- Joined
- Oct 1, 2010
- Messages
- 2,361 (0.48/day)
- Location
- Marlow, ENGLAND
System Name | Chachamaru-IV | Retro Battlestation |
---|---|
Processor | AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | Intel Pentium II 450MHz |
Motherboard | ASUS ROG STRIX X570-F Gaming | MSI MS-6116 (Intel 440BX chipset) |
Cooling | Noctua NH-D15 SE-AM4 |
Memory | 32GB Corsair DDR4-3000 (16-20-20-38) | 512MB PC133 SDRAM |
Video Card(s) | nVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 FE | 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 |
Storage | 1TB WD_Black SN850 NVME SSD (OS), Toshiba 3TB (Storage), Toshiba 3TB (Steam) |
Display(s) | Samsung Odyssey G5 27" @ 1440p144 & Dell P2312H @ 1080p60 |
Case | SilverStone Seta A1 | Beige box |
Audio Device(s) | Creative Sound Blaster AE-7 (Speakers), Creative Zen Hybrid headset | Sound Blaster AWE64 |
Power Supply | EVGA Supernova 750 G2 | 250W ASETEC |
Mouse | Roccat Kone Air| Microsoft Serial Mouse v2.0A |
Keyboard | Vortex Race3 | Dell AT102W |
Software | Microsoft Windows 11 Pro | Microsoft Windows 98SE |
So guys, it's getting around that time where I think I need to reformat my PC because there's some annoying issues with it that I'd rather not deal with anymore. I'm wondering which operating system I should use. Cost is not an issue, as I have a TechNet subscription and can get them all free. In the running are Vista (Business or Ultimate), 7 Pro and 8.1 Pro. I'm currently on 7 Pro, and the only two reasons I "upgraded" from Vista Ultimate was the fact that Vista does not have native TRIM support (I'd just bought an SSD), and 7 had better file transfer efficiency. Neither of those are an issue now, because my SSD's manufacturer added an optimiser to its management software for OSes that don't have native TRIM and I've gotten to the point where I don't transfer files between drives anymore. So I'd like a bit of help deciding what I should do for my reinstall. I will not entertain arguments based on "8.1 is newer, just use it" or "VISTA SUX 7 MASTER RACE!" I want clear, concise advice based on my needs. My GPU is DX11, so there's no need for 8's 11.1 and 11.2. Everything I have is fully compliant with all three OSes driver-wise.
Issues I have with 7:
Issues I have with 8 (from what little experience I have with it):
Issues I have with Vista (from memory):
Basically everything I dislike about 7 and 8 are not issues with Vista, BUT there are a few issues I have with Vista that aren't an issue with 7 or 8. Overall however, I have less issues with Vista than I do 7 or 8. Vista won't get any further versions of DirectX, but then again neither will 7 (at least that's what Microsoft is saying), so it's a moot point. I know at some point in the future, I will need to upgrade; when the time comes that I eventually buy a new GPU, it'll no doubt be capable of a higher version of DirectX than either Vista or 7 could handle. But for now, I don't plan on doing that for a good while yet. If people could give me some advice on the matter, based on what I've written here, it would be appreciated. On the surface, it seems that Vista would be my best bet for overall "contentedness" with the OS, but I know it's getting on a bit and won't get security updates beyond 2016. But then again, I doubt I'll still be using it then, so it's more a case of what would suit me best RIGHT NOW not three years down the line when it's not longer supported and massively obsolete because I'll be using something else by then.
PC Specs:
Biostar TZ77XE4
Intel Core i7 3770K
16GB RAM
nVIDIA GeForce GTX 580
128GB boot SSD, 2x 3TB HDDs in Windows-based software RAID1 array (can't remember if >2TB is an issue on Vista or not), 750GB dedicated Steam drive
Issues I have with 7:
- Aero Snap/Shake/Whatever annoys the hell out of me. I don't use it or want it.
