimal system resources (can your system afford to give up those resources?)? And is security important to you? And of course, you have to look at the new features of vista and see if any are important to you.

So, I think it really depends on the person asking. Some are way better offwith using XP, others will find vista a pleasant upgrade. For me it was a mix of both. I liked vista the way it was intended to work (mostly), but I have found a lot of probolems with it. Anyone who tinkers with his system and uses a wide array of new and old programs will have to face BSOD's, incompatibility issues and such.

If you ask me, it will take till SP2 to really work out the kinks. I wouldnt be in a hurry to upgrade.

 

^^^
What he said

 

Yea, its pretty much only for gaming, since I use OSX for everyday usage.

I guess I just thought that 64bit and possibly an extra gig of usable ram in the future, would be enough to get some kind of a boost.

As for hardware, I'd have all the drivers for it, although I dont know about my esata card.

 

I have a 7950GTX , and I tried Crysis and UT3, in XP I could actually play them fluently at max settings and low res, in Vista I can`t game fluently even at low res...

Well, if you game at 60fps, it won`t make a difference.
But in new games you`ll want to take everything you get.
But hey,don`t listen to me, try it yourself and then when you return to XP, let`s go have a drink

 

if yo uhave 4gb ram ...yes. if not yes, but, only if you dont game.

i have vista home premium and absolutley love it
it has 3 main problems all which can b turned off

superfetch,uac,indexing

those are the main pains with vista....if you tuen those off vista&dx10 match made in heaven

 

You are using an older generation card though, eleron, and that has a tiny bit to do with your lower performance in Vista.

Either way, XP is still faster, if only by a VERY few percent (1-5%). If you were going to use a Windows OS as a primary OS I'd recommend Vista no questions asked. In my experience, as a complete OS, Vista is superior to XP in capability and ease of use. I always felt like I was fighting XP to get it to do what I wanted, Vista just does it.

But if you are talking JUST gaming, then I'd recommend you stick with XP. The bells and whistles in Vista would be wasted on you if you only use it for gaming.

If you have a bunch of free time, go ahead and give Vista a shot. Try it for a week and if you like it keep it. Otherwise, if you aren't interested in goofing around with it, I'd recommend you install XP and be done with it.

 

I personally think vista is the only way to go for a new machine unless you HAVE to run old legacy software/hardware. the slight edge XP has in gaming is overshadowed by the numerous features and advantages vista brings to the table. I know the vista haters will disagree, but you'd have to pay me a lot to willingly go back to XP, and I am a hardware nut and avid gamer.

 

I agree, I liked it to an extent, but I had numerous driver and grpahical problems so I needed to switch..

 

Except that those are what makes Vista Vista.. Indexing is really nice when searching files

But if you only go into windows to play games and don't care about DX10 you'd probably better under XP.

 

is there any virtual machine which allows me to install vista? I want to test some of my software before actually reformat the whole HDD.

 

If you still have that macbook pro, you can use vmware fusion, or parallels to make a virtual machine and test it out.

I'm not up to date with windows versions, to know if they can do it yet, someone else might know though.

 

Yes but you won't be able to use anything that requieres a graphics card though

 

nah I am on sager 5793 now. just need to see if some of my programs can run on it.

 

What I meant is if what you are waiting to try are games or CAD softwares, you won't be able to with a virtual machine

 

it's called directx 10. for a gamer, of course it's worth it.
however, that's only if you have post vista relase hardware.
if you have a computer that originally came with XP, then no, vista is not for you. but if you have a computer with a card that will take advantage of the dx10, then go 4 it.

 

what programs?