Gaming on Windows Vista vs. Windows XP reviewed

[zekrahminator]

TheINQ, after having significant troubles getting a copy of Windows Vista RC2, has done some extensive testing on Windows Vista. TheINQ could not get any games to run in Windows Vista RC2 64-bit, and there were some issues installing benchmarking utilities on Vista RC2 32-bit. Reality Mark, BF2142, the new Cell Factor demo, Sandra 2007, and 3Dmark05 simply refused to work on TheINQ's testbed. Using a very capable system scoring a 5.3 on Windows Experience Base tests, TheINQ ran a lot of games, and found that almost all games run up to 40 frames per second slower on Vista then on XP. Serious Sam 2 was the only exception, having a consistently higher frame rate by up to 10 frames per second. In short, "upgrading to Vista at the current stage with current drivers means a certain loss of performance." You can read the full review with benchmark charts here.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Seany1212]

sorry but i refuse to buy vista until they sort out that damn licencing policy, and also better the compatibility between dx9 and dx10. :shadedshu

 

[Alec§taar]

These 2 tests bugged me, because I only play these 2 games from it (well, I have Serious Sam 2, which did better on VISTA):

"Doom 3 again works faster in Windows XP. At 10x7 we got nine frames difference, thirteen at 12x10 and nine at 16x12. We could not run 20x15 as Doom 3 or Nvidia's driver didn't allow us. At 16x12 Vista is eight point seven percent slower, or twelve percent at 12x10, or again seven and a half at 10x7"

&

"Quake 4, another Open GL title was a shocker. Vista obviously has problems with running OpenGL games in its compatibility mode and results here in a massive twenty-seven frames lost. We are talking about almost nineteen percent performance drop at 10x7, thirty percent at 12x10 and twenty five point six at 16x12. That is a lot, thirty percent is unacceptable, but I guess you don’t have much choice. THE FSAA and Aniso won't change the situation, as Vista again scores up to twenty-one frames slower. Vista is almost seventeen percent slower at 10x7, twenty one at 12x10 and massive fifty-six percent at 16x12."



* Doesn't appear to be THAT bad, 'frames-per-second'-wise, but that is only what those folks said & their opinions...

Others say Quake 4 (even SMP build which runs faster than the single-threaded build) is terrible on VISTA's new "OpenGL Wrapper/DirectX Function Call translater from OpenGL 2.x API calls" layer messes it up hugely...

APK

P.S.=> Ms' is making a mistake doing this imo, gaming's the BIGGEST single software market there is, & doing this 'favoring' of ONLY DirectX API calls is a bad move on Ms' part, imo @ least... OpenGL 2.x is good stuff, & slowing it up on VISTA's not a good move! apk

 

[pt]

glad i'm not going to get vista for at least 6 months before it comes out

 

[zekrahminator]

* Doesn't appear to be THAT bad, 'frames-per-second'-wise, but that is only what those folks said & their opinions...

Others say Quake 4 (even SMP build which runs faster than the single-threaded build) is terrible on VISTA's new "OpenGL Wrapper/DirectX Function Call translater from OpenGL 2.x API calls" layer messes it up hugely...

APK

I'll show you the screenshots, just to prove that Vista hates OpenGL.

 

[Alec§taar]

I'll show you the screenshots, just to prove that Vista hates OpenGL.

Sure, go for it... & I believe you, but post away ("evidence thereof" never hurts): So, that said? Let's have your "Habeas Corpus" then, "Z"...

APK

 

[.:{KC}:.]

Yep been there, I normally only play MOHAAS, (just an old guy ya know) sooo when i went to run the game had afew probs, first had to uninstall the ati vista version drivers and only use the wdm MS stuff ran better atleast i could see the whole screen but still way to laggy . in conclusion , i'll forget about Vista for awhile , fun to try out though ....lol

 

[Judas]

Well i was gonna get Vista , but i think ill just wait it out and see...

 

[Jimmy 2004]

Are these problems because of Vista or because Nvidia and ATI's drivers aren't up to scratch yet? I'm not going to get Vista, but when you consider the all of the extra resources Vista uses is this a suprise? I think that if you stripped all but the gaming elements out of XP and took it back to Windows 98 performance would be better on that too.

 

[.:{KC}:.]

