Vista or XP

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I have a thread in the general hardware forum where I have been discussing my proposed new build and I think i'm all sorted in that department but i'm still unsure with regards to which OS to buy!

XP Home edition
XP Media Center
Vista Home Premium 32bit
Vista Home Premium 64bit

I will be using the system for games and movies

Based on all the negative threads I have been reading I am leaning towards buying XP now and maybe upgrading some time next year if things get better

What do you guys think?

If I went XP is the Media Center version worth the extra £20?

Cheers
 
NiteMare said:
If I went XP is the Media Center version worth the extra £20?

Only ifyour wanting to stream items between between a 360 and your PC, other than that i find it more annoying than anything.

Vista is really nice to use, much nicer than XP and it a lot more flashy, but if your planning on gaming then to be honest Id stay clear a little longer until driver support improves. Im nto saying that games wont run, they will but from what ive experirenced so far you take a slight performance hit on Vista.
 
My existing system is 4 years old and so I cant run a lot of todays games anyway so on that basis would i even notice Vista being slower when all the hardware is significantly faster?

If the majority of games will run at an acceptable speed then I will probably go with vista?
 
What about a dual boot system?

For sake of an extra £70 i could go for a larger HD and a copy of XP home edition?

Is is posible to install an OEM copy of Vista 64bit (OEM) and XP Home (OEM) in dual boot mode on a new build?

Has anyone done this?
Any downside apart from the extra cost?
 
LoadsaMoney said:
XP for gaming hands down, then go Vista after its had some SP's, and got better driver support, as at the mo its a pile of crap. :)


I thought that at first but microsoft has been adding a lot more compatability updates.

While its no smooth ride for sure on some older titles, ive gone from dual booting to using Vista Home Prem on its own now.

Still needs some work, but its getting there
 
i'd rather just go Vista 64 bit

I suppose if it causes two many problems I can keep playing my old games on my 4 year old system until they fix all the issues!
 
i have no problem running games on vista and using the ATI drives, the game play speed is same as xp. but if you have a NVIDIA a graphic card i am not sure if the game play speed will be the same as xp because of the NVIDIA drivers...
 
go for XP mate.

edit*: just have a look at this section and how many threads states Vista issues would give you a pretty good opinion.

XP tried and tested
Vista New kid on the block still to mature.

if u like a rebelious teenage and put a lot of effort to tame him into Prince Charming then go for Vista

for me I like my life nice and easy with peace. and just happens i know Xp pretty well to sort out all the nitty gritty lil problems it can throw at me.
 
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I went out and bought Vista ultimate on release. It's now on my shelf waiting until I upgrade my machine and (hopefully) all the issues such as drivers, bugs, software compatibility have died down. This includes slipstreaming SP1 into it as well.

As there is no real competition to MS at the major retailers then it is inevitable that sooner or later you will need Vista. However, right now, you don't need Vista - and beleive me it isn't worth it over XP anyway. (Not as it stands, and my completely my subjective opinion)

Bottom line. Get XP now, don't have any hassle. Buy Vista OEM (with SP1) when you upgrade in about 12-18 months time - when there are plenty of cheap DX10 cards and the DX10 games to go with it. No point in buying retail, as by the time you go to upgrade after Vista, the next MS OS will be on the horizon.
 
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Okay I have been doing some more reading and have found enough favourable comments to say that some of the games that I want to play are working for some people at least! therefore I have decided to bite the bullet and go Vista 64bit :)
 
No it will be an ATI card.

I snapped up the Connect3D X1950XT card on offer of the week a few weeks back after it won the CustomPC labs last month. I know its not DX10 but it will do me for now and I will upgrade in the future.
 
You need a decent 3D card like baseline at something of X1600 or what. Otherwise your basic windows won't even run smoothly cos the fact that its so graphically demanding. (which i think it's even a bigger con) The more windows u open the more graphical power u got to supply, i think thats a correct correlation, correct me if i am wrong.

Anyway I won't be upgrading Vista AT ALL or until Software runs out of support for it ^^
 
Cheers, I have gone back and fourth with this decision for two days now so now I have made my mind up any more good news just makes me feel better :D
 
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