Vista

[AVGWarhawk]

I'm building a gaming rig. My question is, does Windows Vista Home support DX10?

[Thomen]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

I'm building a gaming rig. My question is, does Windows Vista Home support DX10?

Yes, it does. =)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...abid=2&catid=1

Why not put up some more bucks and get Vista Ultimate 64bit?

[CaptainHaplo]

Definitely go Ultimate 64 if you can afford it - if your building a rig you should get oem pricing.

If not - then at least make sure you get the 64 bit version of whatever OS you get - you will see an average of 15% improvement just due to that. Then visit black viper to tweak your OS.

I run 64bit ultimate and have it tweaked - and I am faster now than I was with XP.

[FIREWALL]

Dual boot and have Vista and XP.

[AVGWarhawk]

I can get the 64 bit but overall, is it worth it? I hear there are issues getting drivers, etc. Is that in fact true? All I have really seen is 64 allows the use of over 4 gig RAM. What other benefits will 64 give me?

Also, crossfire motherboard or SLI? I like Asus for motherboards.

Is two Nvidia 9400 better than one Nvidia 9800?

Also, I'm a AMD fan. I'm looking a AMD X2 6000+ cpu. Certainly fast, no?


I have so many options and can go so many ways with my build. I'm having a bit of trouble making up my mind for the best bang for the buck.

[ReallyDedPoet]

I like the dual boot option mentioned, still not a big fan of Vista.
Getting there ( my wife has it on her laptop ), but not just yet.


RDP

[AVGWarhawk]

I'm going to go with Vista. Probably use Vista Home Premium. Not sure if 32 bit or 64 bit. Need to see the benefits of each. If my parents can figure it out, I sure can. I looked at motherboards and decided on SLI and will use a single Nvidia 9800 vid card. I will run 4 gig RAM....PC6400. I will jam in 600 watt power supply.

[Thomen]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

I can get the 64 bit but overall, is it worth it? I hear there are issues getting drivers, etc. Is that in fact true? All I have really seen is 64 allows the use of over 4 gig RAM. What other benefits will 64 give me?

I like it. Never had a serious problem. Some programs might run a bit hinky and crash every once in a while. But running them in compatibility mode usually fixed that for me.
As far as the drivers go, I did not have any problems at all and some of the stuff still runs on the 32bit drivers, like my Matrox Triplehead2Go.
It even runs Dosbox without a problem.

Also, crossfire motherboard or SLI? I like Asus for motherboards.

Is two Nvidia 9400 better than one Nvidia 9800?

If you want Dual Nvidia cards you will need a SLI board. Crossfire is for ATI cards.

I have so many options and can go so many ways with my build. I'm having a bit of trouble making up my mind for the best bang for the buck.

I would check Tiger Direct or Newegg for Barebone kits. You might have to add a HDD or DVD Drive or a fan to it, but if you are like me, and salvage your old PC it can get quite cheap to buy a new machine. =)

[AVGWarhawk]

I'm an Nvidia fan so will use SLI. Probably just the one 9800 card for now. I looked at the GTX260/280 cards and they are not much better for the buck than the 9800.

I looked at barebones kits. This computer I'm having built so I can just pull it out of the box, plug it in and start playing.

[CaptainHaplo]

64bit OS even without using 4 gigs of ram is worth it - as the 64bit code executes faster in the chip.

Seriously - go ultimate. It gives you the ability to tweak alot more, in the long run its worth it.

The only problem I have had with vista is old 16bit winapps and an occasional application that wont install on vista (like the first two brothers in arms games).

[Hylander_1314]

Since you are building a new rig, go with an OEM version of Vista. You have to request it, as it will save you quite a bit from the standard boxed version off the shelf.

If that reduces the price enough, to a more affordable level do it. It will along with the 64 bit wersion will let you upgrade to the maximum ammout of ram the board and proccessor will support.

If you go with the 32 bit version you will be limited to the ammount of memory supported which is 3 gigs. Including your video card memory. So really, the 32 bit version puts a damper on the memory you can use, which can affect how games and apps run.

If you want, you can go here to maximize how Vista runs and slim it down so it works more like XP which makes it easier to get used to.

http://www.blackviper.com/

Don't worry much about driver issues. There aren't the issues there were a year ago with them, or the availability of them. And more show up all the time.

I wouldn't go any lower than Home Premium though. The OEM version shouldn't be too expensive either. I got mine last spring for 129.99 US, instead of almost 299.99 for the boxed version off the shelf.

[Wolfehunter]

http://www.tweakguides.com/VA_1.html

Read this to help you understand the changes of Vista. Fact and Fiction.

Its a good article.

[AVGWarhawk]

Thanks gents. Once I get the thing I will look at these tweaks.

[Zachstar]

Originally Posted by FIREWALL

Dual boot and have Vista and XP.

At this point that is useless.

Frankly you have to go vista these days for gaming. For the big effects devs are going the lazy route directly to DX10 for DX9 effects.

[Hylander_1314]

Originally Posted by Wolfehunter

http://www.tweakguides.com/VA_1.html

Read this to help you understand the changes of Vista. Fact and Fiction.

Its a good article.

Interesting article! Really dispells a lot misinformation that we've been force fed. Kinda reminds me of the days when XP first came out and everybody that switched over to it was posting all kinds of nastygrams at the BA Forums, about B-17 not running on XP, and all the problems and frustration it caused.

Thanks for posting this.