Buying a new rig - which OS should I go for?

spiki

spiki

spiki

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2005
Posts
917
Hi there

I'm looking to buy a new system to replace my 4 year old Dell. Most likely gonna buy this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-052-OK or something similar from OCUK but am totally perplexed what OS to buy. I am inclined to stick with XP Home as it has been very stable for me. However, do I need to get Vista to get the most out of my games, which I will be doing a lot of with this rig? Should I go 32 or 64bit? Any advice you could give me would be appreciated. Thanks:)
 
I just built similar and went for 64bit Vista.
Runs everything fine and appears to be nice and stable but it really comes down to how many old games or hardware you have.
The major problem people moan about are the lack of drivers or support for some programs. ITunes is meant to be a typical example. Did not like 64bit vista although it may now.
I had a new printer so was not worried and a quick windows updates check of optional updates found the driver for it. I may have regreted it, if it did not work so do a quick check of any hardware or software you have first. It might make your mind up.
 
That rig MIGHT just run Vista OK. You might want to get the 2Gb RAM upgrade. Have you run the Vista compatability tool. If you haven't run that and see what drivers are available for your hardware etc. If you are OK on that front or will get new printer/scanner etc which have Vista drivers then you might as well get Vista.

If you find you have some hardware that has no Vista drivers, stick with XP unless you can afford to get replacement printers etc.

Course you could always dual-boot and get the best of both worlds?
 
I'm running Vista x64 on a similar rig and I've had no problems whatsoever, but then I don't have much in the way of older peripherals, only an HP printer and that was supported.

Vista X64 generally runs with 1.4gb of RAM appropriated by the pre-caching of my most used programmes and it doesn't go much higher than that. However, for the money you may as well get the extra RAM.

If you are concerned then wait a few weeks for the Vista SP1 release to settle down and see what people report about it.

Also I don't use iTunes, which I understand a lot of people are still having problems with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom