Is the time right to move to Vista?

Firegod

Firegod

Firegod

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I've been trying my best to keep a watch on Vista, but I must admit I have not followed the latest developments.

What I was wondering, is Vista now more stable and user-friendly. I'm not saying it was rubbish from the start, but I would like to adopt the OS knowing it has matured thanks to Service Packs or updates. Is this the case?

Also, how are drivers doing for the 64-bit version? Most importantly, for things such as network cards, printers and display drivers. It's not too big a deal as I plan to dual-boot, so I will still have XP for the time being.

I do have some concerns.

1. Vista and Raptor hdd. A mate at work said there were problems with this combination? Is this true and if so is there a fix for it, as my main drive is a 74Gb Raptor.

2. Sound. I use an X-Fi soundcard, what drivers should I use to get the most out of the card?

3. I would like to use 4Gb of RAM soon. Does the X-Fi still not work correctly with Vista and 4Gb?

At the moment, I would like to dual-boot. XP on one partition and Vista on the other. I understand I need the Reatail version for this. Is this correct, not OEM or Upgrade?

Thanks for any help, clarification and input! :)
 
Hey Firegod, Windows Vista really is a brilliant operating system. The whole Aero effect and User Interface (UI) is fantastic and is very nice compared to Windows XP in my opinion. When I first purchased Windows Vista, which was around a few months after it was very first released to the public, I found it to be, fast, reliable, stable and secure and in my opinion was in the same league as Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) maybe slightly better in those departments. However, now that Microsoft have released a couple of performance and reliability packs as well as all of the other updates, in my opinion Windows Vista is super fast, extremely reliable, stable and very secure and just suppresses Windows XP in those departments.

The support for Windows Vista is now excellent and the majority of the hardware and software out their now work absolutely fine under Windows Vista. Though please take into account that Windows Vista 64-bit cannot run 16-bit coded applications and also some decidedly 32-bit applications actually have an inclusion of 16-bit code in the installers. However that's very far and few between and really isn't something you need to worry about unless you specifically know of anything that you use that is 16-bit encoded in any way.

It may also be worthwhile to download the Windows Vista: Upgrade Advisor just to check you are able to get working drivers for your hardware and to see if all of the programs that you use will work fine under Vista and you wont have any compatibility issues.

You're also probably debating on which edition of Windows Vista to purchase. Here is a great graph that compares all of the editions of Windows Vista with one another. The two you are most likely looking at are Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. I have used both and in my opinion Vista Ultimate is not worth the extra £50 over Home Premium. :)

If you are going to be purchasing Windows Vista, then defiantly go for the 64-bit version. If you have a processor that is capable of handling 64-bit instructions then their is no reason to go for the 32-bit edition. You won't see a massive performance increase going from a 32-bit to a 64-bit operating system as of yet since many programs have been written for 32-bit architectures. However this will be changing in the future because with 64bit being more recognized, more and more programs will be written under 64-bit architectures. When programs are released that are written specifically for 64-bit, you will then start to see a performance increase from 32-bit applications.

Now as for your concerns:

Firegod said:
1. Vista and Raptor hdd. A mate at work said there were problems with this combination? Is this true and if so is there a fix for it, as my main drive is a 74Gb Raptor.
Click to expand...

I can't say I have heard of any problems when installing Windows Vista onto a Raptor Hard Drive. I have installed Vista on Raptor Drives before and have had no problems what so ever. What sort of problems was your friend refering too? :)

Firegod said:
2. Sound. I use an X-Fi soundcard, what drivers should I use to get the most out of the card?
Click to expand...

I do know that people with X-Fire soundcards where having problems with the 64-bit drivers but I believe this was an issue when Windows Vista was very first released. Since then though, I think this has been resolved, if someone could clarify this for me, which would be very much appreciated.

Firegod said:
3. I would like to use 4Gb of RAM soon. Does the X-Fi still not work correctly with Vista and 4Gb?
Click to expand...

To tell you the truth, I haven't actually heard or any problems with Windows Vista when you have 4GB of memory and a X-Fire Soundcard installed. Once again, if someone could also clarify this, that would be great.

Firegod said:
At the moment, I would like to dual-boot. XP on one partition and Vista on the other. I understand I need the Reatail version for this. Is this correct, not OEM or Upgrade?
Click to expand...

