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volatile.memory · Nov 29, 2007, 09:38 AM

I've heard all the horror stories about Vista, and I've stuck with XP on the two boxes left in my house running Windows (for games).

I'm purchasing an iMac early next year, and I'm wondering what's better for gaming via Boot Camp... XP or Vista?

Anyone have any benchmarks or personal experience with both/either?

Thanks,
v.m

starman · Nov 29, 2007, 10:53 AM

I just avoid Vista like the plague. XP works. Unless you NEED DX10, stick with XP.

Aegis · Nov 29, 2007, 01:03 PM

Agreed. I have a BC partition just for games and I stick with XP. Keeps it simple and lets you use more of your resources for the games and not the OS.

olePigeon · Nov 29, 2007, 04:30 PM

A quick search on Google will reveal instructions on how to run DirectX 10 games & software on Windows XP, so there's really no point in getting Vista.

volatile.memory · Nov 29, 2007, 05:24 PM

Thanks all for the responses. Pretty much what I expected.

Oh, and olePigeon... SHINY SIG!

nickw311 · Nov 30, 2007, 11:16 AM

I have only used Vista a few times and it was as bad as everyone has said. One of my friends bought a new laptop that had Vista. After about 2 weeks he returned it, paid a huge restocking fee, and bought a used laptop with XP.

I would stay away from Vista as long as possible.

Mac User #001 · Nov 30, 2007, 11:26 AM

I've only had Vista for 2 days now, but so far have had no abnormal problems, other than that I had to buy a new wireless card.

64stang06 · Nov 30, 2007, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by Mac User #001

I've only had Vista for 2 days now, but so far have had no abnormal problems, other than that I had to buy a new wireless card.

I've had it for about 3 weeks on my new MacBook and have had no issues at all with performance or gaming. Then again, all I use it for is gaming anyway.

Drakino · Dec 1, 2007, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

A quick search on Google will reveal instructions on how to run DirectX 10 games & software on Windows XP, so there's really no point in getting Vista.

A slightly less quicker search will reveal that it's a hack, and getting true Direct X 10 on XP is probably not going to be worth the effort compared to installing Vista and whipping it down to be a wintendo.

Considering the Direct X 10 games are also requiring beefy video cards to really show playable rates, the iMac won't be the best platform to run them on. Just go with XP, and let the games kick down to Direct X 9 when they offer both. You aren't going to miss much, and you will have playable games.

svtcontour · Dec 2, 2007, 08:29 PM

Been running vista since its release without so much a blue screen, hiccup, lockup, or anything. I've also installed older software like Photoshop 6, Coreldraw 8 (to open some old files I had), Nero 6.3, Office 2000 and they have all worked fine. I've run every game I've purchased in the past and they've all run fine so I have no idea what all the miss information is about. My only ONE compatability issue is a lack of a driver for an M-Audio 2496 sound card which is supposedly in development.

Mac User #001 · Dec 2, 2007, 10:04 PM

Every game of mine has worked as well, AND with Vista, I was able to play a game that wouldn't work on XP.

It may seem weird that I'm preaching about Vista, but there's nothing wrong with it. I just prefer Mac; but I need Windows for gaming.

beads · Dec 2, 2007, 10:49 PM

Originally Posted by svtcontour

Been running vista since its release without so much a blue screen, hiccup, lockup, or anything. I've also installed older software like Photoshop 6, Coreldraw 8 (to open some old files I had), Nero 6.3, Office 2000 and they have all worked fine. I've run every game I've purchased in the past and they've all run fine so I have no idea what all the miss information is about. My only ONE compatability issue is a lack of a driver for an M-Audio 2496 sound card which is supposedly in development.

I've been having big issues with installing CorelDraw 8 on my new Vista. During install it will say: "The fourth parameter required by the application should be the path to the comp .csw file used by the setup." and then after install although the program opens it will open another error, Error opening: "C

programfiles\custom\coreldrw.cpl file
I have NO idea what this means, even tried to install with Vista's compatibility wizard for 98/ME version....nothing works. Googling for CorelDraw8 and Vista, seems that this version isn't supported by Vista and Corel wants me to buy its new FANCY version which I refuse to do. Any advice or help appreciated

svtcontour · Dec 2, 2007, 11:48 PM

Ummm to be honest, the version of Coreldraw8 I have is a 'special version' if you know what I mean. I can only select 'compact install' and it goes through. I do have issues with selecting printers under vista within it but all else seems to be fine.

I had purchased coreldraw 5 ages ago (on sale) but I didnt really want to rebuy a newer version that will install under vista just to be able to read my old files so I could convert them so I umm downloaded it. The smallest one I found was an old version 8 so thats why I went with it. I converted my files and deleted the app. Its not the right thing to really do but oh well.