- I've had volume issues with some programs ever since I've been using 7. For example, MPC-HC is ridiculously quiet and I need to crank up my system volome to be able to hear anything; VLC has the same issue, but I can over-amplify the volume at the cost of clarity. (This does not seem to be an issue with 8, as I've noticed that VLC had two seperate volume sliders in the Volume Control Panel, cranking them both up to max alleviates the problem. I have no idea why it gets two volume sliders in 8)
- No Quick Launch. It was replaced by pinning programs to the taskbar, which doesn't always work; sometimes I have something pinned to the taskbar and when it starts, it creates an extra taskbar button as if the pinned one doesn't exist.
- Media Player 12 sucks. I've never liked it and I eventually switched to iTunes as a result. I missed the taskbar toolbar from earlier versions of Windows.
- Search sucks, plain and simple. I've searched for files I KNOW exist on my hard drive and it tells me there are no results found. Never an issue with Vista.
- The bug where Explorer doesn't auto-refresh and show new files STILL hasn't been fixed after over four years.
- I can't right-click a shortcut in the Start Menu and select "Open file location" because it isn't there. I have to trawl through the All Programs menu to find the actual shortcut.
- Some games just plain don't work on 7, when they worked fine on Vista. (e.g. Strange Adventures in Infinite Space (because 7 won't switch to 256 colours without crapping out), Galactic Civilizations: Altarian Prophecy (won't even attempt to run), Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper (the DRM doesn't like my system, but works fine on my laptop for some reason))
- I don't like the UI changes over Vista. Complained about it day one and still don't like them. They only did it to make it look different to Vista.
Issues I have with 8 (from what little experience I have with it):
- Metro. Can't stand it.
- No start menu, need to add one via third party software.
- Basically Metro, with all of its supporting software, apps, widgets, whatever, is just bloatware that I neither want or need. Trouble is, I can't remove it; so I gotta put up with compute cycles being eaten up by it running in the background all the time.
- Most of the issues I have with 7 are still present in 8, from what I could tell.
Issues I have with Vista (from memory):
- If I want to change the sound output device (from say my speakers to my headset), I have to restart the program I'm using in order for the sound to be routed to it. This is particularly annoying if I'm playing a game. 7 and 8 just re-route it on the fly. (Any way around this?)
- Transferring large amounts of files can be problematic. If I bring up another program while I'm waiting for the transfer to finish, it'll cause Explorer to freeze and I won't have any indication of progress from the transfer window until it's finished. The only two things I could do in that situation were wait it out, not using Explorer for anyting, or to force-quit Explorer and resume the transfer. (This may have been resolved by now, please advise)
- Can't control volume of individual programs through the Volume Control Panel. (Can someone recommend third party software to acheive this?)
- Having to go through Personalize to be able to change the screen resolution/refresh rate, something I did quite regularly due to my monitor's tendancy to switch back to 59Hz after playing a game. I miss the old Display Properties control panel. (Same thing happens with my new monitor, too. Must be a DGM issue)
- A handful of games didn't work straight away because they tried to set the refresh rate too high, so I'd have to download an old version of DXDIAG from somewhere to set the refresh rate limit because that feature was removed from Vista's DXDIAG.
Basically everything I dislike about 7 and 8 are not issues with Vista, BUT there are a few issues I have with Vista that aren't an issue with 7 or 8. Overall however, I have less issues with Vista than I do 7 or 8. Vista won't get any further versions of DirectX, but then again neither will 7 (at least that's what Microsoft is saying), so it's a moot point. I know at some point in the future, I will need to upgrade; when the time comes that I eventually buy a new GPU, it'll no doubt be capable of a higher version of DirectX than either Vista or 7 could handle. But for now, I don't plan on doing that for a good while yet. If people could give me some advice on the matter, based on what I've written here, it would be appreciated. On the surface, it seems that Vista would be my best bet for overall "contentedness" with the OS, but I know it's getting on a bit and won't get security updates beyond 2016. But then again, I doubt I'll still be using it then, so it's more a case of what would suit me best RIGHT NOW not three years down the line when it's not longer supported and massively obsolete because I'll be using something else by then.
PC Specs:
Biostar TZ77XE4
Intel Core i7 3770K
16GB RAM
nVIDIA GeForce GTX 580
128GB boot SSD, 2x 3TB HDDs in Windows-based software RAID1 array (can't remember if >2TB is an issue on Vista or not), 750GB dedicated Steam drive