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gpro · Dec 18, 2008, 09:34 PM

Hi i have the 1st generation mac pro and i am planning on buying the 8800 GT for gaming. i was wondering which version of windows vista will work best with the quad core? or is it all the same? home, premium, business, ultimate, 32 bit or 64 bit.
thank you

Drakino · Dec 18, 2008, 11:17 PM

Since you have a Mac Pro with 2 CPUs (2 dual cores were shipped in the first Mac Pros), you have to go with either Business or Ultimate, otherwise Windows will only use one dual core CPU.

Also, How much memory do you have in your system? If you have more then 2GB, go with the 64 bit version. Otherwise 32 bit should be fine.

gpro · Dec 18, 2008, 11:26 PM

I am getting 4GB of ram. Why would 64bit run faster if i have over 2gb of ram? also if i do get 64bit that means i wont be able to play all the games right? because some only work with 32bit

dimmer · Dec 19, 2008, 09:22 PM

It won't. While 64 bit allows larger memory space, it also makes every memory request twice as "long". If your application isn't 64 bit, then you'll see a slowdown, and as you rightly say, some games won't play at all.

gpro · Dec 20, 2008, 08:56 AM

Well i made my decision i got vista 32bit ultimate. 4gb ram, 8800 GT video card and 1TB hardrive 32mb cache
I have a mac pro 2ghz quad core i know the processor is letting me down but hope it will cope ok with games

angelmb · Dec 21, 2008, 05:31 AM

Originally Posted by gpro

I have a mac pro 2ghz quad core i know the processor is letting me down but hope it will cope ok with games

Why that?, it is a Xeon after all, which is faster than e.g. those Dual Core 2.4 GHz inside the iMacs, laptops… and you got two. Just wondering…

gpro · Dec 21, 2008, 11:02 AM

So your saying the 2ghz intel xeon quad core shouldn't have a problem running the game?
Because am seeing all this processors 3ghz intel xeon. this 8 cores out i just feel like my processor is useless i wish i could upgrade it but i guess it aint a pc

is not · Dec 21, 2008, 04:12 PM

Buy a game console

gpro · Dec 21, 2008, 04:54 PM

i didnt ask for ur advice on what to buy a pc, mac or console.

angelmb · Jan 2, 2009, 04:59 PM

Don't be that rude. It goes against the policy (written or not) of the boards and you.
Thing is that to get a game console is a miles better option than to buy a GPU just for gaming… my humble opinion, cost-wise anything (besides the PS3) would be cheaper (albeit the PS3 let's you play Blu-Ray) and a console is not going to be outdated the time you read about next year's upcoming great game… but that's another history.

Anyhow, I have a Mac Pro like yours, 1st gen. 2GHz with the NVIDIA 8800GT and 8 GB RAM, but I don't run a single game on it, I would say a Mac Pro would be a total waste if aimed only to gaming, so I can't give you first hand advice. What I am trying to say, is that those Xeons inside your Mac Pro are more powerful than the Dual Core 2 intel CPUs inside the rest of the Mac range, but that's something others MacNN members could explain way better than me. For good or worse I don't care about such geek stuff but I guess the Xeons CPUs are freaking expensive for some good reason BUT maybe games (or Windows itself) don't take advantage of such CPUs. [ignorance speaking alert!!]

mduell · Jan 2, 2009, 08:09 PM

I'd go with Home Basic. Yes, it will only let you use one of your sockets (2 cores), but it's cheapest and has the least overhead.

The major differences between the Xeons and other Core 2 chips are the ability to use two of them in a system with gobs of RAM; they generally have marginally faster FSBs and/or more cache, but that's secondary.

gpro · Jan 2, 2009, 09:56 PM

I have made my decision and belive it or not i sold my mac pro and bought a new computer waiting for it to be delivered. its a i7 2.66 ghz cpu, 3gb ram 1600mhz, 9800 gtx, 1tb hardrive etc. I think i would enjoy this computer much more then the mac pro and speed and everything else. but i will miss leopard

angelmb · Jan 3, 2009, 06:02 AM

WOW… I would have bought a game console instead but well, it is up to you.

gpro · Jan 3, 2009, 09:12 AM

Yeah but i use computers for web designing and graphics designing, not just gaming

angelmb · Jan 3, 2009, 10:13 AM

heh, then I am even more surprised… I hope you don't have invested too much money on Mac software cause the Adobe suckers are going to ask you to buy the Windows versions whereas Quark ships a Mac OS / Windows 'hybrid' DVD. Well, it's solved now so good luck with your new PC.

is not · Jan 3, 2009, 12:36 PM

How much to spend now on software designing and games?

gpro · Jan 3, 2009, 03:20 PM

Its all good i get them free from my work. and I didn't have many mac games. Now i will just stick to the pc as i will have much more power and flexibility in what i can do/upgrade.
But thanks for all your support on this forum when i have owned a mac pro

angelmb · Jan 3, 2009, 04:27 PM

You welcome. People is here willing to help out anytime.

Big Mac · Jan 4, 2009, 12:36 AM

Pretty lame outcome, supposed reverse switch.

:

Luca Rescigno · Jan 9, 2009, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

Pretty lame outcome, supposed reverse switch.

:

I reverse-switched too. Mainly because I'm angry at Apple for keeping the G4 around for way too long and not doing enough to make Tiger and Leopard run well on them. I ended up getting a PowerBook G4 sometime in late '05-early '06 and it was already obsolete when I got it. The release of the MacBooks just drove that point home. The thing only barely ran Tiger with acceptable performance and Leopard never ran well, even with 1.25 GB of RAM (the max). I'm not mad at Apple for releasing faster hardware, but they could (and should) have done it much sooner. The G4 should have been retired in 2003-04. The way it worked out, I built a desktop PC for about as much money as I got from selling my PowerBook, and it's like a million times faster and I love it.

A note to the OP (if he's still reading): If you have 4 GB of RAM in 32-bit Vista, you will only be able to see 3.5 GB of it. In 32-bit XP, I think it's 3.25 GB. Obviously in 64-bit anything, you'll be able to see any (realistic) amount of RAM.

mduell · Jan 9, 2009, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by Luca Rescigno

I ended up getting a PowerBook G4 sometime in late '05-early '06 and it was already obsolete when I got it.

You bought a G4 Mac after the Intel switch was announced? Are you insane?

Luca Rescigno · Jan 10, 2009, 04:01 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

You bought a G4 Mac after the Intel switch was announced? Are you insane?

Obviously it was a very bad move in hindsight. At the time, there were several things that contributed to it. I was under time pressure to get a laptop since I'd be doing study abroad later in the year, and I couldn't bring a desktop with me. I had no idea Apple would release the MacBook when it did. And at the time, I wasn't even convinced an Intel-based iBook would have been that great. At the time, iBooks were pretty crippled compared to PowerBooks. I had also bought into Apple's promise of a smooth transition that wouldn't leave PPC users behind.

Anyway, it's not a big deal in the long run because I was able to sell the PowerBook for just $300 less than I bought it for a full year later. No harm, no foul. The only "harm" is that now I'm a Windows user, but I actually prefer it to OS X anyway (though I don't "hate" OS X and I can still recognize its strengths; it's just not suited to me).