Well, from what i know the rc2 has a better boot loader . i had probs with that also mutiple drives , when i tried to install via raid array it would not recognise my nvidia raid controller even though i suplied the only sata drivers i had (xp/2k) maybe my fault , not lookin hard enough ? but i ran mohaas in xp compatibility mode and various other tweaks to maximize performance to no avail , A friend suggested wait awhile. and i will .

 

[bornfree]

I don't know why anyone would even consider using Vista with so many documented problems. MS will be patching that mess for years from the looks of online reviews. I can only imagine the problems that are unknown and that won't be discovered until people start using Vista en mass. Thanks but Vista has nothing I need.

 

[-=SNIPER=-]

forget it ,, as a benchmarker guy, Windows Vista will destroy my overclocking results :shadedshu , they better do something about that before the Vista lunch out ( i think its time microsoft to postpone the lunch date to another year )

 

[b1lk1]

I don't know why anyone would even consider using Vista with so many documented problems. MS will be patching that mess for years from the looks of online reviews. I can only imagine the problems that are unknown and that won't be discovered until people start using Vista en mass. Thanks but Vista has nothing I need.

DX-10 is Vista only........

 

[maks_1]

forget it ,, as a benchmarker guy, Windows Vista will destroy my overclocking results :shadedshu , they better do something about that before the Vista lunch out ( i think its time microsoft to postpone the lunch date to another year )

well said

 

[laszlo]

Hm...

I think i use xp untill i learn to use a beginner linux;lot of nice OS from many makers and is awesome how they progress;just seen a friend put a Mandriva live and i really like it !

 

[jocksteeluk]

Faliure for vista = & for the consumer, since Gates left M$ has realy adopted a menacing money grabbing attitude. So far there are no apparent advantages that i can think of for usingm Vista and i beleive this is being released because M$ are at the 70-80% coverage target for XP before the next os to keep the demand. Windows Vista will be the Windows millenium Edition of the 21st century and i wont be falling for that purchase again.

 

[Alec§taar]

Faliure for vista = & for the consumer, since Gates left M$ has realy adopted a menacing money grabbing attitude.

I've noted that myself... but, it does make sense - Steve Balmer has one thing missing that Mr. Gates actually HAD: Being a 'nerd/techy/geek' type @ heart... one who wanted to make money, but also to go down in history for having "built the better/best mousetrap" product!

Mr. Balmer is NOT that type of person imo... not @ all... he is a "money man" & that is about it imo @ least.

* Since he & his kind now 'spear-heading' MS? It makes sense this attitude MIGHT prevail...

So far there are no apparent advantages that i can think of for usingm Vista and i beleive this is being released because M$ are at the 70-80% coverage target for XP before the next os to keep the demand. Windows Vista will be the Windows millenium Edition of the 21st century and i wont be falling for that purchase again.

I hope you're NOT right there, lol, honestly...



APK

 

[b1lk1]

Faliure for vista = & for the consumer, since Gates left M$ has realy adopted a menacing money grabbing attitude. So far there are no apparent advantages that i can think of for usingm Vista and i beleive this is being released because M$ are at the 70-80% coverage target for XP before the next os to keep the demand. Windows Vista will be the Windows millenium Edition of the 21st century and i wont be falling for that purchase again.

Dell alone will spell a complete sucess for Vista since the minority of the PC community are constant upgraders. I still don't understand why they are going to try to limit upgrading, but with the proliferation of cracked copies of XP, how can you blame MS? For anyone that thinks XP costs too much or is too restrictive then there are free legal alternatives if you don't want to pay. It is the piracy and cracked copies that make things cost more.

Bill Gates might seem like a money grubber, but who doesn't dream of making a product and becoming exceedingly rich? It is completely illogical to call someone those names yet expect them to give you a free copy of Windows? Why are you or anyone else owed a free copy of anything? Noone seems to care that AMD has suddenly cut prices in half, yet we all happily paid twice as much before. Isn't that money grubbing? Same goes for Intel, ATI, Nvidia, etc..... If Windows is so horrible and you won't pay, use linux and stop pissing and moaning about Vista.

EDIT: For anyone that really can't take activation policies, just get a copy of Windows 2000. It is basically a stripped down version of XP and there is no activation with it.