You can Dual Boot Windows Vista along with Windows XP with either the Retail Edition or the OEM Edition of Windows Vista. Now this is not the case with the Upgrade Edition, since the whole point of Windows Vista Upgrade is to upgrade your older Windows version (Windows XP) to a newer version of Windows, that being Windows Vista.

As regards with everything that has been said above. If you are thinking of dual booting anyway, if you do come across a few problems, you can always revert back to Windows XP. Quite honestly though, I can't see you having any major problems with Vista. :)
 
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My reply will pale in comparison to the above, but to address at least one of those points, I'm running an OEM Xtreme Music X-Fi card with 4GB of RAM and it runs perfectly. I've experienced no popping or similar reported issues (using the latest drivers and have been using them for a while though).
 
Wow, cheers guys.

@Fire Wizard, thanks for the great reply, just what I was after! :D Very detailed indeed and thanks for the 2 links. I will check them out.

@Robbie G, cheers for the input. That is what I was refering to with regards to X-Fi and 4Gb RAM (Popping noises). I guess it doesn't really matter at the end of the day, because I will be using XP and Vista.

I have ran the Upgrade Advisor and it looks like I have one issue, my scanner. I have checked the manufacturers website and they do a Vista 32-bit driver, but I'm guessing this will not work with the 64-bit version, no? :(

Does anybody know if the Canon LiDE80 works on Vista 64-bit (it's a brilliant scanner!).

Thanks! :)
 
Firegod said:
Does anybody know if the Canon LiDE80 works on Vista 64-bit (it's a brilliant scanner!).
Click to expand...

I just sold a LiDE 20 on ebay because it wouldn't work in Vista x64 and Canon said they had no plans to release a driver. I tried the Vista 32-bit driver and it installed, but wouldn't actually do anything :p. You might get lucky though if you hang on. I personally am just going to buy Canon's equivalent Vista-supported version.
 
Fire Wizard said:
To tell you the truth, I haven't actually heard or any problems with Windows Vista when you have 4GB of memory and a X-Fire Soundcard installed. Once again, if someone could also clarify this, that would be great.
Click to expand...

Some people (myself included) were unable to use sound in Vista 64Bit with an X-FI and 4GB of RAM. This however has now been resolved in the most recent driver release available from the Creative website.
 
Hello Firegod,

Firegod said:
I have ran the Upgrade Advisor and it looks like I have one issue, my scanner. I have checked the manufacturers website and they do a Vista 32-bit driver, but I'm guessing this will not work with the 64-bit version, no? :(
Click to expand...

I'm afraid the Windows Vista 32-bit drivers won’t work when using the 64-bit version of Windows Vista. As Robbie G has said though, it might be worth waiting and hopefully in the near future, Canon will release a 64-bit driver for your particular scanner. :)

Firegod said:
Oh here is that article about the Raptor issue...

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/wd-raptor-nvidia-g80-dont-play-nice-with-vista,review-2336.html

Apparently it is a problem with G80 graphics cards and Raptor Hard Drives under Vista. There is a solution provided in that article, so I may be ok.

Strange though, I would have thought it would have been mentioned on here as that's got to be a combo used by many people. :confused:
Click to expand...

Sorry I thought you meant their was a problem with just the Raptor Hard Drive under Windows Vista. I have just read through that article which is pretty interesting and as you have already stated their is a fix, so hopefully you wont have any problems regarding this issue. :)

Kobrakai said:
Some people (myself included) were unable to use sound in Vista 64Bit with an X-FI and 4GB of RAM. This however has now been resolved in the most recent driver release available from the Creative website.
Click to expand...

Hey Kobrakai, thanks for clearing that up for me. :)
 
Cheers guys. :D I think I may take the plunge, at least I'll still have XP as a backup! I'm in two minds whether to purchase a new hdd especially for Vista. Then if it does go completley wrong, my XP install on the Raptor will be ok.

Cheers for the help!
 
For what it is worth I too this week have gone out and purchased Windows Vista and I belive now is the right time to do so.

In regards to reffering to a Service Pack, SP1 is due out in the next few months. 1st Quarter of 2008 is what I have red from Microsoft.
 
The only issues I've had upgrading to Vista64 is wireless card drivers... I've managed to get around this though by buying an access point and plugging my ethernet into it and the the access point connects to the network and acts as a bridge.
 
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