Planning on buying Vista, need some opinions and answers first

Golbeze · Jan 31, 2007, 06:57 PM

First off, here's my computer specs:
Athlon64 X2 4400+ @2.2GHz
1GB (2x512MB) RAM, will be purchasing 2GB (2x1GB) RAM along with Vista
AsRock 939 NF4G-SATA2 motherboard, nforce 410 chipset
Geforce 7600GT 256MB

Ok, now the questions, these are mainly directed towards those who are already running Vista on their machine. I had heard that Vista will contain drivers for some nforce chipsets on the install DVD, and was wondering if that included my nforce 410 chipset, so I could still use my computer and browse the internet until Nvidia released proprietary drivers for my motherboard, as Vista drivers have yet to surface on Nvidia's website. This won't actually affect me buying it, as I have to buy it now or I may not again come across the money to do so, more like it'll decide how long the DVD sits unused on my shelf.

My second question, is after installing Vista, then all your drivers, antivirus, firewall, programs and other stuff, how much memory is used when first booting up and logging onto your desktop? I ask just so I have an idea of what to expect.

Zelig · Jan 31, 2007, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golbeze

My second question, is after installing Vista, then all your drivers, antivirus, firewall, programs and other stuff, how much memory is used when first booting up and logging onto your desktop? I ask just so I have an idea of what to expect.

While I haven't tried Vista yet, I'm not sure this can be compared accurately to Windows XP. If memory is left unused, it's being wasted, and it has been my understanding that Vista was coded with the intention of leaving less memory unused if performance can at all be increased by using the memory.

This is the reasoning behind the superfetching feature, which loads things into memory before you might necessarily need them. Less free memory will be left, but if nothing else would use the memory anyway, performance isn't altered unless you open the preloaded program, in which case, it would be improved.

Golbeze · Feb 5, 2007, 03:15 AM

Sorry for the late response. Yeah, after looking around I learned about the way Vista uses memory and it Looks like I'll be able to game just fine with 2GB, and it seems the nforce 410 chipset works ok with the drivers on the Vist DVD. I have one more question, does ES3: Morrowind work on Vista, and if it does, how well does it work? That's a game I really enjoy playing, even though it's old.

~~DudeBoyz~~ · Feb 5, 2007, 03:25 AM

I'd be concerned more about the drivers than the memory usage. Apparently, Vista memory usage is much improved over XP (less disk thrashing hopefully).

Too bad you are not able to put it off until the drivers and the OpenGL situation is worked out. Hope you don't suffer too long before there is a fix.

Good luck.

Golbeze · Feb 5, 2007, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DudeBoyz

I'd be concerned more about the drivers than the memory usage. Apparently, Vista memory usage is much improved over XP (less disk thrashing hopefully).

Too bad you are not able to put it off until the drivers and the OpenGL situation is worked out. Hope you don't suffer too long before there is a fix.

Good luck.

Yeah, I know all about the driver issues with Vista for my hardware and am willing to cope. My copy of Vista Home Premium is already on its way here, too, and I'm not returning it.

~~DudeBoyz~~ · Feb 5, 2007, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golbeze

Yeah, I know all about the driver issues with Vista for my hardware and am willing to cope. My copy of Vista Home Premium is already on its way here, too, and I'm not returning it.

Well, as long as you know what to expect and feel ok about going through it, all I can do is hope for the best in regards to the stability and such. I would not wish that kind of suffering on anybody, especially long term.

Golbeze · Feb 6, 2007, 08:09 PM

Well, good news! I decided to install Vista last night. Breezed right through the install process, then started installing my programs and stuff, installed the 100.59 drivers for my 7600GT. Everything's working great, no graphical corruptions, played Oblivion a bit and it works fine so far. After tinkering around I disabled the UAC, it was causing problems. But otherwise it's working great. The chipset drivers that came on the DVD work just fine as well, but then I don't do a RAID setup, either. In all honesty, I don't see myself going back to XP anytime soon, I'm really liking Vista.

Jan 31, 2007, 06:57 PM	#1
Golbeze HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 276 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Planning on buying Vista, need some opinions and answers first First off, here's my computer specs: Athlon64 X2 4400+ @2.2GHz 1GB (2x512MB) RAM, will be purchasing 2GB (2x1GB) RAM along with Vista AsRock 939 NF4G-SATA2 motherboard, nforce 410 chipset Geforce 7600GT 256MB Ok, now the questions, these are mainly directed towards those who are already running Vista on their machine. I had heard that Vista will contain drivers for some nforce chipsets on the install DVD, and was wondering if that included my nforce 410 chipset, so I could still use my computer and browse the internet until Nvidia released proprietary drivers for my motherboard, as Vista drivers have yet to surface on Nvidia's website. This won't actually affect me buying it, as I have to buy it now or I may not again come across the money to do so, more like it'll decide how long the DVD sits unused on my shelf. My second question, is after installing Vista, then all your drivers, antivirus, firewall, programs and other stuff, how much memory is used when first booting up and logging onto your desktop? I ask just so I have an idea of what to expect.

Feb 5, 2007, 03:15 AM	Thread Starter #3
Golbeze HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 276 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Sorry for the late response. Yeah, after looking around I learned about the way Vista uses memory and it Looks like I'll be able to game just fine with 2GB, and it seems the nforce 410 chipset works ok with the drivers on the Vist DVD. I have one more question, does ES3: Morrowind work on Vista, and if it does, how well does it work? That's a game I really enjoy playing, even though it's old.

Feb 5, 2007, 03:25 AM	#4
~~DudeBoyz~~ banned Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: USA Posts: 1,677 Rep Power: 0	I'd be concerned more about the drivers than the memory usage. Apparently, Vista memory usage is much improved over XP (less disk thrashing hopefully). Too bad you are not able to put it off until the drivers and the OpenGL situation is worked out. Hope you don't suffer too long before there is a fix. Good luck.

Feb 6, 2007, 08:09 PM	Thread Starter #7
Golbeze HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 276 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Well, good news! I decided to install Vista last night. Breezed right through the install process, then started installing my programs and stuff, installed the 100.59 drivers for my 7600GT. Everything's working great, no graphical corruptions, played Oblivion a bit and it works fine so far. After tinkering around I disabled the UAC, it was causing problems. But otherwise it's working great. The chipset drivers that came on the DVD work just fine as well, but then I don't do a RAID setup, either. In all honesty, I don't see myself going back to XP anytime soon, I'm really liking Vista.