64bit XP or 64bit Vista ultimate?

Design_Dude

Hi there, nearly finsished building my new pc, and just wondering which OS i should go with. My pc has 8gb ram, 250gb hdd, 4ghz oced p43 6.ghz, 1gb ddr4 graphics card. All hardware is 64bit compatible. What would you reccommend?

PogMoThoin

I'd recommend 64bit Vista, I've been using it for months with absolutely no issues. Sure vista will eat 1.5Gb with its pre-fetch but I've yet seen it use more than 3.5Gb while gaming. Cpu shouldn't be a bottleneck

magick

now im not into vista but different strokes etc...........

XP64 seems like it was rushed, or at least in BETA with not so hot driver support, Vista64 was at least completed properly.........ish


id go with vista

Invincible

I had a few issues with XP64 on the desktop,from wireless card to Nokia phone software would'nt run on it,due to driver availability.

SolarNexus

recently built this machine with Vista Ultimate 64bit. very happy with it.

not having experienced xp64 im only talking third hand info here, but i've heard also the feeling of xp64 is that it was a rushed attempt.

either way vista 64bit works very well for me!

Anti

xp64 is a nightmare, lacks alot of drievr support. Vista 64bit is great, never had any issues and been using it 18 months now.

Nothingbetter2d

vista x64 is rubbish

vista x64 SP1 is much better...... i am running it on an AMD Athlon X2 6000+ @3.0HGZ with 4gb Corsair DDR2 PC6400 ram and a XFX nVidia 8500GT 512mb graphics card. it runs well and i have had no trouble with it.... my only beef with vista is the very very limited tcpip half open connections limit.... (this affects online gaming) this can be worked around by using readydriver plus and a patched tcpip.sys file... however i have not been able to get readydrive plus to auto select disable driver signature enforcement... i have to manually select disable driver signature enforcement (using F8 on boot up) but it works well..... no more choke in counterstrike source

Before tcpip patch choke = 70 average
After tcpip patch choke = 3 average

SolarNexus

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

vista x64 is rubbish

vista x64 SP1 is much better...... i am running it on an AMD Athlon X2 6000+ @3.0HGZ with 4gb Corsair DDR2 PC6400 ram and a XFX nVidia 8500GT 512mb graphics card. it runs well and i have had no trouble with it.... my only beef with vista is the very very limited tcpip half open connections limit.... (this affects online gaming) this can be worked around by using readydriver plus and a patched tcpip.sys file... however i have not been able to get readydrive plus to auto select disable driver signature enforcement... i have to manually select disable driver signature enforcement (using F8 on boot up) but it works well..... no more choke in counterstrike source

Before tcpip patch choke = 70 average
After tcpip patch choke = 3 average

As yet, I have not seen (or heard of any) conclusive proof that the tcip half/open limit causes *any* problems whatsoever with connections at all - except perhaps spambots which blast half-open connections. There is at most anecdotal evidence that it improve *some* p2p traffic and the like, but nothing that can even remotey be considered 'proof'. In fact, theres often the suggestion that messing with tcip.sys can cause some real problems.

As for the driver signing, I agree its a pain in the arse. completely. I asked about this before on the boards, but still cant get rid of the damn thing.

bandit197

I cant comment on xp64 because Ive never used it. I have however been using Vista Ultimate 64bit for months now without an issue. I would recommend it.

Nothingbetter2d

trust me since i increased the multiple half open connections it does make a difference.... well it has for me... my high choke issue is not a problem anymore... if i undo the patch the problem returns...

if i get time later i'll undo the patch and make a video of counterstrike source with netgraph enabled and put it on youtube then i'll repatch it and do the video again with net graph enabled.... you can then see the difference and judge for yourself

SolarNexus

@ Nothingbetter2d

Im not disputing that its working for you, but im just uneasy about giving it out as advice until its been proven. so far its very patchy, it works for some, not at all for others, and makes things worse for others. apparently.

back on topic though.. There is one thing you should bear in mind when using vista64 or xp64 even i suppose (is that even an option, considering peoples view of it) and thats drivers for non brand name hardware.

I recently bought a ubiquity cardbus wifi card, its essentially a wifi card but with a much higher sensitivity/transmit rate so you get better a better signal (also great for wardriving). It has zero 64bit drivers, despite being a fairly popular device.

all im saying is that even though theres a huge amount of 64bit drivers available, still be aware that your likely to come up at some point with a possibility that something you bought wont work because the manufacturer hasnt made the 64bit drivers for it.

saying that though, things are still moving ever closer to full 64bit penetration. its often hard to find something that doesnt have 64bit drivers these days. which is a godsend.

Nothingbetter2d

lack of 64bit drivers is thankfully disappearing now... but yes there are a few drivers that are not available.... not because they havent been written but that microsoft hasnt digitally signed them

astrofool

For a driver to be digitally signed, the driver writer has to run it through a suite of tests and pass them, and then send on the proof of having passed to MS, MS then digitally signs them. This can take, on MS's side, about a week (maximum), and costs very little.

However (I worked in this area), what usually happens is that the device driver doesn't pass these tests, so the driver gets released, but not signed, and causes all sorts of problems (usually a high number of blue screens).

We had big problems with getting people to write drivers that could handle power management, before Vista x64 and the need to driver sign, we had a mobile device that would not allow the laptop to go into standby mode (it stayed on full power all the time), as it would crash when doing so.

Anyway, the driver signing is there for a reason, and if a driver hasn't been signed, its 99% because they haven't passed the stability and functionality tests needed to be allowed to be signed.