Should I install XP or tweak Vista for gaming?

Hey all. Here's a bit of an intro to my situation: A couple of years ago, I bought one of the ill-fated Dell Inspiron 5150s. It finally kicked the bucket (for good) a few weeks back, and Dell was kind enough to send me a e1505 as a replacement, complete with 1 gig ram, 100 gig HD (and 10 gig recovery HD), ATi Radeon x1400, Core 2 Duo and ... Windows Vista. When I'm not word processing or downloading stuff, I'm gaming. And so after a bit of research, I learned that Vista is pretty buggy and not the best for gaming.

I went ahead and installed Neverwinter Nights and it runs well, but not as well as I think it could on this machine. I figured since it's an older game it would run smoothly, but there's more to be desired.

I have a Windows XP installation disc, but Dell didn't give me one for Vista, so if I do install XP, I have no way of going back. It's also worth mentioning that I'm a computer noob. I have no clue how to reinstall XP ... and I don't know if anything will work if I did. Should I take the chance and reinstall XP (hopefully with the guidance of knowledgeable posters here ) or just stick it out and tweak Vista so I can get my games to run perfectly? I appreciate the help and thanks in advance.

 

the difference shouldn't be noticeable. i lose about 3 fps on most games.

your problem might be your running a lot of bloatware.

 

And from my experience, Dell pretty much shotguns their systems with crap. What's the best way to weed 'em out?

Dig the sig, btw.

 

If you're not having a problem running the games you want to on Vista, I don't know if it's worth the extra expense + effort. Me, I'm awaiting XP to arrive so I can dual boot. Why? One of the games I want to play eg Far Cry - crashes every time upon reaching a certain point. Games like Max Payne 2 have an Installshield error related to Vista permissions and crash on attempting to install! And, MOST annoyingly, the same install crash issue happens with 3dmark06, so I can't benchmark at ALL in Vista!

Dammit Vista - when I say I want to install something, that is me explicitly saying I want to grant myself permission to do so. Stupid OTT control freak software. With the recent attitude of forcing Vista only with certain laptop manufacturers' new products, I can't see Microsoft fixing Vista to run with games like these that have been released within the last few years - only looking to new ones. Unfortunately I don't own future games, and I want to play the ones I've got.

So, rant aside, I guess if you have any games from a couple of years ago and earlier you want to play, it's a fair bet Vista cannot do it, and XP could be worth a look. I don't think it's worth it just to push framerates in games that DO work with Vista up another few fps.

 

The simplest clean-out: Open up Add/Remove and get rid of ANY program that you have:

A. Never heard of before.
B. Know you don't want.

These can include CD/DVD writing or authoring utilities, photo galleries, scrapbooking utilities, etc. The idea is that by the time you are done cleaning up you should know exactly what everything in Add/Remove is and want it.

 

1st off, i run vista, and i noticed an INCREASE in preformance. Im talking, MAJOR!!! Previously i could run BF 2142 with XP on 800X600, low graphics. Now i can run it 1024X768 Medium graphics. And have the same, if not better fps. And you have EXACTLY (minus the HD) the same specs as i do. So the results should be the same.

And what MRWheresItAt is wrong, I can run both, 3dmark 05, and 06, no crashing. Ive betten Far Cry VERY recently (on the plane last week). I mean, if you have no problems with vista, dont go back. But if you are, then go ahead, and fall back on XP.

Just my 2 cents though.

 

thats strange that you see a performance increase going straight from xp to vista with no hardware change.

every review i have seen show either vista approaching the performance of xp, or having a significant problem and trailing far behind.

that sucks that you are having a bad experience.

my advice to you, is that you first download the software at the following link, and write down your key. that key represents your ownership of windows vista, the disk is just a means to install it. you can pick up a replacement disk for a few dollars from compusa or direct from microsoft.

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

in fact, write it down, but also send it to your email, just in case.

then feel free to install windows xp, and have the safety to reinstall windows vista cleanly in the future should you choose to do so.

 

I think the first and easiest way to increase fps and overall performance for you would be to get another gig of RAM. Especially running Vista.

 

I know I could probably run newer games like BF 2142 and Supreme Commander pretty well (ok, maybe not SC ), but it's the older games I'm trying to get running smoothly. For example, I expected Neverwinter Nights to run perfectly in 1024x768, but it's pretty chuggy in many areas and I'm getting some character armor glitches:



Sometimes it seems as if it runs better with the antialiasing cranked. And I have the latest driver.

MasterChef, thanks for that link. My key is safely stored.

 

Hate to hijack but I have a question; have they fixed Sid Meirs Railroad! (the new remake) to work with Vista yet? That game came out like the same week as Vista and it wouldn't work .


Also, 1 gig with Vista isn't really "smart". You're only playing with about 500-600 mb really as Vista eats up about 400mb defaulty. It sucks

 

I would like to find a list of Vista-compatible games, too.

Where's the best place to get a 2 gig upgrade? Like I said, I'm a noob at this stuff.

 

You really shouldn't revert back to XP, especially for gaming purposes. Microsoft has already made it very clear the DX10 will NEVER be available for XP. Also, nVidia and ATI are beginning to develop matured drivers, and in the near future, there really should be minimal loss of frame rates between XP and Vista.

 

Wait are you trying to play this game with 1 gig ram? You really need to upgrade to 2 gigs of ram in your system and then this game will run better because vista takes up almost a gig of ram on its own

 

That's what I've heard. Where should I look?

 

newegg.com is good

 

just remember you may have to buy a 2 gb stick instead of 2 1gb sticks because my bet is that dell put 2 512mb sticks into your computer and you can only get to one of the sticks without taking off your keyboard

 

hey man, i own both vista & xp but i find xp works much better with my laptop where as vista works wonders on my desktop. Honestly tho if you dont have 2gb of ram DO NOT INSTALL VISTA!!!! well thats just my opinion!

 

Sorry... but never say never!!!

See:

DX10 is do-able on Windows XP
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40913

Windows Live, DX10 looking up for XP
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40960

Download DirectX 10 for Windows XP from Alky Project
http://www.technospot.net/blogs/download-directx-10-for-windows-xp-from-alky-project/

 

Even if XP manages to hold onto DX10, it will eventually fall out of mainstream use as Vista comes into its own. Corporations might retain XP, but I estimate that most people will have translated over to Vista by March of next year.

 

Bit of an update ... I trashed some of the Dellware and now it's running much more smoothly than before. I'm still getting some lame graphical hiccups (pg. 1) but it's not too big of a deal.

 

I just heard that Vista doesn't support OpenGL, which would explain why Sea3D won't work for me. Is this true and is there any way around it?

 

A little bump.

 

OpenGL is supported... Ive played CS 1.6 in OpenGL before. It runs fine.

 

OpenGL 1.5 I believe works, but after that it isn't really optimized.

www.tweakguides.com Check that site out, it has a guide on how to tweak Vista and XP, not to mention tweaking for a bunch of games.


Oh and also, The Inquirer isn't really the best location for reliable news. DX10 on XP? Sure, but it's too much work why bother. By the time someone reverse engineers it Vista will already be more then acceptable and MS will either say "here's a lawsuit" or "Here is DX10 for XP".

 

Could someone kindly download this game and see if it runs on your Vista system? http://www.mrbass.org/games/sea3d/ The worst that could happen is you'll have a great adaptation of one of the best board games ever.

I can install and get the game running, but when I actually start a game (hotseat or network) it crashes.

 

Anyone?

 

Midnightish bump.