 

[jocksteeluk]

Bill Gates might seem like a money grubber, but who doesn't dream of making a product and becoming exceedingly rich?.

if there is one person i woulndt call a money grabber is Bill Gates he has proven himslef time and time again to be an extremly charitable person but it seems the same cannot be said for the rest of the CEO's and execs of M$ that seem to want to milk the juices from the consumer. Hopefully the riduclous specs needed for Vista out budgets many academic institutions and they all switch to linux to so the next generation learn an alternate OS so as to break the lock micro$oft has in the early learning stages of people in schools.

 

[b1lk1]

Hopefully the riduclous specs needed for Vista out budgets many academic institutions and they all switch to linux to so the next generation learn an alternate OS so as to break the lock micro$oft has in the early learning stages of people in schools.

That is the first intelligent alternative I have seen suggested on ANY forum in the Vista rants. That really would benefit not only the institutions, but also the students learning the alternative OS. I for one would love to run Linux, but since I yet to have 1 succeesful install, and I don't blame Linux for that, I am stuck on Windows.

 

[overcast]

P.S.=> Ms' is making a mistake doing this imo, gaming's the BIGGEST single software market there is, & doing this 'favoring' of ONLY DirectX API calls is a bad move on Ms' part, imo @ least... OpenGL 2.x is good stuff, & slowing it up on VISTA's not a good move! apk

You're drunk if you think games are the biggest software market. MS is concerned about big business and OEM manufacturers. Not a relatively small number of gaming enthusiasts.

 

[Alec§taar]

You're drunk if you think games are the biggest software market.

Well, for starters? They make the X-Box, don't they??

Source: Entertainment Software Association

http://www.theesa.com/facts/top_10_facts.php

The Entertainment Software Association provides a wealth of data,
statistics and information regarding the Video Game Market.

“The U.S. computer and video game software sales grew four percent in
2004 to $7.3 billion -- a more than doubling of industry software
sales since 1996.”

“Seventy-five percent of American heads of households play computer
and video games.”

“In 2004, more than 248 million computer and video games were sold,
almost two games for every household in America”

“The average game player is 30 years old and has been playing games for 9.5 years”

“The average game buyer is 37 years old. In 2005, 95 percent of
computer game buyers and 84 percent of console game buyers were over
the age of 18.”

“Eighty-three percent of all games sold in 2004 were rated "E" for
Everyone or "T" for Teen.”

“Eighty-seven percent of game players under the age of 18 report that
they get their parents’ permission when renting or buying games, and
92 percent say their parents are present when they buy games.”

“Forty-three percent of all game players are women. In fact, women
over the age of 18 represent a greater portion of the game-playing
population (28 percent) than boys from ages 6 to 17 (21 percent).”

“In 2004, 19 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video
games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.”

“Forty-two percent of game players say they play games online one or
more hours per week. In addition, 34 percent of heads of households
play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from
20 percent in 2002.”

--------------------------------------------------

That all said/shown?

Apparently, gaming software's one of, if not THE BIGGEST, market there is for softwares!

Especially for the typical HOME end-user (more of those exist than business workstations by far)... Gaming software's probably THE BIGGEST overall software market there is, other than OS sales themselves, which you need to run games & all other software on.

(& apparently, lol, I am not 'drunk' like you said, if those statements of fact/figures/analysis have any meaning here!)

MS is concerned about big business and OEM manufacturers. Not a relatively small number of gaming enthusiasts.

I think Microsoft's interesting in anything that is a source of revenues...



APK

 

[ryboto]

Hopefully the riduclous specs needed for Vista out budgets many academic institutions and they all switch to linux to so the next generation learn an alternate OS so as to break the lock micro$oft has in the early learning stages of people in schools.

The only problem with this, is the fact that a lot of the software engineering students use isonly made for windows. Off the top of my head, EES, Aspen Engineering suite, Matlab, mathcad, autocad, pcontrol, just to name a few that I have used. I really would approve of a switch, but it would have to support the software I've come to learn and use as an academic resource.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

the writing is on the wall concerning vista.

 

[Seany1212]

I hope Vista is a flop, then hopefully microsuck will finally work out that there money grabbing antics dont work and they should realise just how much Bill ment to them, oh and for the person who said Bill Gates is a money grabber maybe you should do a little research before saying such things, the man donates $1.5billion in stock per year to charity, source: wiki. I wonder if he didnt make his donations what kind of mess the third world countries would be in. What is amazing is they are starting to get laptops! i dont even have a laptop